I remember when growing up, I used to find it tough to understand my parents’ logic behind discipline. They told me they punish me because they love me, but that was a challenging concept for a kid to understand. How could you punish someone you love? Only years later was I able to comprehend that my parents punished me so I could learn the seriousness behind doing something sinful and teach me to not do it again.
These concepts are called paradoxes – when two things seem to be contradictory but actually complement each other. The Bible is full of paradoxes, one of those being “salvation is apart from works but doesn’t exist without it”.
Breaking it down
When researching salvation in Scripture, we find time and time again that salvation cannot be obtained by our own works. Jesus died for this exact reason! He died as a sacrifice, a willing lamb, on the cross because we couldn’t receive salvation in any other way. God could not be pleased by our works and so He Himself had to acquire a way of salvation for us.
So if salvation is attained completely without works, why does James 2:24 tell us that faith without works is dead? Let’s take a look at an example actually shown to us in the Book of James.
James – the author – makes this paradox easier to understand by giving us a similar concept. He said that “the body without the spirit is dead…” – James 2:26. The original greek word used here for spirit is “pneuma” which could either be referring to the Holy Spirit or a person’s spirit. The context here points to a person’s spirit. What is a person’s spirit? Strong’s definition states, “…the rational soul, (by implication) vital principle, mental disposition”. So, what is James saying here? He is implying that a person without a spirit (i.e. emotions, mental life, or personality) wouldn’t be a person at all! Even if they have a body and a soul, to be a person, they would also have a spirit. So, in essence, a human is not made because they have a spirit, but instead, when a human is made, they are given a spirit.
The same rule applies to faith. We do not have faith because of works, but we practice works because of our faith!
James gives us another explanation by bringing up a familiar historical story to his audience. He talks about Rahab in the Book of Joshua when she hid the spies of Joshua in her house and stood against the king of Jericho. Was she seen as righteous because of this deed? No! Instead, her faith and fear of God, which drove her to protect the spies, made her righteous. Faith was the enabler and works were the product.
What James is really saying is that faith is needed for works and doesn’t go without it. Without faith, nobody can practice true good works, and when somebody has true faith, they will practice good works. The two go hand in hand.
Think about the prophecy of Jesus separating the goats from the sheep in Matthew 25:31-33. Both groups will call Him Lord, but only one will be seen as righteous by Him: the group that practiced their faith through works. God wants genuine faith and promises you works if you have it. Ephesians 2:10 says God “prepared them (good works) beforehand, that we should walk in them”. In addition, Philippians 2:13 says that it is “God who works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure”.
Live it out!
In conclusion, God wants true faith, and with it, He promises good works and a new heart of flesh: Ezekiel 36:26. So, true faith is a precursor to good works but not dependent on them. Faith is practiced through works, not developed by them. God in His grace worked all things out together for Himself in His perfect will. Faith’s relationship with works is just one example of how even though something may seem contradictory to us, if it is made or taught to us by the Spirit, it has been beautifully orchestrated by God to fit into His will perfectly. We just need to look into it more.