Faith, Works, Evidence
What reasons are there to think you really believe?
October, 2024
Note: this month's editorial was adapted from our ministry's article, found here: Why is faith without works dead?
Is it possible to love someone, yet never say nice things to them, nor help them, nor give others the impression that you love them? Can you truly love a person and never really show it? In an obscure, abstract way, it's possible to have passing affection that never results in actions. However, it seems obvious that so-called-love which never does anything isn't much love at all. In fact, doing nothing probably means there is no love, period.
It's the same with faith and works.
"Works" are the actions and outcomes associated with saving faith—they are not required to have saving faith, but saving faith is expected to lead to good works. A person showing no discernible difference from the world, no changed life, no fruit of the Spirit, etc. has a "dead" faith, which likely means they have no faith, to begin with.
James says, "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (James 2:26). Faith without works is called "dead" because it reveals an unaffected life and a spiritually dead heart. Scripture says true saving faith will result in a transformed life (2 Corinthians 3:18; 5:17), and that faith is demonstrated by the works we do (Ephesians 2:10). How we live reveals what we believe and whether the faith we profess is real.
James 2:14–26 is sometimes taken out of context in an attempt to create a works-based system of righteousness; that is contrary to many other passages of Scripture (Titus 3:5; Ephesians 2:8–9). James is not saying that good deeds and holy living make us righteous before God. He means that genuine saving faith is demonstrated by how we live, think, and act. Works are not the cause of salvation; works are the evidence of salvation.
Saving faith in Christ always results in "good works" in the sense of actions, attitudes, spiritual growth, and such. The person who claims Christ but lives in willful disobedience to Him has a false, or dead faith (James 2:19) and can't reasonably assume to be saved. Paul basically says the same thing in 1 Corinthians 6:9–10. James contrasts two different types of faith—true faith that saves and false faith that is dead.
Many profess to be Christians, but their lives and priorities indicate otherwise. Jesus put it this way:
"By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them. Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?' Then I will declare to them solemnly, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers'" (Matthew 7:16–23).Notice that Jesus's message is the same as that of James. Obedience to God is the mark of true saving faith. James uses the examples of Abraham and Rahab to illustrate how obedience accompanies salvation and demonstrates it for others. Simply saying we believe in Jesus does not save us, nor do religious actions. What saves us is the Holy Spirit's regeneration of our hearts. That regeneration will invariably draw us towards a life of faith featuring ongoing obedience to God.
Almost every error about works and faith boils down to two extremes. The first error is sometimes called "easy believe-ism:" teaching that, as long as a person prayed a prayer or said, "I believe in Jesus," then they are saved, no matter what. This would imply that a person who raised his hand as a child during a church service is saved, though he has never shown any desire to walk with God since and is living in blatant sin. Also called "decisional regeneration," this teaching is dangerous and deceptive. The idea that a profession of faith saves a person, even if he lives like the devil afterwards, assumes a new category of believer called the "carnal Christian." This allows various ungodly lifestyles to be excused: a man may be an unrepentant adulterer, liar, or bank robber, but he's being reassured that he's saved; he's just "carnal." Yet, as we can see in James 2, an empty profession of faith is truly empty. Belief that does not result in obedience to Christ is a dead faith that cannot save.
The other error concerning works and faith is attempting to make good deeds, rituals, and other works part of what justifies us before God. The mixture of works and faith to earn salvation is contrary to what Scripture teaches. Romans 4:5 says, "To him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness." There is no conflict between that and James' remark that "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:26).
We are justified by grace through faith, and the natural result of faith in the heart is works that all can see. The works that follow salvation do not make us righteous before God; they simply flow from the regenerated heart as naturally as water flows from a spring.
Salvation is a sovereign act of God, where an unregenerate sinner has the "washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit" poured out on him (Titus 3:5), causing him to be born again (John 3:3). When this happens, God gives the forgiven sinner a new heart and puts a new spirit within him (Ezekiel 36:26). God removes his sin-hardened heart of stone and fills him with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit then causes the saved person to walk in obedience to God's Word (Ezekiel 36:26–27).
Faith without works can be labeled "dead" because it reveals a heart that has not been transformed by God. When we have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, our lives will demonstrate that new life. Our works will be characterized by obedience to God. Unseen faith will become seen by the production of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives (Galatians 5:22). Christians belong to Christ, the Good Shepherd. As His sheep we hear His voice and follow Him (John 10:26–30).
Faith without works is dead because living faith results in a new creation, not a repetition of the same old patterns of sinful behavior. As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
Faith without works is dead because it comes from a heart that has not been regenerated by God. Empty professions of belief or approval have no power to change lives. Those who pay lip service to faith but who do not possess the Spirit will hear Christ Himself say to them, "I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers" (Matthew 7:23).
-Editor
