Faith without works is dead - Christ in James 2:20

Believers in Christ, by God's grace, don’t let anyone rob you of the confidence and assurance that you have in the salvation that our Lord Jesus Christ has purchased for you with His precious blood. According to Galatians 5:1 – “Christ made us free. Stay that way. Do not get chained all over again in the Law and its kind of religious worship.”

But some religious leaders still try to keep believers chained down in bondage! How? By misinterpreting Scripture, they try to convince believers whom God has made righteous in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21) to go back to doing works of the Law in order to “maintain their salvation,” be “really saved” or remain “righteous/ justified in the sight God.” 

According to Galatians 5:4, trying to get right with God by keeping the Law is the way to get cut off from Christ - “For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.”

Such religious leaders try to make believers who are justified by faith in Christ believe that it is up to them to keep themselves on the right side of God by keeping the Law, even when Galatians 2:16 says: “knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.”

One such Scripture that is misinterpreted by these wolves in sheep’s clothing to mislead believers is James 2:20 –“But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?”

This statement is absolutely, 100% true. It is God’s word. Faith without works is dead. Unless one’s faith is accompanied by works (good deeds,) his faith is dead and useless.

BUT JAMES IS NOT REFERRING TO WORKS OF THE LAW HERE AS SOME RELIGIOUS LEADERS ERRONEOUSLY TEACH. He is referring to works that are expressed or produced by believers who have Christ as their righteousness, (fruits of the Spirit), yet not us who do them but Christ in us, BECAUSE we have already obtained righteousness through faith in Christ. These works are never works that we do by our own power or works that we think will make us attain righteousness in God's sight. These works are th fruit of right believing, never the root.

The works that James talks about are fruits of believing in Jesus and receiving “abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness” and not the root of our righteousness and salvation. Without Christ in you, these works are impossible to do. They cannot be achieved by human effort; only by God’s grace. With Christ as your righteousness, you will love to do these works, yet not you but Christ in you!

In verse 12 of the same chapter, James urges “So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty." This law of liberty is not the Law of Moses. It is that which Paul wrote of in Galatians 5:1 “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” This yoke of bondage is the Law of Moses which Christ has delivered us from according to Acts 13:39 – “and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.”

Bear in mind that Galatians 3:10 – 12 says: “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” 11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” 12 Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.”

Pastors and leaders, telling people to measure their righteousness and gauge their "salvation status" by their ability to obey the Ten Commandments and do good things is to put them under the curse. We are saved by grace through faith, not by works, lest any man should boast. Preach God's grace and the people will go and sin no more and also do these good works because they want to, not because they have to. Preach the Ten Commandments and sin will multiply! (Romans 7:5)

Works without faith is law-keeping, (remember the Law is not of faith,) which has to do with human effort and by which no one is justified in God’s sight. Here, people can boast about what they do and such people usually condemn others for not being able to match their standards. Here, one can do good works but never according to God’s will – much like how Abraham fathered Ishmael through Hagar by his own effort. There is no room for Christ our Saviour here since the doer, who has been cut off from Christ according to Galatians 5:4, has the power to do right all by himself. Plus even with their bragging in their ability to keep the Law, these people can never "cast the first stone." They are very often the ones with secret sins like porn addiction and other sexual sins!

Faith without works is dead and useless, which shows that those professing such faith do not have the Spirit of God in them. They cannot bear fruit.

With Christ as our righteousness, faith and works always go hand in hand. This is how Sarah conceived Isaac with Abraham. They would never have been able to do this without God’s grace, much like we can never work the works that James speaks of without God’s grace. There is no room for boasting in one's strength here, so like Christ, you have compassion for those who are weak and still sinning. Instead of condemning them and giving them more rules that they cannot keep, you tell them about God's grace without which you would be commiting worse sins than these beloved souls that God loves so much. All glory goes to the Lord. It has got nothing to do with human effort. It has got all to do with Christ who lives in those who truly believe.

Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us how we work the works of faith that James speaks of: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

In essence, God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.

We are made a New Creation in Christ so that we can do the good things that God planned for us long ago - the works in James 2. The good things we do cannot make us a New Creation or righteous. We are made righteous and are able to do good works because of God’s undeserved, unmerited favour. We can neither earn it nor work for it. If you have it in you to do good works all by yourself, you don’t need Jesus!

As the righteousness of God in Christ, relying Christ’s blood-bought righteousness that we have as a gift from our heavenly Father and not on our own prowess at keeping the Law and doing its works (our righteousnesses are like filthy rags according to Isaiah,) we cannot but do the good works that He planned for us long ago.

Pastors and leaders, our bodies are the temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:17) in which the real Ark of the Covenant (our Saviour Jesus Christ) resides. Don't try to steady the ark of God like Uzzah by introducing human effort (law-keeping to attain righteousness) at righting the Ark of God (Christ our Shepherd) in us. You do this when you introduce the law to God's grace in a bid to keep believers "in check." By strength shall no man prevail. Uzzah's name means "Strength!"

Grace is our Teacher, not you or I. Preach God's grace, “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;” Philippians 1:6

The Holy Spirit will teach you all things.

Believe Right and you will Live Right.