James 2:14-26

Our big question in the book of James, “what does saving faith look like and do I have it?” comes to its climactic moment in this passage. James sums up much of his argument for his entire letter in verse 26, “faith apart from works is dead.”

Over the centuries the church has wrestled with the connection between faith and works and their role in salvation. One of the hallmarks of the protestant reformation was the doctrine of justification by faith alone. The Roman Catholic church reacted against this at the Council of Trent in 1547 with the decree,

“if anyone says that the sinner is justified by faith alone… let him be anathema.” (Canon 9)

On the surface, James seems to be in agreement with this statement.

That raises another important question for us protestants. Where did we get this idea that justification is by faith alone when James says the opposite? It’s a good question and one that can be argued from all sorts of places in the Bible. The passage that says it most plainly is in Romans 3.28

For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.(Romans 3:28)

On the surface, again, it seems we have contradictory statements and so we ask, “are works necessary to be saved?” According to Paul, the answer is clear: no.

However, if we don’t understand the faith Paul is talking about, then we quickly get into muddy waters.

Let me explain. I remember an encounter I had with a co-worker at a Wendy’s restaurant. It was the summer between my junior and senior year of college. I was living in Panama City, Florida on a “beach project” with Campus Crusade for Christ. All summer we lived there, getting jobs in the local community and having outreach events on the beach on the weekends. It was a challenging time for faith building and I shared the gospel with a variety of people. I was also trying to really understand the gospel, for it was somewhat new to me too. I had embraced this doctrine of the reformation, “justification is by faith alone,” which is built on the idea that God’s love is unconditional. It has to be, for none of us would ever choose God or live good enough lives left to ourselves. This was all running through my head as I explained the gospel and I remember saying, “we’re saved by grace. It doesn’t matter what you do.” The girl I was sharing this with grew interested at that and she repeatedly asked me, “are you sure?” Even as I said so, that statement just didn’t sit well with me. I knew salvation was by grace alone, but I couldn’t help but think that how we live also matters. I just didn’t know how to reconcile those too ideas.

James let’s us know, on no uncertain terms, that how you live DOES matter. So how do we reconcile this idea that we are saved through faith alone, by grace alone and yet how we live matters.

Here is how Luther put it, “while we are saved by faith alone, saving faith is never alone.”

James helps us understanding saving faith.