Faith and Works (James 2:14-19)

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. ¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. ¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

In this passage, James examines the meaning of faith in detail and, for him, this automatically entails action. In the first verse here, James asks a rhetorical question of his audience whom he addresses as “brothers and sisters”. This is significant for we are all to love each other as members of a family: true faith is expressed through brotherly love. Christianity demands that we take care of each other. Notice that he does not even mention going to church or performing ritual actions, for James insists that faith is about how we live our lives.

In verses 15 and 16, he continues this theme, writing of a “brother or sister” who lacks food and clothing. One does not demonstrate Christian love by telling them “keep warm and well fed” but by giving them what they need. James wants us to be shocked by this example, for anyone capable of such behavior has not understood Jesus’ teaching. James hammers in his meaning in verse 17: faith without works is dead. Anyone who claims to be Christian and yet does not see this, is most definitely not a Christian.

In verse 18, an invented opponent voices their objection: everyone is different and some Christians have faith, others deeds. James brushes this aside immediately with the challenge: “show me your faith without deeds”. James further illustrates his point in the final verse here by examining the profession of faith. We say there is only one God but, as James points out, so do demons, who shudder with terror when they say it. If a person really believes in God, then they will mirror his love. Our faith can only truly be alive if it manifests itself in our behavior. We cannot separate faith and works into two different departments for they are one and the same.