James 2:14-26, Part 2

[Hidden In Him]

Our Faith In His Return Will Be Reflected In Our Actions, Part 2



Reestablishing the context of our current passage from Part 1, the belief during New Testament times was that the second coming was imminent, and that those still alive in the earth would be taken up with Him and spared the judgment that would then come upon the world (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8). Thus, when mention was made of being "saved," they meant saved from the coming Day of the Lord, which is also what James was referring to when he asked his readers, "If a man has faith but does not have works, can faith save him?" He was referring to saved from the coming judgment, for as he added in Chapter 5:

Be long-suffering, therefore. Reassure your hearts, for the Lord's coming has drawn near. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, that you not be judged. Behold, the Judge stands at the door. (James 5:8-9)

The apostles Paul and Peter also believed Christ's return was imminent, and likewise also taught that believers needed to respond in ways that were in keeping with that belief:

The end of all things has now drawn near. Therefore be sober-minded and watchful unto prayers, above all things having fervent love for one another, for “love covers over a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:7-8)

We should be considerate of one another, and aim to provoke each other to love and good works ... all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24, 25b)

This, then, was the context of his teaching on how faith without works was dead, and would not save a man at the Lord's return:

My brothers, what help is it if anyone claims to have faith yet does not have works? Is faith able to save him?... You believe that God is one? You do well. Even the demons believe and tremble. But will you know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is dead? Was not our father Abraham justified by works, having offered Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working together with his works, and by works was his faith validated. And the scripture was fulfilled which said, "And Abraham believed God, and it was accredited unto him for righteousness," and he was called a friend of God. (James 2:14, 19-24)

But how then were their works "validating their faith," and in what way was their faith being accredited unto them as righteousness? Exceedingly great promises were given by God to Abraham, but his attaining unto them did not come without sacrifice. Eventually God asked him to offer up Isaac his son, which was in effect to ask Abraham, "Will you still trust Me if I require you to make a great sacrifices to attain the promises?" The Lord eventually provided a ram so Abraham would not have to actually go through with it, but the fact that Abraham would have if required to placed him on an entirely different level with God. The Father knew He would one day have to give His own Son on a cross, so the fact that Abraham was also willing to do the same gave him a special place in God's heart. Abraham demonstrated great trust in God's promises through his actions, and the result was that he became "the friend of God."

As we shall see, the same parallels existed for the New Testament church, and they will become increasingly relevant to the end-time church as well, as it begins to become increasingly obvious that the true return of the Lord Jesus Christ is finally drawing near.


Why Faith Is Accredited As Righteousness

Why did God accredit Abraham's faith unto him as righteousness, and why does He accredit our faith as righteousness today? The answer is simple. He knows that if we believe His promises, we will listen to Him and do what He asks us to do to attain to them, even if it means making some sacrifices along the way in order to get there, because at the end of the day we are convinced we will receive the things He has promised.

The New Testament writers quoted the passage about Abraham believing God numerous times, not only here but in four other places as well: Romans 4:1-22, Galatians 3:6-9, Hebrews 11:8-10, and Hebrews 11:17-19, and the original passage from the Old Testament reads as follows:

1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” 2 But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?... 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” 5 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 And Abram believed the Lord, and He accredited it unto him for righteousness. (Genesis 15:1-6)

But notice where it all started. The Lord first promised to be Abraham's "exceedingly great reward," and make his offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven. His promises become our motivation in being willing to trust Him and serve Him.

So how did all this relate to early believers, and how does it all relate to us then? It mirrors what God did with the New Testament church, for He likewise told them they would be inheriting the kingdoms of this world after His second coming:

27 Then Peter answered and said to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?” 28 So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Matthew 19:27-28)

This was not a new promise but the repeating of an old one, for in speaking of how the Battle of Armageddon would end, the prophet Daniel prophesied long beforehand that the meek would inherit the kingdoms of this world; not just the twelve but the people of God as a whole, meaning they would reign over regions of the earth and enjoy having dominion over it some day. Speaking of what would take place after the Antichrist was deposed:

25 [The little horn] shall speak pompous words against the Most High, and shall persecute the saints of the Most High... 26 But the court shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and destroy it forever. 27 And then the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given over to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him. (Daniel 7:25-27)

Thus, the pattern the Lord used was the same. He first made an exceedingly great promise to His children and then asked them to believe in it, knowing it would take faith and corresponding actions to see it fulfilled. In the case of the early church, He knew they would have to endure all sorts of hardships and persecution, so they too would have to make sacrifices in order to see it through to the end.

There is an analogy to this that fits almost perfectly from the sports world. Successful coaches make a great deal of money because hiring them makes the hope of winning a championship suddenly a very real possibility. They know how to get a team to the place where they can win one. Yet the players know it will not happen by accident. It will take listening on their part, working hard, and then implementing what he teaches. And what will such a coach be looking for in players? If he is hired to take over a weak program where few if any of the players know what it will take, he will not be looking simply for who are currently the best players on the team. Rather, he will be looking for those who will listen and put in the most effort to improve, bringing in others who have the same mentality. The reason is because he knows they ALL have a long ways to go yet, so he will be going more on potential than current talent. This, then, is why he will accredit better play to the ones listening, working hard, and obeying his instructions, because they will be the ones most likely to eventually get where he truly needs them to get to in order to attain to the promise of winning a championship.

So it is with how God accredits righteousness unto those who have faith in His promises. He looks for those who will trust Him and completely buy in, because He knows they will eventually attain to the spiritual greatness he wants for them if they keep listening to Him, trusting Him, believing in Him, working hard, sacrificing when necessary, and doing whatever it takes to attain glory. This is why when it comes to our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, our faith in His promises will be accredited unto us as righteousness. Genuine faith will eventually be reflected in actions.

 

[Hidden In Him]

A Righteousness That Exceeds The Pharisees

Building on this same theme, sometimes athletes assume they have arrived and no longer need to work to get any better. This is usually about the time when a coach will either sternly set them straight or cut them from the team, because such attitudes are entirely unacceptable. So too were the Pharisees, in coming to the mindset that their "righteousness" was such that they didn't need the Lord Jesus Christ telling them what to do, and as a result closed their ears to Him (Luke 18:9-14).

For those still listening, Jesus warned that their righteousness would have to exceed that of the Pharisees, for they harbored among other things a spirit of murder in their hearts, one that sometimes became evident in the words they spoke. As He preached from the beginning to everyone with ears to hear:

20 I say unto you, that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of Heaven. 21 You have heard that it was said to those of old, "You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment." 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, "Raca!" shall be in danger of the council, but whoever says, "You fool!" shall be in danger of Gehenna. (Matthew 5:20-22)

It was what came from the heart that spiritually defiled a man, and yet all the Pharisees were focused on was the act. He was warning them from the outset that they were going to hate Him without cause, and desire to murder Him unjustly, but they didn't listen. Why? Because they assumed they were in right standing with God when they were not. As Jesus would tell them, though they assumed themselves to be children of Abraham, the spirit of murder that dwelt within their hearts made them children of the Devil instead:

37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. 38 I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.” 39 They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. 40 But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. 41 You do the deeds of your father.” (John 8:37-41)

The Pharisees were like players who assumed they had arrived and no longer needed a counselor, so they no longer had ears to receive correction. In reality their "righteousness" before God was severely lacking. James would make a similar point when he said, "You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe and tremble. But will you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?" The general thought here was, "Unless your works reflect genuine faith in God, you mere beliefs will not save you." This, then, is why Jesus taught that unless their righteousness exceeded that of the Pharisees, they would in no way enter the kingdom of Heaven.

So where is our spiritual "Coach" trying to get us to, and what did genuine faith look like at the dawn of Christianity? I will go back to what I posted in Part 1, for it basically spells out what Christianity was intended to be in the first century:

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from Heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest upon each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.... 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. 44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and they sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. 46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:1-4, 42-47)

In keeping with the analogy, this is the type of Christianity that wins "championships" so to speak, and will produce a great harvest before His return finally comes. It manifests both the supernatural gifts and the fruit of the Spirit (Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Forbearance, etc) which was the exact opposite of what the Pharisees walked in. They walked in spirits of hatred, murder, condemnation and covetousness. The troubling part, however, was that the church now appeared to be devolving back into the same habits of Judaism and manifesting the same spirits, drifting back into a spiritually defiled religion and not a pure one. They were speaking and teaching "wisdom" that came from demons rather than from above, and were cursing one another instead of blessing them (Chapter 3).

Some if not much of institutional Christianity is unfortunately in a similar place today. In fact, some sections of the modern church may be even worse off than the Pharisees were. But others are increasingly returning to the Christianity laid down by Christ and the apostles. As those numbers increase, there will be more who reflect the true faith and the true practices the early church, and manifest what they originally walked in after the Day of Pentecost; a faith that is not dead but produces true works, and manifests Christ in His fulness in all things.


Questions And Applications

1. There are many promises of God being declared from pulpits today, both earthly promises and heavenly ones. Give examples of the messages you have heard or that you remember, and how they are effecting the body of Christ, whether for good or in some cases potentially just for exploitation and evil. In other words, try and distinguish between true promises of God we should be clinging to and those that could be based on misrepresentations of the word.

2. What sacrifices are you presently making for the Lord? Are you sacrificing time and energy in some say? Possibly money, or other interests you have given up to honor God instead?

3. Just how big are the sacrifices you think you would be willing to make if He asked you to? Put yourself in Abraham's shoes, for example. Would have obediently carried out the sacrifice of your own child if asked? Feel free to be honest if the answer is no, because this demonstrated an extraordinary level of obedience. It is virtually unparalleled in scripture.