Question: Dear Greg,

Could you please tell me what James means when he states that "faith without works is dead faith. Show me your faith without your works." What are the "works"? Works of the law or works of faith? What does this mean to our salvation? I hope this doesn’t take too much time.

Thank You!

John

Answer: Dear John,

For some this issue can be one of the most difficult topics in the Bible – the apparent contradiction between James, and what he teaches about law, Paul, and what he teaches about grace.

One of the key words here is "works" – and what kind of works we are talking about. Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:8-10 that we are not saved BY works, but that we are saved FOR works. That is, we are saved not because of, and in spite of, what we do. We do not earn salvation by our works. Nothing is required of us to earn salvation, because we cannot do anything that will earn/gain our salvation. Only God is good enough – only God can do for us what we can never do for ourselves.

But – verse 10 says that we are saved in order to be his workmanship – that Jesus might live his life in us (Galatians 2:15-21). He saves us by his grace so that we might be his workmanship – so that he might do his works in our lives in order that others might see the light of Jesus Christ – not in what we produce, but in the work he does through us. We do not produce or generate the light – we reflect it.

James appears, for some, upon a casual reading, to contradict this theme. But notice that James quotes the example of Abraham – that Abraham was justified by – what? Faith! Abraham was saved by faith and was reckoned by God to be righteous – not because of what Abraham did, not because of Abraham’s righteousness (see Genesis 15, also Romans 4), but because of God’s goodness and grace.

But faith is genuine faith only if it produces change, some kind of evidence. Once again, we do not generate this faith, it is a gift of God. We are saved not by our own faith, but by the faith of God, and since we are saved by faith, it can be demonstrated – because our lives will be filled with the works of Jesus Christ that he produces in us. Works are a result of justification – works are a result of being saved.

We are first saved by God – because of what Jesus has done for us – and because of God’s grace. That is an internal reality – that we become new men and women in Christ, crossing over from death to life (John 5:24). The faith that is exhibited and demonstrated after our salvation is external – it is "proven" by the works that Christ empowers us to do, as we become his "workmanship."

Hope this helps, John.

In Christ,

Greg Albrecht