For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Notes on James 2:14-26:

• The word “deeds” is more palatable for many religious people than “works,” with is association with trying to earn our salvation.
• Vs.14-16 seem to address a real situation among the believers to whom James is writing. 
  • See also 1 John 3:16-18, Matt 25:31-46, and Gal 6:10.
  • Keep in mind also the likely famine conditions in Judea at the time of James’s letter. 2 Cor 8-9 and Acts 11:28 refer to this hardship.
• I admit it’s difficult to know who exactly is speaking in vs. 18, or the exact point (though I assume it’s fully in line with the thought of vs.14-17 and 19-26).
• Demons have mere intellectual assent (v.19).
  • The Shema‘  (Hear, O Israel...) is found in Deut 6:4.
  • Were some wealthy persons allowed into the fellowship whose behavior did not match their profession of faith?
  • Orthodoxy (right belief) isn't enough. Orthopraxy (right behavior) is essential; it completes and confirms orthopraxy.
  • There is no such thing as faith in a vacuum
  • Both persons were proselytes to the faith.
  • Both were commended for faith because faith was complemented by deeds.
• A widely twisted and ignored verse is 2:24
  • Liberals often accept that this is a “contradiction”—that James and Paul are somehow at odds with each other.
  • Evangelicals – ignore v.24, esp. when they hold to the “once saved, always saved” teaching. Many evangelicals and other Protestants hold to the slogan "faith alone," which does not appear in the N.T.
  • Further: for "Why I am Not an Evangelical—Or Am I?" please click here. For "Why I am Not a Protestant," please click here.
• Re: v.17, see Titus 1:15-16.

Next: “The Magic Wand & the Touch"

• James then offers two examples from the OT, from Genesis and Joshua, in vs. 21-27.