Live Faith Versus Dead Faith (James 2:14-17).
James says, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26). Faith without works is a dead faith because the lack of works reveals an unchanged life or a spiritually dead heart. There are many verses that say true saving faith will result in a transformed life, that faith is demonstrated by the works we do. How we live reveals what we believe and whether the faith we profess to have is a living faith. James is not saying that our works make us righteous before God but that real saving faith is demonstrated by good works. Works are not the cause of salvation; works are the evidence of salvation. Faith in Christ always results in good works. The person who claims to be a Christian but lives in willful disobedience to Christ has a dead faith and is not saved. James contrasts two different types of faith-true faith and dead faith.
Employed Faith versus Unemployed Faith (James 2:18-22).
In verse 18, James is saying, performing a good work or act that is not motivated by faith does not demonstrate righteousness. Righteousness does not rest in the act alone but also in the faith that motivates it. In verse 19, intellectual belief is personified and goes on trial for its validity. Many people fall into this category because they believe that God exists, but that is as far as it goes in relations to their everyday life. In verse 20, James prepares to elevate his argument, he introduces another Sunday, August 16, 2020 “