James Chapter 2

Following up in the Book of James

Sorry for the delay in getting this second part out. I’ll be a little quicker from here on. Suffice it to say, I was out of town, and then came back to find some unanticipated craziness that I had to take care of. But without further ado… Chapter 2.

¹ My brothers and sisters, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. ² For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and is dressed in bright clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes also comes in, ³ and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the bright clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” ⁴ have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? ⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters: did God not choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? ⁷ Do they not blaspheme the good name by which you have been called?

This is an interesting piece of scripture which the Christian church seemed to have lost sight of (or interest in) during the rise of the Roman Catholic Church and its foray in to prominence and political power. The Holy Roman Church became an instrument of wealth and power instead of a beacon of hope and salvation. It catered to and put value on those who could pay, while suppressing and even outright oppressing those who could not. James warns against that in Chapter 2, and even goes on to point out the oppression…which the Catholic Church became perpetrators of, in spite of James’s warnings. How many prosperity gospel style churches do we see in modern Christianity that take the same approach? Who view your value to the church based on your bank account? James gives us the scriptural tools to call out this incredibly unchristian behavior.

⁸ If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. ⁹ But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the Law as violators. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole Law, yet stumbles in one point, has become guilty of all. ¹¹ For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do murder, you have become a violator of the Law. ¹² So speak, and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom. ¹³ For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

We have discussed some of the ideas from this scripture previously when looking at sin and judgement. Sin is sin, and as James explains in verses 10 & 11 violation of God’s law in any capacity makes one guilty of judgement by our lord. Verse 13 wraps this back around to the idea of preferential treatment toward the wealthy and well off that was brought up in previous verses; here he is bringing home the notion that we are to love ALL of our neighbors as ourselves, not just those who have something to offer us. And by showing partiality to those who have a higher social standing or more wealth, and snubbing those who are poor or in need, we are guilty of showing no mercy to our neighbors. In fact, Jesus makes it very clear in Matthew 25: 41-43 how those who turn away “the least of these” will be dealt with. ⁴¹ “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you accursed people, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; ⁴² for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; ⁴³ I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’” We must be sure we deal with all of our neighbors, our brothers and sisters, with full hearts and open arms.

¹⁴ What use is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

¹⁸ But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” ¹⁹ You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. ²⁰ But are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless? ²¹ Was our father Abraham not justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; ²³ and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called a friend of God. ²⁴ You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵ In the same way, was Rahab the prostitute not justified by works also when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? ²⁶ For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

I considered splitting this section up, but it is all connected tightly enough and makes a strong point that I want to close on, so I’ll keep it all together.

Faith and works, and the connection of the two, is an oft discussed and disputed topic within Christianity. A thing I think often gets confused in this portion of scripture is an over-emphasis on works. This does not say that you can or will be saved by your works. It also makes an emphasis of the fact that faith alone is not our savior. Ephesians 2: 8-9 tells us “⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” It is nothing of our own doing that will result in our salvation. It is God’s grace to those who are faithful. The important part of what James is saying here is the concept of a dead faith and the value of works in relation to our faith. See, they are deeply connected. When you learn a new thing, you want to go out and test it and see how it works and then teach other people how to do it so they can try it too. That is how our faith translates to works. We don’t “do things for the church” because works will somehow save us. We shouldn’t be doing them to build standing or so people will think any particular way of us either. Works should be an outpouring of our faith and a reflection of grace’s salvation. It’s why we should pay especial attention to verses 17 & 26, because if you aren’t feeling moved toward action, if your faith and spiritual walk isn’t drawing you toward some form of service… you may have a faith that’s on life support. “Faith without works is dead.” Not because works will save you, but because faith should be a wellspring of action! If we sincerely have faith then those works will flow out of it! It’s like the children’s Sunday School song “This Little Light of Mine,” we should be letting our faith shine. In fact, if your faith is alive and thriving, it will drive you to show it more and more in your love for and service to all of your neighbors.