We continue exploring the above topic in our issue this week.
There is a need to demonstrate our faith. There are several examples in the bible of people demonstrating their faith. Abraham demonstrated his faith when he offered his only son Isaac as a sacrifice to God upon the altar. As a result of his actions, Abraham was justified by works (James 2:21). He believed in God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness. In addition, he was called the Friend of God (James 2:23).
Abraham obeyed God when he was told to sacrifice his son Isaac. It was not a sacrifice which Abraham decided to give to God so as to impress God etc., but his response was that of obedience and submission when God gave the command. Abraham did what God told him to do and for this reason, he was justified by his works. Abraham pleased God because of his faith (Hebrews 11:17-19) which caused him to submit to God. James wrote that Abraham was justified by works. Thus, we can see that Abraham pleased God by his faith and his works. To be justified means “to be acquitted or pronounced and treated as righteous or innocent”. As a result of his faith, Abraham submitted to Jehovah God’s will and thus he was deemed as righteous. This is the kind of faith that we should have. One thing to note is that although Abraham was faithful, it does not mean that his descendants could live on this borrowed faith. We are all individuals who must give an accountability of ourselves to Jesus on Judgement Day. What Abraham did would not enable his descendants to be right with God. They have to do it for themselves.
Rahab was another person who was justified by works as she had hidden the spies who came to spy out the land and then sent them out another way. One may wonder why Rahab, who was a prostitute, was used as an example of faith. Rahab was used because she was outside of the family of Abraham, she is a harlot and thus not deemed as a saint, and she was not a man. Despite all these conditions, what she did to protect the Israelite spies from harm proved her as faithful in God’s eyes.
Demonstrating or proving our faith starts with the heart. There must be a willingness or desire right from the beginning to want to know what Jehovah God wants. James wrote “But wilt thou know” (James 2:20). It means ‘will I be willing to learn or know something?’ The Bereans, before their conversion, searched the scriptures daily in order to find out the truth (Acts 17:11). They longed to learn God’s will. We need to learn from the Bereans on their thirst for the truth and not to simply believe whatever is told to us. We need to have that great desire in wanting to seek the truth and be diligent in doing that.
Faith and works go hand in hand. James wrote “Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect” (James 2:22)? The word “wrought” means “worked with”. Thus there is a working together of faith and works. For Abraham, his faith was not perfected or completed until he did what God commanded him to do. Thus, his faith was only completed when works accompanied it. Without works, Abraham’s faith would have been incomplete and imperfect. We also see that “By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace” (Hebrews 11:31). And we see the same thing mentioned in James whereby Rahab was justified for her works (James 2:25). As such, when we draw a direct application or relevance to ourselves, we can understand that without works, our faith is also imperfect. This conclusion about faith and works is further augmented with the example given in James 2:26 which reads that “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also”. It is a well known fact that when a soul leaves the physical body, the physical body dies. Thus, it is a good comparison about faith and works are as complementary to each other as a soul and a physical body.
It is so important for us to act out our faith. Several biblical characters acted out their faith. Such examples were Moses, Naaman, Abraham, Paul and Jesus Himself. We often hear the saying “faith and obedience”. Faith comes about by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). When one hears, he or she will gain knowledge. This knowledge will just be knowledge, but when one acts on the knowledge, he gains wisdom in the process, and grows even more in God’s word. The apostle Peter wrote that we are to grow in knowledge and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). Knowledge can be easily gained through different ways of learning from various sources with regards to the word of God. However, growing in grace will mean the necessity to act on the knowledge and develop our virtues, etc. and put them to practice via actions and good works.
Faith without works is dead. Those who call themselves believers today often adopt one of two extremes. One extreme is faith only saves, and the other extreme is one is saved by his own works. Both are not what the scripture teaches. In the first case, this article has shown that faith only is not enough for a Christian. To answer the second extreme, we cannot be saved by our own works. If this can be so, there will not be any reason for us to need God’s grace. Let us continue to strive to be good students and practitioners of God’s word and live each day as a Christian who is pleasing to God.