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¹⁴What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? ¹⁵Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

¹⁸But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. ¹⁹You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-and shudder.

²⁰You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? ²¹Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²²You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ²³And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. ²⁴You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

Are we saved by grace through faith alone (Eph. 2:8-9) or do we also need good works?

James does not argue that good works are required for salvation. Nor does he say that deeds are more important than beliefs. Rather, he insists that there are two kinds of faith—one legitimate and the other illegitimate; faith…made complete (v.22) and faith without deeds (v.20). Both are 'Belief" in one sense of the word. But legitimate faith goes deeper than "right thinking" to "right living."

Confusion may arise, however, when we recall that Paul writes that we cannot earn salvation. He uses Abraham as an example of one who received God's promise, not through human effort, but through faith (Gal. 3:6-12).

James also uses Abraham as an example, but his focus and emphasis are different than Paul's. He skips over the futility of human effort to discuss the futility of deficient faith—faith that stops at the intellectual level. Even demons have that kind of "faith," James exclaims (v. 19)!

James's point, then, is that Abraham exercised authentic faith—demonstrated by his actions. Abraham's deeds earned him nothing, but they proved his faith was genuine: Right faith led to right actions. If he had not trusted God, Abraham could never have offered his son—the fulfillment of God's promise—on the altar (vv. 21-22). Paul uses Abraham to show that people are justified on the basis of real faith; James shows that Abraham's faith was proven to be real because it worked (compare Gal. 5:6).

So then, we don't need anything but faith—the right kind of faith—to be saved by God. And our behavior will show what our faith is made of, whether or not it is legitimate.

A sample from the best-selling Quest Study Bible. Copyright © Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. www.Zondervan.com. To order, click here.

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