James 2:18-20
"But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?" (James 2:18-20).
James continues his exposition of the faith/works debate by isolating the merit of faith without works. Are works needed to prove faith? Can works justify a man without faith? Is faith alone what distinguishes a Christian?
Faith without works assumes a position of belief in Jesus Christ, who He was and His purpose for dying on the cross for the salvation of mankind, but it lacks evidence of Scriptural application to support the argument that heart change not only took place, but elicited action as a result.
It is spiritually hollow with no internal substance to prove it even exists. Yet many in this world are quick to declare they believe in Jesus' life, death and resurrection, and assume they deserve the title of Christian or Christ-follower.
However, James quickly debunks this theory by stating that even Satan's demons believe and shudder in light of Christ's divinity, subsequently proving that faith alone does not hold water in discerning who truly is saved and a follower of Jesus.
The slippery slope of works is that they bait a man into thinking that salvation is more about what he does and not what he believes. Works must prove faith, not exist independently without faith or supplement faith as the reason for salvation.
Many people confuse this issue though by failing to emphasize why we do good works. What is the purpose or reason we help those in need or die to our selfish desires? Are we trying to earn favor from God for what we do, or are we simply serving others without expectation? What's driving our spiritual engine: faith or works?
In truth, both faith and works must compel our actions simultaneously. They compliment one another in the sense that works flow out of saving faith, but works do not save a man in any way. They are absolutely critical in proving faith in Christ though. And similarly according to James, faith alone without works is void, dead, and seemingly worthless.
Bottom-line, we are saved by grace through faith and not by works to ensure we do not boast or take any credit for our salvation, but we cannot stop at faith. Works must prove, or lack of works disprove, whether our confession of faith was sincere or not. Only then will we be able to understand the relationship between faith and works that James sought to clarify for the body of Christ.
