James 2:15 - Printer Friendly

ESV: If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,

NIV: Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.

NASB: If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,

CSB: If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food

NLT: Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing,

KJV: If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,

NKJV: If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,

James began this controversial section, in verse 14, by asking a potent question: Can a claimed faith in Christ, which does not lead to good works, be the kind of faith that leads to salvation? The question is very narrow: James specifies that he is only questioning the "faith" he just defined: that which produces no good works. As these next verses will show, James's answer to that question is, "No, it does not."

The point is not that faith is not enough to save us. The verses which follow will flesh out the point James is attempting to make. In short: that the same faith which grants us salvation is the same faith which produces good works. "Faith" which is only mental agreement is not saving faith.

Here in verse 15, James begins to paint a picture to illustrate his point: a fellow believer in Christ who lacks enough clothing or food. This would have been an easy thing for James' readers to imagine. They saw people like that on a regular basis. Bitter poverty was rampant among the poorest of the poor in that era. It's not a hard thing for us to picture, either, though we may not have met anyone in such dire circumstances in person.

But suppose we did. James will ask us to consider what we might think about such a person, and what we might do about their condition. In verse 16, James will make the point that what a person does is the result of what they truly believe. In other words, a claimed "belief," or "faith," which produces no corresponding actions is pointless and dead.

James 2:14–26 makes the case that how one acts—their ''works''—are a sign of the kind of ''faith'' they possess. So-called-''faith'' which doesn't lead a person to participate in good works is not a saving faith; it is a dead thing. It is pointless and meaningless to believe, or ''wish,'' a poverty-stricken person to be well, if such an opinion leads to no action. In exactly the same way, James insists that it is not enough to mentally agree about certain facts of God. If what a person believes about God does not lead them to act accordingly, then their ''faith'' is not saving faith. It is merely opinion. James never says that faith is not essential for salvation. He never claims works are required to obtain or keep salvation. He is, however, crystal clear that truly saving faith cannot be separated from the evidence of good works.

Genuine saving faith in God leads to good and loving actions: ''works.'' In chapter 1, James discussed the importance of acting on the words of God, not merely hearing them. Favoritism to the rich over the poor demonstrates a lack of faith. In fact, this is a sin. Following up on these ideas, James insists that ''faith'' which doesn't result in good works is dead. Such belief is merely intellectual agreement. It is not trust, or true, biblical saving faith. James doesn't deny that belief in God is essential to salvation, nor does he claim that works are necessary to obtain salvation. Rather, he makes the case that works are to faith what the breath is to the body: a sign of life. A ''faith'' without works is like a body without breath: dead.

In chapter 1, James taught that a saving belief in God changes how a Christian looks at trials in their lives. It affects where they turn for help, and who they credit for good. Believers hear the Word and do it. In this chapter, James insists that our faith in God should keep us from showing favoritism to the rich and powerful on earth and should provoke us to love our poor neighbors as ourselves. He also makes the case that so-called-''faith'' which does not result in works, is not saving faith, at all. Despite controversy, this does not clash with Paul's view of salvation by grace alone. James refers to good works as an expected outcome of salvation, not the source of it. In the following chapters, he will continue to show what a life of genuine faith looks like.

The book of James is about specifically understanding what saving faith looks like. How does faith in Christ reveal itself in a believer's life? What choices does real trust in God lead us to make? Those are the questions James answers. Most scholars believe the writer was Jesus' half-brother, a son born to Joseph and Mary after Jesus' birth. James may not have come to believe Jesus was the Messiah until after the resurrection. Eventually, though, he became one of the leaders of the Christian church in Jerusalem. This is possibly the earliest-written of all the New Testament books, around AD 40–50. James addresses his letter to Jewish Christians scattered around the known world.