James 2:14-19 – Faith requires action

In verses 14-19, James’ primary concern was for the practice of living faith. Genuine faith should affect all areas of one’s Christian life: conscience, desire, practice, commitment, etc. And here, James wanted his readers to know the true characteristic of genuine faith. Here was where Martin Luther, the reformer, struggled with. Having been influenced by Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, he insisted that faith alone saves. While James appeared to be saying that only faith plus work would save, what Martin Luther could not see was the fact that Paul was looking at faith before salvation, whereas James was looking at faith after salvation.

In these verses, we will discover that James actually reconciled faith and work. He began by asking two rhetorical questions that required ‘no’ for an answer. In essence, he was saying two things about faith: firstly, he said that faith without works is useless; and secondly, faith without works cannot save.

In verses 15-17, James illustrated what true faith really is all about. One cannot help but to realize that he sought to connect each part of his writing with the other. His mind could very well be still on how the poor were being by-passed in the church. So using their plight, he illustrated what living faith would look like: attending to the needs of the less fortunate. He graphically described their needs. In the original, the words he used would mean one who is naked and destitute. Instead of physically meeting those needs, these needy ones were told to go in peace, and nothing was provided for to meet their dire conditions. James’ question was what good would that well wishes do?

In the same way, when faith is not demonstrated by action, it is dead. True faith is full of compassion and it generates actions in life. In verse 18, James asked a question of an imaginary objector. What is being portrayed is this: it is not alright to merely give mental assent without accompanying action. Faith and works are never separated and faith always bears fruits.

In verse 19 we see the implication: it is not enough just to know God theologically. Our belief must be backed by appropriate practices. The demons are very orthodox in their theology, and they know God and even shudder. But theirs were only mental assent but not genuine faith that results in adherence and obedience to God. James wanted them to know that faith is more than mental assent. True living faith causes one to put one’s hands on the plough and look forward and act, and serve with diligence. Remember, without faith work is pointless but without work, faith gets us nowhere. We need faith but it needs to show itself through works.