James 2:18 - Printer Friendly

ESV: But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

NIV: But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.

NASB: But someone may well say, 'You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.'

CSB: But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith by my works.

NLT: Now someone may argue, 'Some people have faith; others have good deeds.' But I say, 'How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.'

KJV: 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.

NKJV: 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.

James continues making the point that genuine, living faith in Christ results in a believer beginning to participate in good works. That is, Christians begin to obey their Father and love other believers as they love themselves. Those who don't do so have a dead faith (James 2:17). In verses 14 through 17, James gave a very specific teaching that so-called-"faith" which does not result in good works is just that: phony. At no point does James require works to earn salvation, or to keep it. Rather, James points out that what we do is the result of what we truly believe. Simply claiming to have faith in Christ is meaningless; saving faith is a faith which results in action.

Not all Bible scholars agree on how we should read this verse. It's clear that James is quoting someone, but there are no quotation marks in the original Greek language. The problem this presents is knowing where exactly the quotation stops, and where James' response to it begins. There are many different options, with a tremendous amount of material which could be discussed. In short, all possible interpretations point to the same fundamental teaching: the works a person does are the proof of the nature of their faith. Saving faith produces works, and those without works fail to show evidence that they are saved.

The majority of scholars and Bible translations believe James means the quote to be from someone objecting to his teaching. In that view, the quotation would end after the first sentence, with the phrase "I have works" in this verse. This view presents someone objecting to James by claiming that faith and works are completely unrelated. This might be a claim that some believers have "faith" and some have "works." It might be the claim that not every Christian needs to have them both—that some Christians are "faith" Christians and some Christians are "works" Christians.

James's argument here is entirely practical: show me. Show me any evidence for your faith without any works. It can't be done. People who truly believe something act on what they claim to believe. Faith that doesn't cause a person to act is a dead faith, not a saving faith. On the contrary, James writes, I can show you what I believe by the good works that I do.

Again, it's important not to read the wrong message into James's words. At no point does James disconnect salvation from faith. On the contrary, this entire passage is about the fact that we are only saved by faith—but that this faith is more than simply agreement. Saving faith produces works. So, while works do not save, those who are saved will, naturally, demonstrate good works.

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.