Bible Study - James 2:14-2:24 Work Actualizes the Inner Faith

This short 10 verses causes much controversies.

2:17 faith by itself without work is dead & 2:26 faith apart from works in dead
2:20 faith apart from work is useless.
2:24 a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

Faith is something we have on the inside. It cannot be seen by man (only God knows). How can we show others we have faith? How can we know someone else have faith? Our inners self is expressed through our outer body. We show our inner self through our speech and our action.

James spent much time talking about speech (tongue) and action (work). He first pointed out speech without corresponding work is useless, dead, of no effect (no justification). He covered speech extensively in the following chapter 3. But now he want to address work. He is covering his subject backward - first, he talked about trails overcoming good work, then work counts more than speech, and then controlling your speech.

Why are we justified by work and not by faith alone?
Our inner faith is shown through our speech backed by corresponding work. Speaking A and not doing A or doing B instead is a lie and our inner faith is not A but B. Our true self is not expressed by our speech but by our work. Hence, James can conclude that we are justified by our work and not by our faith-alone (or more accurate, our proclaimed faith alone). Our children know this best. They follow what we do rather than what we say! Show me the child and I can tell what the parent truly is like. Our actions speak louder than our words and our work reflect our true self - whether we have the true faith. Our work completes our faith v22. James pointed out that our belief is not good enough. Satan also belief God and shudder. It is what we do to our belief that counts.


Work comes from our True Faith - Our Beliefs
Nevertheless, our work comes from our beliefs and hence we must make sure of our beliefs and guard our hearts.

I will ask some tough questions for your own reflections. Feel free to share your answers with us.

Questions

1. Why are we justified by work and not faith alone? Does it contradict Eph 2:8 we are saved by faith and not of work?
2. How was Abraham justified?
3. How was Rahab justified?
4. Are those who have said the sinners' prayers saved?

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