James 2:14-26 “A Faith that Works”

February 22, 2026

James 2:14-26

“A Faith that Works”

 

Service Overview: James confronts a faith that is all talk and no transformation. Using the examples of the poor, Abraham, and Rahab, he shows that genuine belief produces active work. To James, while works don’t save, they reveal that reality of the faith we profess.

 

Memory Verse for the Week:

John 15:8 – This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

 

Background & Miscellaneous Insights:

• This passage, perhaps more than any other in James, has been the center of special interest and lively controversy. In it James uses in close association the three important words: justification, faith and works. It is impossible to avoid the sharp comparison with similar passages in Paul where the same three words are the central theme. When these Pauline passages are examined side by side with this paragraph in James, it is impossible to ignore what appear to be striking differences. (C. Leslie Mitton, The Epistle of James, 103)
• We need to understand that James and Paul preach out of different circumstances. Paul was combatting those who said that salvation came by keeping the works of the Mosaic law, James was talking about the antinomians who said, “I am saved, so I can live any way I want.” He was refuting a heresy claiming that salvation has no bearing on how we live. (James T. Draper Jr., James – Faith and Works in Balance, 86)
• Paul aims at disillusioning those who think that they can rest in their own good works in place of faith in the Lord Jesus. James aims at disillusioning those who think that just to profess faith in the Lord Jesus, without the active obedience of good works, is sufficient. They are dealing with different situations and what they say is entirely complementary. (Derek Prime, James, 78)
• James and Paul used words in different contexts and with different connotations. When Paul talks about “works,” he is speaking about the works of the Jewish law, such as circumcision and sacrifices. When James speaks of works, he is talking about works of love, obedience, kindness, graciousness—i.e., our obedience to God based upon our love for God. (Draper, 86)
• Paul was expounding the way of justification. James was describing the life of the justified. Paul was combating Jewish legalism; James was combating antinomianism. (Charles R. Swindoll, James, 56)
• There is no real contradiction between James and Paul regarding faith, for Paul’s teaching about faith and works focuses on the time before conversion, and James’ focus is after conversion. (R. Kent Hughes, James, 108)
• [James and Paul] are not standing face-to-face confronting each other, but are standing back-to back fighting two common enemies. Paul opposes works-righteous legalism; James opposes easy-believism. (John MacArthur, James, 125)
• The apparent difference between Paul and James, therefore, can be explained largely as a difference in the use of terms. (C. Leslie Mitton, The Epistle of James, 108)
• When Paul wrote that Christians “are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24), he used the word justified to refer to the Christian’s experience of conversion to Christ. When James wrote that “a man is justified by works” (v. 24), he used the word justified with reference to the righteousness experienced by a person of faith whose experience of grace is working itself out in deeds as well as in words. (Foy Valentine, Hebrews, James, 1, 2 Peter, 80)
• James and Paul approached faith and works with significant differences in their usages of these two words. Faith was used by James to mean the giving of intellectual assent to the facts of Christianity, an assent that was barren of good works, inactive, and therefore useless. Faith was used by Paul, on the other hand, to mean saving faith in Jesus Christ, which faith issues normally and naturally in works of righteousness. Works is a word used by James to mean acts of ministry, mercy, love, and justice done in obedience to the demands of God’s indwelling Spirit. Paul, on the other hand, used the word works to mean acts performed legalistically in obedience to the letter of the law in order to earn salvation. (Foy Valentine, Hebrews, James, 1, 2 Peter, 79)
• James and Paul approached faith and works with different opponents in mind. The opponents of James were ethical relativists moral anarchists, antinomians, who thought moral conduct was inconsequential because they mistakenly imagined that inward faith was all that mattered. The opponents of Paul were legalists who believed that moral conduct could secure the favor of God without conversion to Christ. James directed his message primarily to those who gloried in their creed at the expense of their conduct, while Paul directed his message primarily to those who gloried in their conduct at the expense of accepting the creed’s consummation in Christ. (Foy Valentine, Hebrews, James, 1, 2 Peter, 78)
   
• What James is confronting in his letter is different from what Paul is confronting. Paul wants us to avoid thinking we need to work in order to earn salvation. Then there’s the danger James wants us to avoid: thinking that works are not necessary as evidence of our salvation. Again, works are not the basis of our justification. Final justification is not based on our works, but rather James is wanting us to see that when we stand before God on the day of judgment, it will be clear whether we had real, true, and authentic faith or dead, demonic faith. (David Platt, Exalting Jesus in James, 66)
• James and Paul approached faith and works from different points of view. James’s viewpoint was essentially pastoral, while that of Paul was essentially missionary. James saw faith and works in the light of what God requires of those who have already become Christians, while Paul saw faith and works in the light of what God requires for a person to become a Christian. (Foy Valentine, Hebrews, James, 1, 2 Peter, 78)
• When the Apostle Paul speaks of the word “justified,” he is talking about the initial experience of salvation whereby a man is declared righteous before God and acquitted of his sins. He reaches this redemption by faith. When James uses the word “justified,” he is using it in the sense of vindication. James says our faith is proved by our works (James T. Draper Jr., James – Faith and Works in Balance, 87)
• Third, the intention of James was not to contrast two opposing methods of salvation: one by works and one by faith. James, Paul, and all the other writers of the New Testament were in complete agreement that salvation is by grace through faith. What James really contrasts are two kinds of faith—one genuine, the other spurious; one alive, the other dead; one that saves, another that does not save. (Charles R. Swindoll, James: Practical and Authentic Living, 56)
• We must remember that in general Paul is urging his case against Judaizers, who believed salvation depended, in part at any rate, on doing the works of the Law, whereas James was ranged against antinomians who believed that inward faith was all that mattered. (C. Leslie Mitton, The Epistle of James, 104)
• We have no reason to shrink back from either James or Paul because they do not contradict one another. Each of them is writing about the exact same gospel; yet they are writing from different vantage points, and they are addressing different problems in the churches to whom they are writing. (David Platt, Exalting Jesus in James, 57)
• Paul’s emphasis is this: A man is justified by faith in Christ, and this cannot but produce in him good works, that is loving actions to others. James’s emphasis is: True faith by which a man is justified proves itself in Christ-like conduct towards others, and if such conduct fails to appear, what claims to be faith is shown to be not faith at all. The emphasis varies because the two apostles are addressing themselves to different kinds of errors. (C. Leslie Mitton, The Epistle of James, 108)
• By “justified” Paul means acquitted, declared to be righteous, treated as righteous. As used by James the word means having a just claim to one’s profession, shown to be righteous, vindicated. Paul means the initial justification (acquittal) before God that brings one into a saving relationship with God. James means justification (vindication) of one’s profession at any after-moment in the Christian life, and finally before the throne of judgment. (Charles R. Swindoll, James: Practical and Authentic Living, 56)

 

 

How does real faith function in the life of a believer?

1. Justifying faith rests entirely on the finished work of Christ.

(2:1 cf. John 6:29; Rom. 3:28; 5:1; Gal. 2:16; Eph. 2:8–9; Phil. 3:9; Titus 3:5; Heb. 10:10)

Justification is the act of God whereby He declares the believing sinner righteous on the basis of Christ’s finished work on the cross. It is not a process; it is an act. It is not something the sinner does; it is something God does for the sinner when he trusts Christ. (Warren W. Wiersbe, James: Be Mature, 82)

James isn’t saying that our salvation is dependent on our works. Nor is he trying to make us produce more works out of guilt or fear. He’s only questioning those who claim to believe in Christ but whose lives never show any evidence of that faith. (Charles R. Swindoll, James: Practical and Authentic Living, 88)

 

2. When real faith is present, the heart is transformed.
   (vv. 17-22 cf. Matt. 7:17–18; John 3:3; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 5:6; 5:22–23; Eph. 4:22–24)

Remember that in this passage James is not contrasting mature faith with immature faith or lukewarm faith with dynamic faith. No, he’s contrasting genuine faith with professed faith that in fact doesn’t exist. (David Platt, Exalting Jesus in James, 59)

Any declaration of faith that does not result in a changed life and good works is a false declaration. That kind of faith is dead faith. (Warren W. Wiersbe, James, 77)

True faith receives both the promise of God and also the grace of God to cleanse and heal and equip. (C. Leslie Mitton, The Epistle of James, 114)

 

3. As the heart is transformed, faith proves its presence through action.

(vv. 14, 22-26 cf. Matt. 7:21; 25:34–40; John 14:15; Acts 26:20; Eph. 2:10; 1 John 3:18)

Someone once said that faith is like calories: you can’t see them, but you can always see their results! And that is the major theme resonating throughout James’ letter—results. Genuine faith produces genuine works. (Charles R. Swindoll, James: Practical and Authentic Living, 83)

There is in fact no proof of the reality of faith other than the fruit it produces. (Mitton, James, 109)

You may ask, “How will I know if my faith was real?” And the answer is, “Was there any fruit?” Because if there was faith, then there will be fruit. (David Platt, Exalting Jesus in James, 66)

James says that if a man says he believes and his life doesn’t prove it, he doesn’t really believe. (James T. Draper Jr., James – Faith and Works in Balance, 90)

The genuineness of a profession of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is evidenced more by what a person does than by what he claims. (John MacArthur, James, 119)

 

 

Conclusion: If this is how real faith functions, how can we avoid the illusion of false faith?

1. Through careful self-examination, refusing to trust in anything but Christ.

(Ps. 118:8–9; Isa. 45:22; Acts 4:12; Rom. 3:28; 5:1; Gal. 2:16; Eph. 2:8–9; Phil. 3:8–9)

Faith acts. If your faith consists merely of listening to the Word, talking about the Word, or feeling a certain way about the Word, your faith is dead. Faith acts on the Word. Faith in our hearts is evident in the fruit of our lives. (Platt, James, 54)

Orthodox doctrine is no guarantee of salvation, James insists. Even the demons are orthodox in the sense of knowing and acknowledging truth about God. (MacArthur, 131)

A person can be enlightened in his mind and even stirred in his heart and be lost forever. True saving faith involves something more, something that can be seen and recognized: a changed life. (Warren W. Wiersbe, James: Be Mature, 79)

 

2. By refusing to tolerate an unchanged heart.

(Ezek. 36:26–27; Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:22–24; Heb. 12:14; 1 John 3:9)

Good works are the fruit of the tree of faith. Any profession of faith without faith’s fruit must cast doubt, therefore, upon the reality of the faith that is professed. (Derek Prime, James, 70)

Mercy to the full range of human needs is such an essential mark of a Christian that it can be used as a test of true faith. Mercy is not optional or an addition to being a Christian. Rather, a life poured out in deeds of mercy is the sign of genuine faith. (Tim Keller, Ministries of Mercy, 35)

What we do reveals who we are. (MacArthur, James, 119)

 

3. By refusing to separate faith from obedience.

(Matt. 7:21; Luke 6:46; John 14:15; Rom. 2:6–7; Eph. 2:10; Titus 2:14; 1 John 3:18)

Faith and works are like the wings of a bird. There can be no real life, no flight, with a single wing, whether works or faith. But when the two are pumping together in concert, their owner soars through the heavens. (R. Kent Hughes, James, 111)

Faith and works cannot be separated when it comes to salvation. God has joined them together. It is not, therefore, a matter of some people being better at faith and others being better at works: they must go hand in hand. (Derek Prime, James, 73)

Works are not optional extras but an inevitable outworking of faith, which by their presence provide the only proof there is of the reality of the faith. (C. Leslie Mitton, The Epistle of James, 109)

Obedience is the evidence of faith that alone unites us to Christ who is our justifying righteousness. (John Piper, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals, 110)

 

Gospel Connection:

The gospel declares us righteous apart from works, and then reshapes us into people who walk in them.

(Ezek. 36:27; Rom. 3:24; 8:3–4; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 2:4–10; Titus 3:5–8)

James would say we are justified by faith alone (sola fide), but not by faith which is alone! He would say that if your faith is alone, you are in the grip of an eternal illusion and would urge you to experience real faith—a faith that works! (R. Kent Hughes, James, 120)

A Christian is justified by grace through faith in order that a further purpose may be fulfilled—that he may become a “new creature” in Christ, and as such may live his new life in “good works”, that is, in obedience to the will of God (not, however, as interpreted in the Mosaic law, but in the life and teaching of Jesus, cf. also 1 Tim. 6: 18; Titus 2: 7; Acts 9: 36; Heb. 10: 24). (C. Leslie Mitton, James, 107)

 

Spiritual Challenge Questions…

Reflect on these questions during your time with the Lord this week, or discuss with your friends, family, or Life Group.

• What does it practically mean to rest entirely on the finished work of Christ? How can you tell the difference between trusting Christ and trusting your own efforts?
• In what ways does real faith reform a person’s heart over time? What are some signs that someone’s heart has been changed by grace?
• Why is intellectual agreement with biblical truth not the same as saving faith? What kinds of actions demonstrate that faith is alive and not merely professed?
• What are some subtle ways we might fall into the illusion of false faith? How can we practice self-examination without drifting into legalism or fear?
• Where might God be calling you to connect your faith to obedience more clearly?

 

HFM @ Home

Discipleship resources from the Free Methodist and Heidelberg Catechisms, offering historic, Scripture-based teaching to help us grow in our shared faith.

 

From The Heidelberg Catechism

Q44. Why does the creed add, “He descended to hell”?

1. To assure me during attacks of deepest dread and temptation that Christ my Lord, by suffering unspeakable anguish, pain, and terror of soul, on the cross but also earlier, has delivered me from hellish anguish and torment.¹

¹ Isa. 53; Matt. 26:36-46; 27:45-46; Luke 22:44; Heb. 5:7-10

 

Q45. How does Christ’s resurrection benefit us?

1. First, by his resurrection he has overcome death, so that he might make us share in the righteousness he obtained for us by his death.¹

Second, by his power we too are already raised to a new life.²

Third, Christ’s resurrection is a sure pledge to us of our blessed resurrection.³

¹ Rom. 4:25; 1 Cor. 15:16-20; 1 Pet. 1:3-5. ² Rom. 6:5-11; Eph. 2:4-6; Col. 3:1-4. ³ Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 15:12-23; Phil. 3:20-21

 

From The FREE METHODIST Catechism

THE EIGHTH AFFIRMATION: THE HOLY SPIRIT

“The Gift My Father Promised”¹⁴⁴

As the Father was most clearly revealed in the Old Testament era, and the Son was most clearly revealed in the life of Jesus Christ, so the Holy Spirit has been most clearly revealed in the time of the church, that is, from the day of Pentecost to the present. ¹⁴⁵

The prophets promised that the Spirit would come in a new age,¹⁴⁶ and Jesus promised that the Father would send the Spirit through Himself.¹⁴⁷ On the Day of Pentecost, as the disciples were at prayer, the Holy Spirit came upon the church.¹⁴⁸

¹⁴⁴ Acts 1:5. ¹⁴⁵ See Acts 19:1-6. ¹⁴⁶ Ezekiel 36:24-27; Joel 2:28-32; see Acts 2:16-21. ¹⁴⁷ Luke 24:48-49; see John 14:15-17, 26; 15:26-27; 16:5-15; Acts 1:4-5, 8. ¹⁴⁸ Acts 2:1-4.