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Galatians 5.6-
Milk
June 16th 2019
Okay, even though we are studying Galatians we stopped last week in chapter 5 and verse 6 where Paul wrote the following:
“For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; “but faith which worketh by love.””
In Christianity, “faith which worketh by love avails or accomplished things” is another way to say this last line.
And this led us into a discussion on the grand argument is it faith or works or both? And I suggested that the argument is futile because to pick faith (is like picking the brain alone which cannot function without the heart pumping blood to it) and to pick love (which is the work demanded of all true Christians) is like picking the heart without a brain to tell it to beat!
So we turned to James chapter 2 which explains the relationship between the two on one extreme just as Paul explained the relationship on the other.
And we left off with James saying:
2:14 (WNT) What good is it, my brethren, if a man professes to have faith, and yet his actions do not correspond? Can such faith save him?
I think it is really important to remember that James is talking here about faith. This is the premise faith – and those who claim to have it.
The other translators refer to this when they ask:
“Can such a faith save him,” meaning a faith that professes (speaks) but doesn’t have ANY corresponding activity to back it up or sidle up to it, can such a faith actually save a person . . . or it even faith?
To me we can argue that genuine faith works so therefore faith that does not work is no faith at all – anymore, than a heart can function without the mind or the mind can function without the heart.
When the mind functions the heart functions and when the heart functions the mind functions. This to me is the best way to understand true faith and true love.
But, when we consider Paul’s writings on faith and works it seems that faith is absolutely void of works which is why he says:
“Otherwise works would no more be works.”
So we must first see saving FAITH for what it is – “the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen,” and that it bears absolutely no component of works, labors or actions.
In my estimation this must be understood right off the bat if we are going to have a reasonable argument or discussion on the matter. To not admit this is to dismiss Paul and his assessment of the matter.
The question THEN becomes, can the type of faith that says “I believe, I trust, I love” actually save a person if it simultaneously does nothing to serve, help, or act anyone amidst its claims to believe?”
James says no way – this type of so-called “faith is held in vain. And I could NOT agree more.
We have long tried to say that a faith which does nothing is really not faith at all but I think this is a misnomer. I think to believe in any sense of the word is faith.
But instead of quibbling over if a person REALLY has had faith or not, the fight is whether the faith they possess is rich enough, deep enough, virulent enough, powerful enough, to cause someone to act, to labor, to move, to do, in short, to love . . . which is the second Christian command?
In other words, the faith that saves (and remember it is by grace we are saved THROUGH faith) but the faith that saves is ALWAYS accompanied by activity once it has become strong enough to support such love.
A failing faith, a weak or new or nascent faith, will always fail to move a person to the Christian action of loves just as a weak branch cannot bear a small, let alone large piece of fruit.
We might liken faith in this sense to levels of love.
We love some people generally but often that general love will only lead to a certain amount of devotion and activity.
For others we may have a far deeper level of love where our actions and devotions toward them are much deeper, longer and long lasting.
Then there are those select few who we love so much we would serve their every need unconditionally, give our very lives for them, and sacrifice all we’ve got for their benefit.
In this comparative love in expressed at every level but only at the deepest levels is love best expressed.
I think it is a mistake to say that when sacrifice for another is at a minimum that love is absent. Not so. It’s just not abundant.
So it is when we speak of faith, faith is faith. But it appears faith can be present at such minimum levels that it is incapable of saving a person.
Therefore, when Paul says we are saved by grace through faith he is absolutely correct. There is nothing else to the faith – it stands alone.
And all James is pointing out is that the type or kind of faith that saves always comes – to some extent or another – with the propensity to love. Or what he says is work.
Stay with me.
The two great commandments are to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and to Love your neighbor as yourself, right.
Whenever ANYONE comes to any amount of genuine salvivic faith, James is saying that the work of love is always attached.
Let’s me explain.
I am a sinful man who does not know the Lord at all and am alienated from Him. When I come to genuine faith and am saved, I receive the COIN of SALVATION.
Here it is. God hands it to me and says, By my grace according to your faith you have been saved. Here is the coin of salvation.
“Wow,” you say, that is awesome. A free gift of grace granted to me by faith in His Son.”
Well, the thing about coins is they typically have two sides. On the one side we read faith that saves, but on the flip side of the genuine coin of salvation we read, “love that abides.”
Whenever real saving faith is present, love that abides is present with it right on the other side.
Now, you might say, “when I first believed, I didn’t love. I would suggest otherwise.
In would suggest that when you first believed with faith unto salvation you simultaneously loved the Lord and became grateful (to some extent or another) for His sacrifice – and therefore him.
This is James point. He is saying that to possess the type of faith that does not come with some sort of love profits nobody . . . OR . . .
“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?”
Such a faith cannot. Such a faith never could. Again, I don’t believe that such a faith is not faith – I think it is – but it is such a pathetic form it fails to move a person to the love that always comes with powerful saving faith.
We might liken this weak type of faith to the kind that says,
“Well yeah, I believe in Jesus. Sure.”
OR
“I have faith in God and think that whatever He wants he’ll get so I really don’t worry about it.”
There is, in these cases, a statement of faith, and acquiescence, but such a faith cannot save a person. Instead, saving faith always arrives hand in hand with love. Always.
And as saving faith “increases in size,” so does the love – in exact proportion.
We might think of the coin of salvation – again with faith on one side and love on the other – as starting off the size of a widows mite and over the course of our Christian lives growing to size of an American half dollar, a pancake, a platter, a man hole cover, a beach umbrella, a satellite dish, a country.
So, Paul is exactly right in his teaching of being saved by grace through faith alone.
And James is correct in teaching that the type of faith Paul alluded to always comes with love – or what he curiously calls “works.”
Looking back at verse 14 James asked:
“If a man SAY he has faith” – if he makes a verbal profession of faith:
“I believe.”
“I trust in Jesus.”
“I follow Jesus”
But he does nothing to substantiate his expression or claim, he would be like a person who sees a person in need of clothing or food but only SAYS to him,
“be warmed or be filled,” that this type of response profits nobody – neither the speaker NOR the receiver.
It does not profit (“ofelos” in the Greek) – what advantage does it produce, what gain?
In large part due to the Protestant Reformation and Luther’s focus on grace (which really stopped short in my estimation of putting grace ahead of religious ritual – but that’s another matter) but since the Reformation Sola Gratia (grace alone) has been a strong standard in Christian circles.
And for good reason. Paul said clearly, plainly and succinctly:
Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:”
Romans 11:6 “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.”
We mentioned how important it is, when we approach James, that we remember that he is speaking of FAITH – and what saving faith looks like.
According to James it looks no more like a guy claiming to follow Jesus but never showing it than it looks like a person saying he cares for the poor but does nothing to actually help them.
In other words, the coin of salvation, which is granted by God according to His grace according to our faith has another side – what James calls works.
If a person claims to have received the coin of salvation by God’s grace through faith James is saying that hand in hand with His professed faith there would be works.
Otherwise, he adds, “what would the faith profit?”
I think we sometimes get the idea that God is not a God who cares about improvements, or profits, or fixing things.
On the contrary, that is all He is about – saving, redeeming, fixing, reconciling . . . and therefore improving or profiting.
Therefore I think we can safely say that Christianity is all about such things, and it’s NOT just centered on the fact that we have individually been redeemed.
I am convinced that God wants all of his redeemed to produce fruit . . . to profit . . . to increase.
The focus on Sola Gratia, if not taught contextually, can have the tendency to cause some people to think that Christianity is all about “them” and their salvation experience when frankly it is really all about others and how our experience translates to them.
As a distinction, I think Paul is speaking of “faith saving” while James is talking about the lives of those who have been “saved by faith.”
Paul is speaking about why God grants the coin of salvation to an individual and James is talking about the lives of those who have been given the coin.
So after saying: (at verse 17)
17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
He adds:
18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
I gotta be honest with you the way this passage comes out in the King James really bothers me personally.
I don’t get the way it’s written. So I consulted some other translations. They put it this way:
(BBE) But a man may say, You have faith and I have works; let me see your faith without your works, and I will make my faith clear to you by my works.
(TCNT) Some one, indeed, may say–“You are a man of faith, and I am a man of action.” “Then show me your faith,” I reply, “apart from any actions, and I will show you my faith by my actions.”
In other words, James is presenting a theoretical discussion for us. And he says,
Suppose a guy makes an observation and looking at another guy says (to him)
“You are a man of faith and I am a man of action,” and then he throws down the challenge:
“You show me your faith – display it! What does it look like without any actions at all, without any works, or without displaying any activity? – and I will then prove my faith by my activities, my labor, and the works you see me do.”
Because of this passage many people have suggested that Paul, when he wrote about faith saving us, that he was referring to what God sees in the heart of a person – their belief, their faith in Christ – and seeing this, God grants a person salvation, therefore it is by grace that we are saved through faith and not of works.
They go on to suggest that James here is writing to what men see – that because the faith of a person is invisible (we cannot ever really know what a person believes in their heart) that men look upon the works of another to determine the existence of their faith.
In other words, Paul’s faith speaks to how God determines our Christianity and James works speaks to how men view the same.
How did Jesus say men would know we are his disciples? By our love right? This is the view some think James is addressing.
While there may be truth to the fact that God sees the heart and men see the hands, I don’t think we can use the literal works of literal hands to prove a person has faith in Jesus.
Often the opposite is the case – meaning that there are those who trust so little in the finished work of Christ they work themselves to death with their hands as a means to try and earn their place in heaven.
Additionally, I reject the teaching that Paul was addressing God’s view of people (by looking at the faith in their hearts) and James was speaking of how men see us as Christians because the initial premise posed by James was:
“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can (such a faith) save him?”
So the question remains – Is a faith that arrives alone and never moves a person to work able to save?
While we have to say, “No, that type of faith could and would never save anyone,” we have to add (paradoxically) that “such a faith could never be considered Christian faith in the first place, which is a type of faith that, ALONE, does save.”
At the risk of presenting mixed metaphors we could appeal to a number of analogies to support this.
Saving faith is like a genuine living acorn – small and self-contained at first but in the end it will (not it must, but it will because of its nature) grow into an enormous tree of loving works.
It is in this context that we begin to understand Jesus words when He says in
Matthew 25 beginning at verse 34
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
To me, this describes those who, possessing “acorn faith” naturally grew into magnificent trees of love and served without any mandate . . . to the point they honestly and humbly had to ask the Lord when they ever served Him?
In the parable of the sower Jesus uses similar analogies (to the acorn) likening the word to seed cast on four types of ground with only one landing on good earth and therefore producing abundant fruit.
In this parable we note that the failure of the seed to grow is not the type or level of faith but the quality of the heart-ground upon which the good seed (being the Word of God) falls.
We also note that the reasons Jesus gave for the seed NOT bearing fruit (not working, not profiting) was that the ground upon which it fell was either too shallow, was rocky, or was among thorns.
Bringing James comments into play, we remember that he has told them that what people “say” must be in harmony with what they “do.”
He has also pointed out that the recipients of his epistle were giving honor to the rich but ignoring the poor.
When Jesus explains the parable of the Sower he explains that the stony ground represented persecutions due to the Word and that the Thorny ground represented the cares and riches of the World choking the fruit out I think we can find parallels to James admonition.
Possibly, the believers he was writing to were claiming to have faith in Jesus (the seed was planted in their hearts) but they were being persecuted, or they were showing partiality to the rich and not the poor because that is where their hearts were and James was plainly telling them that the end-result of such a faith was, as Jesus described, that they would be gathered up and burned.
James moves on now and sort of assails belief that arrives alone, saying:
19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
It’s almost like James took one of the single most important and distinguished beliefs in all of Judaism and Christianity – monotheism – which is reiterated in the first of the Ten Commandments – and says:
“Good for you. You do well. But even the devils accept or believe this, in fact they tremble over the fact.”
I find in this statement an important reiteration from James:
Even something as important as a monotheistic view of God, which implies they have no other God but Him, is hollow, if it arrives alone.
IOW, doctrine alone cannot save a person – even the demons know correct doctrine. The failure comes down to practice. They love the self so much that their correct understanding or belief in the One God is irrelevant – they’re still demons.
Paul touches on the principle when he reminds us in 1st Corinthians 13:2
“And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.”
Reading this, I want to point out something truly important which is often overlooked – when James speaks of works here he is speaking love – so we have perfect harmony between Paul’s words in 1st Corinthians 13 and James.
James adds
20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
The way this is written its sort of hard to get what he is asking but what he is saying is:
Do you want to understand better, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
“Will you have a full demonstration of my insight? Will you accept the clearest proofs that what I am saying is true?” he seems to ask.
And he asks this in preparation to give two examples from scripture of faith and works – one of Abraham and one of Rahab – which– we will get to in a minute.
But note the somewhat caustic pejorative James uses, referring to his reader as:
“O vain man.”
The King James translates this vain and other translations use “foolish” but the Greek word is Kenos and it really means “empty.”
I like this definition better because someone who had “said faith” but no love, could certainly be empty, couldn’t they?
Apparently, James felt that of all the evidences of faith and works in scripture that he could use to bolster his point here by specifically citing two – the story of Abraham and Isaac and the story of Rahab.
That’s initially intriguing isn’t it?
There’s a grand and poignant purpose to his choosing these two which will bring all of this to a great conclusion.
And so he says:
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Remember, he was writing to the converts from the House of Israel that had been scattered (into places not mentioned).
And so he appeals to two old Testament examples – the first being Father Abraham – the Father of Faith, right?
The illustration is pretty radical when we think about it. I mean Paul uses Abraham as the pillar of faith and as the example of being made righteous by faith alone and yet James uses this same person to prove a faith that produces works. And so he says:
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Remember now, the sense that James is appealing to this example of Abraham is in the sense that a person who professes faith in God proves/illustrates/shows the existence of this faith which they claim to have by labors.
It’s not that Abrahams actions justified Him before God – James couldn’t be saying this otherwise we would have a conflict with Paul who makes it clear in
Romans 4:3 that “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”
This Pauline principle was true in Abraham’s day and it remains the same with us unto salvation.
But James point is to say it was the actions Abraham took that proved or justified the faith that saved him (or put him in favor with God) were his actions or his labors! Theyt proved (fulfilled, made perfect) that he really had placed his faith and trust in God.
He is NOT suggesting that the ground upon which we are accepted by God is that we keep the law, or are perfect, or that our good works make an atonement for our sins, and that it is on their account that we are pardoned of sin.
Not at all.
Nor does he ever deny that it is necessary that a man should believe in order to be saved.
But James does clearly teach (and it is a teaching that cannot be ignored) that where there are no good works in the life of a professor then the professions of faith are in fact empty and that such a faith is dead.
Paul said that faith saved Abraham, not works. But James is showing that Abraham, who in faith trusted God, then did the works of God in and through LOVE.
Now, let me stop here because it is at this point where everyone with an opinion jumps in the ring and gives their definition of what “Works” in the Christian life consist.
Most of the opinions revolve around concepts like
Living holy lives OR
Doing something for the poor OR
Serving people in the Church OR
Going to the temple – you know – obeying ALL of God’s commandments.
In my estimation it is on this point that we are faced with the greatest frustration.
Remember, back when we talked about how even the devils believe, that I cited 1st Corinthians 13 as a means to show that knowledge and faith cannot save, which said:
“And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.”
Well after that Paul addresses all action (or works) and says:
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
Verse 2 tells us that knowledge and faith aren’t sufficient without love – that even the devils believe.
But verse 3 then takes us to outward expressions of devotion and labors aren’t enough, saying:
“And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” Proving that doing and giving do not amount to agape love.
Loving what? Loving who?
When Jesus was approached by a lawyer in Matthew, he asked Jesus, tempting him:
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
So, the labor, the work, the good we do is summarized by these two commands –
Love God.
Love Neighbor.
A faith that says it believes in God (as even the devils believe) but does not love him and his neighbor (as the devils love neither) is dead faith. Empty.
In other words, faith without love for God and Neighbor is dead. This is how to understand James. Faith without love for God and neighbor is dead. It is empty and is not the type or level of faith that can save.
And it is at this point where James supplies us with two primary examples of Old Testament characters who showed ultimate love for God and ultimate love for neighbor – which is why he uses these two specific examples!.
The first, Abraham, who believe God and his promises that he would have a son and that that son would be the source of progeny numbering in heights to that of the stars.
But having believed that God would grant him such a son, his faith was made perfect when God told Abraham to go and sacrifice the same.
It was one thing for Abraham to believe God (and God imputed righteousness to Abraham for believing) but it was quite another thing for Abraham to prove that faith by illustrating love for God above all other things on earth – including the very life of his only son of promise.
Wild.
By acting, Abraham proved his faith and trust in the living God and the actions made his “said faith” complete, full, perfect.
God commanded Abraham and Abraham who claimed to love and believe in God went and acted proving his utmost for God over all other things.
In respect to this James adds:
22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
The word, “wrought” in the Greek is SOON ER GAYO and it means:
“co-operate with,”
It is used in scripture when two people or agents co-operate to produce a result.
Some would suggest that Abraham was made righteous by first trusting in God and His promises, but it was once his faith was tested and proved that he loved the Lord thy God with all of his heart and mind that his faith was seen as valid.
I would suggest that Abraham was justified by God when he first believed and that his faith cooperated later to help Abraham show, in this case God, an ultimate love for Him.
This is the case with each of us. God will allow us to express faith. To claim Him as our God and King. And then He slowly places us in positions where our said faith is allowed to prove and distinguish itself apart from dead faith.
By and through our love. So James adds:
(Verse 23)
23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
And so James then reiterates his point, saying:
24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
Again, I do not believe James is saying that we are justified before God by faith and love, but he says:
24 Ye see then how that by works or actions a man is justified, and not by faith only.
The line, “a man” may allude to the fact that our professed faith cannot possibly justify us (as HUMANS in the audience of HUMANS) without actions that prove our inward faith outwardly).
He is obviously warning believers against a cold, abstract, inoperative faith. He is pushing for a faith that performs acts of love and again, in his first example given shows how Abraham proved his faith by showing love for the Lord God with all his heart, the first great commandment.
Then he moves on to the second commandment which is like unto the first and is, “To love neighbor as self,” and he appeals to another Old Testament example – the actions of a whore named Rahab.
And so he says:
25 Likewise (with the second great commandment being LIKE UNTO the first, I think James use of likewise is important here. Anyway) Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
In the same sense in which Abraham proved his faith by an act of utter love for God alone James uses the story of Rahab to illustrate the second great commandment – to love neighbor as self.
Hers was not just a stated faith – it acted, proving her faith.
There are a number of things about the story of Rahab that I love. First of all, she was a harlot. Actually, living as a harlot when she exercised both faith and love.
Secondly, it was faith first that made Rahab great in the eyes of God and which granted her a place in the Hebrews 11 hall of fame of faith which says:
(Hebrews 11:31) “By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.”
Third, what proved Rahab’s faith was action that fulfilled the second great commandment of loving neighbor as self.
You recall the story. It’s found in
Joshua chapter 2 and it is remarkable in a number of ways:
Two men of the COI went to Jericho to spy it out and they came to Rahab the harlots house – and stayed with her.
That’s the first thing – these men stayed at the home of a harlot.
And the King of Jericho got word that the spies were there and he told her to bring the me forth.
And she lied to the King on their behalf and hid them saying, I don’t know where they are!”
She was first a woman of faith for she said to her two hidden guests, “that she knew that the LORD had given the COI the land, for, she said, “He is the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.
Then . . . she . . . let . . . them . . . down (an action of love for her neighbor) by a cord through the window
And they escaped.
Rahab first had faith – actually before the men even arrived in need of her help – And when they did arrive (why they went to her house remains a mystery but I would guess they were led of the Spirit) she proved her faith in the living God by her actions of love for neighbor.
In this ingenious epistle James established through the use of these two stories that faith comes first
Abraham and Rahab both believed and then love comes right in behind, in Abraham love for God even over his own Son, the first commandment, and in Rahab, love for neighbor.
Remove faith and or remove love, and scripture is pretty clear – we have a failed Christianity.
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