"But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works." (James 2:18)
What are the works of faith that James is referring to? The context is clear: this is about saving faith. Apparently, the faith that saves is a faith you can see.
James was writing to religious Jews who already believed in God. Their faith was demonstrated in Temple attendance and careful submission to the Law of Moses. James even grants them that much—"You believe that God is one; you do well" (James 2:19). But then he turns around and calls them foolish, declaring their faith dead and useless (vv. 17, 20, 26). How can genuine faith in the one true God be dead and useless?
- Faith in God is dead and useless if it is not accompanied by the work of God. What is the work of God? "The work of God is that you believe in Him Whom He has sent" (John 6:29).
- Faith in God is dead and useless if it disobeys the command of God. What is the command of God? "This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Christ Jesus" (1 John 3:23).
- Faith in God is dead and if it goes against the will of God. What is the will of God? "This is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him will have eternal life" (John 6:40).
Like his Jewish readers, James had faith in the one true God. The difference was that his faith was a saving faith—he trusted in the Saviour whom God had sent. When James declared, "I will show you my faith by my works," he was not pointing to a lifelong checklist of religious performance. He meant that he had confessed with his mouth that Jesus is Lord and believed in his heart that God raised Him from the dead (Rom. 10:9). He meant he was living from the revelation that Jesus Himself is the source and center of the new life we now have in Him. And, ultimately, it meant he would one day be murdered by religious people who refused to share that same faith.
Notice something important: the "works" that James is referring to are one-time acts, never to be repeated. How do we know this? Let me ask you two questions. How many times did Abraham offer up Isaac? Once! "Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?" How many times did Rahab receive the spies and send them out another way? Once! "And in the same way was not Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?" Salvation is not by works (Eph 2:8–9), but it is unto/for good works that God prepared beforehand (Eph. 2:10; Titus 2:14; 3:8, 14; 2 Tim. 3:17; Col. 1:10; Heb. 10:24; Matt.. 5:16).
Some people shrug off and dismiss "believing in Jesus" as if it were a small thing. There. Is. No. Greater. Work! Nothing in this life carries more weight or value than trusting the risen Lord. To live out what Jesus has already done for you—and what He now wants to do through you—is the very height of what it means to be human.
Christians often worry they are not doing enough. They say, "Sure, I believe in Christ. But what am I supposed to do? There must be more." Listen to Jesus’ answer to the doubter:
"Do not be unbelieving, but believing." (John 20:27)
What you believe shapes everything—what you think about, who you marry, what you pursue, where you live, and how you live. Everything. Do you want to do something for God that actually lasts? Then bet your life on His Son. Live in the reality that you are already seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus and that in Him you are more than a conqueror. There are a thousand-and-one things we can chase in the name of “faith,” but they all amount to nothing if we miss the one thing that matters: believe in Jesus.