
JAMES
Lesson 9: Saving Faith
Study Guide
James 2:14-26 CSB
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food
16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it?
17 In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith by my works.
19 You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder.
20 Senseless person! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless?
21 Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works in offering Isaac his son on the altar?
22 You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was made complete,
23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness , and he was called God’s friend.
24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works in receiving the messengers and sending them out by a different route?
26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
• Practical Discipleship for Everyone.
• Bible Memorization. Psalm 119:11
o I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you.
Last week’s memory verse:
James 2:8
8 Indeed, if you fulfill the royal law prescribed in the Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well.
This week’s memory verse:
James 2:26
26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
Genuine faith versus mere profession of faith.
James’ focus: verifying
Martin Luther labeled James a “right strawy epistle.”
• (lacked solid, biblical doctrine.)
Martin Luther:
• German monk,
• theologian, and
• key figure in the Protestant Reformation during the 16th century.
• best known for his Ninety-Five Theses, which he posted on the door of the Catholic Church in Wittenberg in 1517.
James’ epistle and Paul’s writings on salvation have important differences:
• Emphasis:
o Paul stresses the root of salvation
(faith in Christ + nothing)
o James stresses the fruit after salvation.
James warned against empty religion (1:26-27).
Ephesians 2:8
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
Faith
James 2:14
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him?
“Faith is like calories: you can’t see them, but you can always see their results!” -Swindoll
Point 1: Faith without works is dead. Verses 14-18
Galatians 6:10
So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.
1 John 3:17
If anyone has this world’s goods and sees a fellow believer in need but withholds compassion from him—how does God’s love reside in him?
- A Pious Platitude: religious or moral sentiments that sound virtuous or sincere but disingenuous.
• “Go in peace” - a common Hebrew blessing (Luke 7:50; 8:48).
o in this context, “Go away and leave me in peace.” - A Passive Proclamation: Talk is cheap.
Write your thoughts about Point 1 here.
Point 2: Faith without works is useless. Verses 18-26
Show me your faith - Show me your faith, if you can’t, I will. James 2:18
Deeds of obedience: visible evidence available to human eyes.
A living faith
You believe that there is one God - James 2:19
Accepting a creed is not enough:
• Deuteronomy 6:4: The Shema.
• 4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
• even demons know that God exists.
• Matt. 7:21-23
o 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Demons/fallen angels:
• witnessed creation (Job 38:4-7; Gen. 1:31)
• know about the creation of man by the Trinity (Gen. 1:26-28)
• They shudder
• but do not submit to Him!
Job 38:4-7
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6 On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,7 when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Genesis 1:31
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Genesis 1:26-28
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
The lack of mercy to help a brother or sister in need reveals our faith is
Senseless (James 2:20) - an empty vessel or empty hands.
Abraham:
• sacrificial obedience. (Genesis 22)
• complete faith (James 2:22).
Rahab:
• redeeming faith. (Joshua 2:1-8)
Faith is about God
John 13:35
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
Write your thoughts about Point 2 here.
Key takeaways:
1. Saving faith is
2. Saving faith is head knowledge