When James says, "17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone."
He is speaking in the mood of unreality. Faith can never be dead. It can only be alive and active. "and I will shew thee my faith by my works."
Otherwise James would have said "and I might shew thee my faith etc."
Works of compassion show if you have faith, but those works of compassion must flow from faith, "26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."
The meaning is not, that works are to faith what the spirit is to the body, for that would make works to be the life of faith, the reverse of the fact; but the meaning is, that faith having no works is like a dead carcass without life.
Therefore James is showing the difference between "dead faith" which is really no faith at all, but the "faith" of boasters who claim to have faith and faith that is real. How can I explain it, its almost as if James is saying, "Ok, this is what you think faith is, lets take your faith and put it to the test. Then I will show you what genuine faith involves. Abraham followed this rule and others after him."
Calvin's commentary,
"That we may not then fall into that false reasoning which has deceived the Sophists, we must take notice of the TWO FOLD MEANING(very important, also context!) of the word justified. Paul means by it the gratuitous imputation of righteousness before the tribunal of God; and James, the manifestation of righteousness by the conduct, and that before men, as we may gather from the preceding words, "Shew to me thy faith," etc. In this sense we fully allow that man is justified by works, as when any one says that a man is enriched by the purchase of a large and valuable chest, because his riches, before hid, shut up in a chest, were thus made known.
22. By works was faith made perfect.2 By this he again shews, that the question here is NOT respecting the cause of our salvation, but whether works necessarily accompany faith(this is also very crucial!); for in this sense it is said to have been perfected by works, because it was not idle. It is said to have been perfected by works, not because it received thence its own perfection, but because it was thus proved to be true. For the futile distinction which the Sophists draw from these words, between formed and unformed faith, needs no labored refutation; for the faith of Abram was formed and therefore perfected before he sacrificed his son. And this work was not as it were the finishing, or last work. Formerly things afterwards followed by which Abraham proved the increase of his faith. Hence this was not the perfection of his faith, nor did it then for the first time put on its form. James then understood no other thing, than that the integrity of his faith then appeared, because it brought forth that remarkable fruit of obedience.
23. And the Scripture was fulfilled. They who seek to prove from this passage of James that the works of Abraham were imputed for righteousness, must necessarily confess that Scripture is perverted by him; for however they may turn and twist, they can never make the effect to be its own cause. The passage is quoted from Moses. (Genesis 15:6.) The imputation of righteousness which Moses mentions, preceded more than thirty years the work by which they would have Abraham to have been justified.(I think this is the whole crux of the arguement and demolishes the argement that the Catholics use.) Since faith was imputed to Abraham fifteen years before the birth of Isaac, this could not surely have been done through the work of sacrificing him. I consider that all those are bound fast by an indissoluble knot, who imagine that righteousness was imputed to Abraham before God, because he sacrificed his son Isaac, who was not yet born when the Holy Spirit declared that Abraham was justified. It hence necessarily follows that something posterior is pointed out here.
Why then does James say that it was fulfilled? Even because he intended to shew what sort of faith that was which justified Abraham; that is, that it was not idle or evanescent, but rendered him obedient to God, as also we find in Hebrews 11:8. The conclusion, which is immediately added, as it depends on this, has no other meaning. Man is not justified by faith alone, that is, by a bare and empty knowledge of God; he is justified by works, that is, his righteousness is known and proved by its fruits.
25. Likewise also was not Rahab. It seems strange that he connected together those who were so unlike. Why did he not rather choose some one from so large a number of illustrious fathers, and join him to Abraham? Why did he prefer a harlot to all others? he designedly put together two persons so different in their character, in order more clearly to shew, that no one, whatever may have been his or her condition, nation, or class in society, has ever been counted righteous without good works. He had named the patriarch, by far the most eminent of all; he now includes under the person of a harlot, all those who, being aliens, were joined to the Church. Whosoever, then, seeks to be counted righteous, though he may even be among the lowest, must yet shew that he is such by good works.
James, according to his manner of speaking, declares that Rahab was justified by works; and the Sophists hence conclude that we obtain righteousness by the merits of works. But he deny that the dispute here is concerning the mode of obtaining righteousness. We, indeed, allow that good works are required for righteousness; we only take away from them the power of conferring righteousness, because they cannot stand before the tribunal of God."
"Thou sees that Abraham was aided by his faith to do his remarkable works." Excellent!
I must admit that I have never really given a thought to going through the book of James, it seems like quite a challenging book to grapple with. I feel that there were men who boasted of faith and were unloving, like alot of the teachers these days who boast that they have this incredible faith to heal people or speak in tongues of angels etc. James is speaking against that poisonous "faith" that the hypocrites have that will not produce love, but only self-love.
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