James chapter 2 is a chapter that people will often use to prop up a workspace
salvation and often quote verse 17 where it says even so faith if it hath not
works is dead being alone they also quote verse 14 where it says what doth
it profit my brethren if a man say he hath faith and have not works can faith
save him and the way they interpret that is that if a person says they have faith
in Christ for salvation but that faith is not accompanied by works then
basically faith alone cannot save them they need to have works to accompany
their faith in order to maintain their salvation or to be saved or to get saved
whatever it is but this is an error and in fact the Bible actually teaches us
the exact opposite the Bible says in Romans 11 verse 6 and if it be of
grace and is no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be of
works then is no more of grace otherwise work is no more work you see
the Bible teaches us that salvation is by grace through faith alone and if you
add works to that salvation you've basically made the free gift of
salvation null and void to yourself why because the Bible says it has to be by
grace through faith alone the Bible says in John 5 24 verily verily I saying to
you he that heareth my words and believeth on him that sent me hath
everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from
death unto life John 1 12 says but as many as received him to them gave you
power to become the sons of God even unto them that believe on his name John
3 18 says he that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not
on him is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the
only begotten Son of God John 3 36 says he that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting life he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath
of God abideth on him and time will not permit for me to go through all the
verses that confirm and tell us that salvation is by faith aloneness by
believing on Jesus Christ you see why I still believe you got to keep God's
commandments and obey God's Word in order to be saved you know you got to
make sure that you do the will of God well actually the Bible says in Romans
chapter 3 verse 20 therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be
justified in his sight for by the laws the knowledge of sin in verse 28 says
therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
the law and so the Bible is very clear when it explains to us that it's not by
works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved
us he said well what about James chapter 2 you know James chapter 2 is still on
the table what is that talking about if we don't have to have works accompanied
with our faith what is James chapter 2 actually teaching well James chapter 2
actually has nothing to do with salvation of the soul has nothing to do
with eternal life has nothing to do with going to heaven and being saved from hell
no in fact it's actually talking about practical Christian living and in order
to understand what a verse is saying in the Bible we need to make sure that we
read it in its context which is reading the verses before reading the verses
after and that's how we can understand what an individual verse is talking
about in a chapter and in fact the overriding theme of James chapter number
two can be found in verse number one it says my brethren have not the faith of
our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory with respect of persons so here we see
that James is instructing the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad to
make sure that they don't have the faith of Jesus Christ accompanied with
partiality being a respecter of people favoring one person over another and in
fact in verse number two it says for if they're come unto your assembly a man
with the gold ring and goodly apparel and they're coming also a poor man in
vile raiment and he have respect to him that we're at the gay clothing and saying
to him sit down here in a good place and say to the poor stand out there or sit
here under my footstool are you not then partial in yourselves and are become
judges of evil thoughts he's basically stating that if a person has faith
accompanied with partiality they become judges of evil thoughts they become
partial within themselves now with that in mind look at verse 14 it says what
does it profit my brethren though a man say he hath faith and have not works can
faith save him now keep in mind that when the Bible mentions the word save or
salvation it's not always in reference to the salvation of the soul it's not
always talking about eternal life you know being saved from hell to go to
heaven sometimes it's actually just referring to the rescuing of the flesh
delivering your flesh from something from harm's way and that's exactly what
it's talking about here in this chapter because the very next verse says this if
a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you
say unto them depart in peace be warmed and filled notwithstanding you give them
not those things which are needful to the body what doth it profit you see
when verse 14 says can faith save him the him is not referring to the person
who has faith the him that it's referring to is the person who is naked
and destitute of daily food you know if I say I have faith and a person asks me
for a brother or sister in Christ asks me for food they and their destitute of
food their destitute of clothing to keep them warm and I say be warmed and filled
guess what me having faith does not save that person from those harmful elements
it does not save that person from starvation no in fact my faith is
unprofitable to that person the only time my faith can profit someone else is
that when I accompany my faith with works what are the works buying
groceries for your brothers and sisters in Christ providing clothing for them
so that they're warm in times of cold weather etc this is why the Apostle Paul
tells Titus in Titus chapter number 3 and verse 8 this is a faithful saying
and these things that will that thou affirm constantly that they which have
believed in God might be careful to maintain good works these things are
good and profitable unto men you see when we accompany works to our faith we
become profitable to other people we begin to be a blessing to other people
this is why it says in verse 17 even so faith that the hath not works is dead
being alone it doesn't say it does not exist doesn't say if a person has faith
and not have works that that faith doesn't even exist and never they never
even believed in the first place they're not even really saved it says that it's
dead being alone and it gives us a comparison to that in verse 26 where it
says for as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead
also you see a person who has been deceased a person who is deceased a
person who no longer has a soul abiding within them they have gone home to be
with the Lord we wouldn't say that that body doesn't exist we would just say
that person is dead okay it's there it's just not alive and in like manner a
person who has faith but they're not putting works to that faith well they
have a dead faith you see you got to keep in mind that the Word of God though
teaches very extensively the doctrine of salvation is not only talking about
salvation no much of the Bible has to do with practical Christian living and
James chapter 2 is no exception to that James chapter 2 is not a chapter on
salvation but rather on practical Christian living so I want to encourage
you to add works to your faith not so you can be saved but rather so you can
save others who are naked and destitute of daily food so you can be a blessing
to others and you can profit your brothers and sisters in Christ alright
hope that helped God bless and have a great one