Faith and Works

Faith and Works

Some time ago I was asked about James 2:17-18, "Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. 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.'" (NASB)

If you're also wondering about this, you're in good company.

Martin Luther found James so difficult to fit into the teaching of the rest of Scripture that he thought it should not be in the Bible.

Reading the passage down through the end however, I think we see that good deeds (works) are the fruit of faith.

James says in verse 22 that "by works faith was perfected." To me, that's the key here. When Father gives us a new heart, a new spirit, and His Spirit, we are truly changed. We want to do good things and we are drawn to them as we walk by the Spirit. Ephesians 2:10 says that we are "created in Christ Jesus for good works, which Father prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

Do you see it? Doing good is in our nature now. While this should not be taken as a litmus test of salvation, this change in the desire of our heart is strong evidence for our faith.

In the cases James points out (Abraham and Rahab) it was the things they did that made it clear that they had faith. We can see the same examples (Abraham and Rahab) used in Hebrews 11 and we are told that the deeds they did were done _by_ faith.

So, it seems to me that good works are one aspect of the fruit produced by the Spirit as we walk by faith. For some, this seems to happen immediately—at least in some areas of their lives. For others, me for example, it can take years, even decades, to become evident.