James · chapter 2 of 5
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James 2 condemns favoritism toward the rich in the congregation, recalls the royal law of loving one's neighbor and declares that mercy triumphs over judgment. It then affirms that faith without works is dead and illustrates it with Abraham, who offered Isaac, and with Rahab, whose faith was shown by welcoming the messengers.
After speaking of trials and of being doers of the word, James applies faith to relationships within the church. This chapter contains one of the most debated passages of the letter, the relationship between faith and works, which is sometimes compared with Paul's teaching on justification.
James asks the brothers not to hold the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality. If a man with a gold ring and fine clothing comes into the assembly and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and they pay attention to the rich man and tell the poor man to stand or sit on the floor, they have made distinctions and become judges with evil thoughts. God chose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, while the rich oppress them and blaspheme the honorable name by which they were called.
If they fulfill the royal law according to Scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, they do well; but if they show partiality, they commit sin. Whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it, for the one who said do not commit adultery also said do not murder. Speak and act as those judged under the law of liberty, for judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
The second half asks: what good is it if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking daily food, and one of you says go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving them what the body needs, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Even the demons believe and shudder.
Abraham was justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar; his faith was active along with his works and was completed by them, and the Scripture was fulfilled that says he believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called a friend of God. In the same way Rahab the prostitute was justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way. As the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
God chose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom. Favoritism toward the rich contradicts the way God looks.
Judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy, but mercy triumphs over judgment. Whoever has received mercy must give it.
Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. James does not deny that salvation is by faith; he says that a faith that produces no deeds is not living faith.
A person is justified by works and not by faith alone. James speaks of a justification that is shown before others, and his emphasis complements rather than contradicts Paul's.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: A man with a gold ring and fine clothing and a poor man in shabby clothing. — James 2:2
Answer: The poor of this world. — James 2:5
Answer: The royal law. — James 2:8
Answer: Mercy triumphs over judgment. — James 2:13
Answer: Dead by itself. — James 2:17
Answer: She received the messengers and sent them out by another way. — James 2:25
James 2 invites us to review how we receive people in church. A small group can ask whom it is easy to welcome and whom it is hard to welcome, and which prejudices of money, appearance or social position persist. The study can end with a concrete commitment to attend to someone who usually goes unnoticed.
It also challenges practical faith. Faced with a real need, wishing someone well is not enough; we must help. You can ask who near you today is hungry, lonely or in debt and what you could do this week.
James 2 shows that true faith is seen in works. Chapter 3 pauses over one of the hardest works to master, our words, and contrasts earthly wisdom with the wisdom from above.
Not necessarily. Paul speaks of how a sinner is declared righteous before God, by faith and not by works of the law (Romans 3 and 4). James speaks of the visible proof of real faith: the faith that justifies is never alone. Many Christians see the two as complementary, though they use the word justify with different shades of meaning.
That merely believing that God exists is not saving faith. The demons know God is one and tremble, but they neither trust nor obey him. True faith includes trust and obedience.
Because she was a woman of Jericho, a prostitute, who showed her faith by protecting Israel's spies (Joshua 2). Together with Abraham, the father of the people, she shows that living faith shows itself in all kinds of people.