(10-13) The serious matter of obeying all of God’s commands.
For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
a. Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all: James here guards us against a selective obedience, the sort that will pick and choose which commands of God should be obeyed and which can be safely disregarded.
i. We can’t say, “I like God’s command against murder, so I’ll keep that one. But I don’t like His command against adultery, so I will disregard it.” God cares about the whole law.
ii. The whole law must be kept if one will be justified by the law. “In the tract Shabbath, fol. 70, where they dispute concerning the thirty-nine works commanded by Moses, Rabbi Yochanan says: But if a man do the whole, with the omission of one, he is guilty of the whole, with the one.” (Clarke) Adamson quotes one ancient Rabbi who taught: “If a man perform all the commandments, save one, he is guilty of all and each; to break one precept is to defy God who commanded the whole.”
iii. “He breaks the whole law, though not the whole of the law: as he that wounds a man’s arm wounds the whole man, though not the whole of the man.” (Poole)
b. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty: We are under the law of liberty. It has liberty, yet it is still a law that must be obeyed and that we will be judged by at the judgment seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10).
i. “It is also called a law of liberty, because it is freely and willingly kept of the regenerate, to whom it is no burden or bondage.” (Trapp)
c. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy: As those who will be judged by the law of liberty, we should always show mercy to others by refraining from partiality. The mercy we show will be extended to us again on the day of judgment, and that mercy triumphs over judgment.
i. James is relating another principle of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount: For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you (Matthew 7:2).
ii. “The law of liberty is the law which defines our relationship to God and man as love-mastered. To speak and do under that impulse, is to be free indeed. If that law be disobeyed, if no mercy be shown, then judgment based upon that law will show no mercy.” (Morgan)
iii. “The law of freedom is not laxity but a strict ethical rule of God, and we shall be judged by our adherence to its supreme principle of brotherly love or mercy, i.e. compassion for the sins and sufferings of our fellows.” (Moffatt)
iv. Mercy triumphs over judgment: Moffatt translates this, “The merciful life will triumph in the face of judgment.” “That is, the merciful man glorieth, as one that hath received mercy, and shall not come into condemnation; for God’s mercy rejoiceth against such a man’s sins, as against an adversary which he hath subdued and trampled on.” (Trapp)
B. The demonstration of a living faith in loving action.
1. (14) The principle established: true faith will be accompanied by action.
What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?
a. What does it profit, my brethren: James thought it impossible that someone could genuinely have saving faith with no works. But someone could say he has faith, but fail to show good works. So, the question is valid: Can that kind of faith save him?
i. “The apostle had just before declared, that they who are unmerciful to men shall find God severe to themselves, and have judgment without mercy: but hypocritical professors boasted of their faith as sufficient to secure them against that judgment, though they neglected the practice of holiness and righteousness.” (Poole)
b. Someone says he has faith but does not have works: James wrote to Christians from a Jewish background that discovered the glory of salvation by faith. They knew the exhilaration of freedom from works-righteousness. But they then went to the other extreme of thinking that works didn’t matter at all.
c. Can faith save him? James did not contradict the Apostle Paul, who insisted that we are saved not of works (Ephesians 2:9). James merely clarifies for us the kind of faith that saves. We are saved by grace through faith, not by works; but saving faith will have works that accompany it. As a saying goes: faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is not alone; it has good works with it.
i. Paul also understood the necessity of works in proving the character of our faith. He wrote: For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10). He also wrote: This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. (Titus 3:8)
ii. Can faith save him? “That is, his profession of faith; for it is not said that he has faith, but that he says, I have faith.” (Clarke)
2. (15-17) An example of dead faith.
If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
a. If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food: To fail in the most simple good work towards a brother or sister in need demonstrates that one does not have a living faith, and we can only be saved by a living faith in Jesus.
i. “Under these two of nakedness and hunger, he comprehends all the calamities of human life, which may be relieved by the help of others; as food and raiment contain all the ordinary supports and comforts of life, Genesis 28:20; Matthew 6:25; 1 Timothy 6:8.” (Poole)
b. Be warmed and filled: To say this means you know that the person in front of you needs clothing and food. You know their need well, but offer nothing to help them except a few religious words.
i. “How many have we now-a-days that will be but as friends at a sneeze! The most you can get out of these benefactors is, ‘God bless you, Christ help you.’” (Trapp)
c. What does it profit? Real faith, and the works that accompany it, are not made up of only spiritual things, but also of a concern for the most basic needs – such as the need for comfort, covering, and food. When needs arise, we should sometimes pray less, and simply do more to help the person in need. We can sometimes pray as a substitute for action.
i. “Your pretending to have faith, while you have no works of charity or mercy, is utterly vain: for as faith, which is a principle in the mind, cannot be discerned but by the effects, that is, good works; he who has no good works has, presumptively, no faith.” (Clarke)
d. Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead: This is the first time James speaks of a dead faith. Faith alone saves us, but it must be a living faith. We can tell if faith is alive by seeing if it is accompanied by works, and if it does not have works, it is dead.
i. A living faith is simply real faith. If we really believe something we will follow through and act upon it. If we really put our trust and faith on Jesus, we will care for the naked and destitute as He told us to do.
ii. “He doth not say, faith is dead without works, lest it should be thought that works were the cause of the life of faith; but faith without works is dead; implying, that works are the effects and signs of the life of faith.” (Poole)
iii. What are some marks of saving faith?
· It is faith that looks not to self, but to Jesus Christ.
· It is faith that agrees with God’s word, both inwardly and with words.
· It is faith that in itself is not a work that deserves reward from God; in this sense it is simply refusing to think God is a liar, and that in itself is not a good work, simply the absence of a sinful work.
· It is faith grounded in what Jesus did on the cross and by the empty tomb.
· It is faith that will naturally be expressed in repentance and good works.
· It is faith that may sometimes doubt; yet the doubts are not bigger than the faith nor are they more permanent than the faith. This faith can say, “Lord I believe; help my unbelief.”
· It is faith that wants others to come to the same faith.
· It is faith that says more than “Lord, Lord” as in Matthew 7:21-23.
· It is faith that not only hears the word of God but does it, as in Matthew 7:24-27.
3. (18-19) A living faith cannot be separated from works.
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe— and tremble!
a. You have faith, and I have works: Some might try to say that some have the “gift” of works and others have the “gift” of faith. “It’s fine for you to have your gift of works and that you care for the needy. But that isn’t my gift.” James will not allow this kind of thinking. Real faith will be demonstrated by works.
b. Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works: The appeal of James is clear and logical. We can’t “see” someone’s faith, but we can see their works. You can’t see faith without works, but you can demonstrate the reality of faith by works.
c. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe; and tremble! The fallacy of faith without works is demonstrated by the demons, which have a “dead” faith in God. The demons believe in the sense that they acknowledge that God exists. But this kind of faith does nothing for the demons, because it isn’t real faith, and that is proved by the fact that it doesn’t have works along with it.