James 2:14-26
Dear RTB’ers,
Today we are reading that section in James which many people either embrace or shun – faith and works. You can often hear it said that Martin Luther wanted the book of James eliminated from Scripture. With a quick Internet search I found that he did not want it eliminated, but he did include it in his translation along with other books that he considered less important, that he referred to James as an “epistle of straw”. According to one writer, “it does not possess God’s gospel word with the purity that other NT writings possess.”
So, faith and works… Here are two key verses: So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. (vv. 17, 26) Both John and I have commented on this topic in earlier posts (e.g., from 2023 and 2020). My Study Bible also says it about as clearly as anything that I have ever read: “James means only that righteous action is evidence of genuine faith—not that it saves…”
Faith and works… Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. (v. 18b)
Blessings.