New Testament Reading Plan: Hebrews 5-7
SCRIPTURE READING
James 2:14-17 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have
works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily
food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving
them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not
have works, is dead. (ESV)
In this passage, James asks a good question. Can a person be saved just by believing in
Jesus in their head, and saying they believe in Jesus, and praying a prayer one time to ‘ask
Him into their heart,’ but not having the works of Jesus come out in their actions? Our current
Christian culture screams, “Yes! That’s grace!” Our current Christian culture does not allow
for anyone’s salvation to be questioned, no matter how stubbornly they persist in apathy
and unrepentant sin, so long as they once prayed a prayer to receive Jesus and believed in
Him in their minds. But what does James argue here? Look at verse 17 “faith by itself, if it
does not have works, is dead”. In other words, mental belief in Jesus, without a relationship
with Him and corresponding works of salvation is dead – you may as well not have it all. It’s
not real. We have got to put to death this false idea that faith and works can be completely
divorced from each other. This idea that you’re saved by faith and hopefully you’ll become
a decent person and have some works to show for it, but if not, don’t worry because you’re
saved anyway regardless of your works is FALSE! Faith that doesn’t lead to good works is
dead faith that can’t save you. We’ll see what Paul says about grace and faith tomorrow.
PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Have you been depending on a salvation prayer for your eternal security or are you
living out your faith, can your faith be seen by your actions?
2. Pray for the many Christians who persist in apathy and unrepentant sin. Pray that they
will see the importance of a personal relationship with Jesus, that mental belief is not
enough.
3. Thank the Lord for His gift of salvation, that we can actually know Him personally and
that through Him we can live a life of faith that has corresponding works.
