True Faith Really Works

TRUE FAITH REALLY WORKS

Unpacking and Applying James 2:14-26

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: July 6, 2025

Series: Pursuing Relational Health on Communion Sundays

Note: Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION

Good morning. I invite you to turn to James chapter two. And I am continuing the first Sunday of the month – Communion Sunday – sermon series this morning, which we've been doing since December – on the first Sunday of the month, looking at the theme of relationships and how our relationship with the Lord and our relationship with other people, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ, but really all people, all of our neighbors, how those relationships are interrelated. And this morning we'll continue that theme by looking at James chapter 2, verses 14 to 26. I do want to remind you, as we've been doing on these Communion Sunday sermons, two or three of you will have an opportunity to briefly share a testimony or a word of reflection after the message this morning.

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

So let me go ahead and read James chapter 2, beginning in verse 14:

¹⁴ 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.

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.¹⁹ You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! ²⁰ Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? ²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; ²³ and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.²⁴ You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵ And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? ²⁶ For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. (James 2:14-26)

This is the word of the Lord, and it is for our good. Let's pray:

Father, we thank you for your holy Word that instructs us, corrects us, directs us and transforms us. And Father, we pray that we would receive the Word into our hearts and minds this morning, and that we would prove to be not merely hearers of the Word, but doers of it. We pray these things in Jesus’ name, amen.

TRUE FAITH VERSUS COUNTERFEIT FAITH (v. 14-20)

Do you have real faith? I've titled the sermon this morning: “True Faith Really Works”. And what James is doing in this passage is contrasting true faith from a pseudo or counterfeit faith.

True faith

True faith is alive: it's a living thing, it's lively, it's active, it produces good works, it expresses itself in acts of obedience, and especially in acts of love and mercy. Think about what true faith really is. True faith – when you see that word faith in the New Testament, it's talking about our relationship with the Lord – faith directs the heart to the Lord, and true faith trusts the Lord and has confidence in his promises. True faith beholds the Lord Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection, and welcomes him, receives him, rests in his saving work. And all of that has a transforming effect upon your heart and mind. It's not just some data points that are bouncing around in your brain. This is really receiving the Lord into the depths of your heart. And when you do that, you cannot stay the same. It has to affect the entirety of your life. True faith shapes the way that you live.

Pseudo-faith

But there is a pseudo-faith. There is a counterfeit faith. You see this all throughout the Bible. It's actually one of the most common errors among people who outwardly profess to believe in God, who outwardly claim to be God's people. You can see here in verse 14: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith…?” (italics added) Saying that you have faith and having faith are not the same thing.

You can say all kinds of things that may or may not be real. The sinful heart's capacity for self-deception is great. In Titus chapter 1, verse 16, Paul refers to those who “profess to know God, but … deny him by their works” (Titus 1:16). The apostle John says the same sort of thing in 1 John 2:4, referring to people who claim to know God, but who do not obey God's commandments – and John says that such people are liars and “the truth is not in [them]” (1 John 2:4).

And so you can see here that James is referring to this kind of pseudo-faith or counterfeit faith that claims to believe, that talks a good game, that is conversant with faith-talk and God-talk. But at the end of the day, this pseudo-faith doesn't actually work. It doesn't generate a life of love, a way of life that is pleasing to the Lord.

A faith that doesn’t work can’t save you and won’t benefit you

And you can see here that a faith that doesn't work, a faith that doesn't produce good works, won't save you, can't save you. That's there in verse 14 – “Can that faith save him?” An unworking faith cannot save you in any sense of what salvation is. It's not an unworking faith, an idle and dead faith, that receives Christ, okay. That kind of faith does not receive Christ. But I think that James is probably referring to final salvation here, when our salvation is finally and gloriously realized in the consummation at the judgment seat of God. I mean, he had just referred to this future judgment in verse 13: “For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy.” (James 2:13a) Just think about Jesus’s parable of the sheep and the goats, right? He summons the peoples before him, and this great Shepherd-King separates the sheep from the goats. This is in Matthew, chapter 25, verses 31 to 46. How are the sheep recognized? The sheep are recognized because they so valued Jesus that they demonstrated practical love for Jesus’s people: they saw those who were hungry and they fed them, they saw those who were without clothing and they clothed them, they saw those who were in prison and they visited them. So just imagine what it would be like to be standing before Jesus on that day, and all that you have is your claim to have faith, you claim to believe in him, but you have no record of good works. You have no record of walking in love and demonstrating practical love and care for the people that God put in front of you throughout the course of your life. If you show up at the judgment with that kind of faith, with that kind of idle and unworking and unproductive faith, you will not be saved. You will be condemned.

A faith that doesn't produce good works won't benefit you. You can see that both in verse 14 and verses 15-16, where James says, “What good is it…?” at the beginning of verse 14 and “what good is that?” at the end of verse 16? Once again, the pseudo-believer talk's a big game, right? A need is presented to him, and he knows how to say, ‘God bless you, go in peace, I wish you the best,’ and yet he’s thinking ‘but don’t think you're going to get any practical help from me, thank you very much.’ You see, James says, that's ridiculous. There's no true faith present in such a response. Dan McCartney summarized James’ point this way: “If your ’faith’ doesn’t benefit others, it won’t benefit you either.”[1]

In verse 17, James says that a faith that doesn't produce good works is dead. And in verse 21, James says that a faith that doesn't produce good works is worthless – it won't do you any good now or in eternity.

Claiming to have faith is not the same thing as having faith.

What characterizes pseudo-faith?

Now what characterizes this pseudo-faith, this counterfeit faith? Well, often it takes the form of mere intellectual belief. And you can see that in verse 19, where James says, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe– and shudder!” A faith that doesn't produce good works only puts you in the company of demons. Satan himself and all of his fellow demons have really good theology. They are very orthodox in their beliefs, but they have no trust in the Lord. They have no love for God. In fact, they regard God as their great enemy. And they strive to undo all the work, the good work, that God does. And this is a very common mistake to fall into. We think that if we have our doctrine right, if we believe all the right things, if we believe everything the Bible says, that we're okay. Well, that's not necessarily the case.Obviously, we should believe what the Bible says. It's important to be rooted in sound doctrine, to be instructed and guided by the Word. But knowing right doctrine is not the same thing as trusting God and cherishing him and treasuring him and letting his words shape the course of your life.

Pseudo-faith can also take the form of mere religious ritual. You know, you check off the boxes, you go to church, you fast, you pray, you read your Bible, and you can fill in a bunch of blanks on the religious to-do list. And again, all of that could be good, but it might be worthless if you're not actually trusting the Lord and letting him and His Holy Spirit shape your everyday life.

So what James is driving at is that a detached, theoretical, heady, formal, stand-alone faith is not true faith. And that kind of faith will not save you.

True faith is demonstrated in practical deeds

True faith will save you because it receives the Lord and rests in his promises. And that true faith has within it an activity and a liveliness that is going to bear fruit over the course of time.[2]

Look at verse 18. Verse 18 says, “But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” It's very important to see how James is connecting faith and works here. Some people might imagine that there is this way of faith that exists apart from works. And other people might imagine that there is the way of works apart from faith, or the way of works on top of or in addition to faith. And James is telling us that, no, no, no, you can't think about faith and works that way. In fact, if you have the kind of faith that you can't demonstrate in terms of your works, then you have a deficient faith. James says – he is challenging this imaginary dialogue partner, right? – James says, “Show me your faith apart from your works”. The point is, you can't – you can’t demonstrate your faith apart from works. What do you want me to do, like, ‘Here's my library of theological books – there, there's my faith. See, you can see my faith.’ No, that doesn't prove anything. I can't show you my faith apart from works. That’s what James is getting at when he says, “I will show you my faith by my works.”

True faith has within it the activity of walking with the Lord and obeying the Lord and walking in love. And so true faith is going to be demonstrated in the way that we actually live our lives.

WE ARE SHOWN TO BE RIGHTEOUS BY FAITH-FILLED WORKS (v. 21-26)

Now, when he gets to verses 21 to 26, James refers to two examples from the Old Testament, the case of Abraham and the case of Rahab.

James and Paul

Now, if you're familiar with James, chapter two, verses 14 to 26, then you know that this is actually one of the most theologically complex passages to unpack, because it seems like that James is saying some things that contradict some of the things that Paul said. Now, we don't believe that Paul and James contradict each other. We don't believe that they do. But we have to rightly understand what they're saying.

For example, if you look at verse 24, it says, “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” Well, if you, if you take James 2:24 and you put it side by side with, with Romans 3:28, you're going to have to scratch your head, right? Romans 3:28 says, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” (Romans 3:28) So Paul is saying, we're justified by faith apart from works. Paul is saying, we're justified by faith alone. But James is saying, “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” And then in verse 21, James says, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works…?” And Paul in Romans chapter 4, verses 1 through 6, shows us that Abraham was not justified by works, but rather by faith. So when you put these passages side by side, it will make you scratch your head.

And some people will just throw out the book of James, like, ‘Well, James must be wrong. His book must not be part of the Bible.’ But that’s not the right approach. The Book of James is part of the Bible and it's very important. What's going on here?

The word ‘justified’ can carry different meanings

The word that's translated “justified” can have different meanings, okay. It's really important to understand. So justified can mean to be declared righteous, to be pronounced righteous, to be acquitted and forgiven and declared to be right with God. That's one meaning of the word justified. But the word justified can also mean shown to be righteous or proven to be righteous.So you have a declaration and then you have a demonstration, okay. You have a pronouncement, and then you have the proof thereof. And it makes good sense to take James in that latter sense of shown to be righteous. Listen to it with that understanding, okay:

“Was not Abraham our father shown to be righteous by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” – and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is shown to be righteous by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute shown to be righteous by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way.” (James 2:21-25, the italicized portion shown to be righteous is being used in place of the original “justified”)

Painting a picture of what’s going on

Now, let's try to paint a picture of what's going on here. James, in verse 23, actually refers to that same text in Genesis 15:6 that Paul himself loves so much in talking about justification by faith (see Romans 4:3). It says in Genesis 15:6 that “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” – that's what James says and is referring to in verse 23.Abraham was reckoned righteous, pronounced righteous by faith apart from works. And in that moment when Abraham was reckoned righteous, he was truly right with God. He had a lively faith. He was resting in the Lord and in the word of the Lord. And he had the kind of faith that was responsive to the living God and that was going to take God at his word and let God's word shape his life. Now he's got a whole life ahead of him to live this out practically and to demonstrate the reality that he's right with God – to demonstrate the reality that he has a living faith in the living God. But in that moment of simple trust in the Lord, he is right with God, and God knows that his faith is genuine. Okay, you got the picture? That's the reality that James is referring to in verse 23.

But it is not God's will for you to remain in that moment of simply trusting the Lord and receiving his grace, and then being on your merry way to do whatever else you want to do with the rest of your life. That's not how it works. Think of it like the planting of a tree. When a new believer becomes a new believer – when a sinner becomes a new believer through faith in Jesus – it's like God is planting a tree, a little tree in the soil. And it's a little tree, it hasn't produced any fruit yet. But God knows that it's a good tree. God knows that that tree is alive.God knows that there's vitality coursing through the veins of that tree. And what is God's will? Why did God plant that tree? Why did God call Abraham to himself? Not to just be reckoned righteous, but to live a righteous life – for that tree to grow and to bear good and beautiful and glorious fruit.

And so you can see that there's a very close connection between being declared righteous by God through faith, and demonstrating that reality through faith-filled works. Do you see?

It says in verse 22: “You see that faith was active along with his works”. These aren't just adding works on top of faith. This is: faith is intimately involved with the works that it is doing, okay. So Abraham is in a right relationship with God, and God comes along and says, ‘Take your son, your only son, the son whom you love, and take him up to Mount Moriah and offer him as a sacrifice to me.’ Abraham did that, but he did that by faith, because he believed that God was faithful, and he believed that God would keep his promises, and he believed that God could raise up Isaac from the dead. Faith was active with his works, with his obedience, with his demonstrating his right relationship with God in practical obedience.

And it says in the second half of verse 22: “faith was completed by his works”. In other words, the, the intended goal that God has for faith is that that faith be rich in good works.

And then verse 23: “and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness””. Abraham was already right with God. His practical obedience demonstrated it, confirmed it, showed it to be true indeed, that Abraham was the sort of man who trusted God.

Abraham was also “called a friend of God” (v. 23). Jesus said, “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” (John 15:14). He didn’t say, ‘You are my friends if you can talk a big religious game.’ No. Instead he said in essence, ‘You are my friends if you trust me and do what I say.’ As the hymn puts it: “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”[3]

Same thing with Rahab (v. 25). We learn about Rahab in the Book of Joshua. Rahab was a Canaanite in Jericho and the judgment of God was coming upon Jericho. People in Jericho had heard about the God of Israel and the mighty deeds that he had done, and they were afraid. But Rahab believed in the God of Israel to the point of protecting and hiding the messengers from Israel that had come to scout out the land prior to their invasion. And her act of hospitality to the messengers of God's people demonstrated the faith that she had in the God of Israel.

“For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” (v. 26)

A FEW LESSONS FOR US

Let me just draw out a few lessons for us here, okay?

Faith and works: the whole package

When it comes to faith and works, we cannot pick and choose. You got to have the whole package. You know, I've been – independently of this passage – I've been thinking about this in recent weeks, because the painful reality is that oftentimes you have people who claim faith are very doctrinaire in their beliefs and in their approach to life, and they have all the right answers and they have all the brilliant ideas, but they don't care for anybody. They don't show mercy to anybody. They've got criticisms, but no compassion.

And then you have other people who, boy, they seem to have a lot of works. They're trying to love their neighbors in practical ways and always trying to help people. But they've thrown the Scriptural doctrine out the window. Like it's really all just about loving your neighbor. And so let's forget about the doctrinal framework and just do the practical stuff. But listen, James is not saying that works are a substitute for faith. If you don't have faith, if you don't have a lively, active, obedient, loving faith, the solution is not to start doing stuff. Works are not a substitute for faith. Works, James says, show faith. True, humble, loving, God-pleasing works show faith, show your trust in God, show your devotion to Christ.

And so God's way is not to be doctrinaire without compassion. And God's way is not to feign compassion without sound doctrine. God's way is a robust faith in the living God, anchored in the Scripture, demonstrating itself in practical love and care for other people.

Faith-filled works are works of love

And by the way, I want to call your attention to that. These works really do encompass all of our obedience to God. But right here in the Book of James, James has a special concern about the way that we treat other people, which is why I chose this text for the sermon today.

Look at James 1:27. I'm going to do this quickly here. James 1:27 – “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction” (James 1:27).

If you were to go to chapter two, verses one through seven, I won't read it, but chapter two, verses one through seven, tells us that we must care deeply for the poor and not cater to or give preferential treatment to the rich. (James 2:1-7)

Look at chapter 2, verse 8: “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.” (James 2:8)

And then verse 13: “For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy.” (James 2:13a) What did Jesus say? “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” (Matthew 5:7)

And then, of course, in our text, James gave the example of the “brother or sister… poorly clothed and lacking in daily food” (v. 15), and calls us to demonstrate compassion and practical care for them (v. 16).

If you look at chapter three, verse nine, James is talking about the tongue. He says, “With it [our tongue] we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.” (James 3:9) And he says, brothers, this should not be (James 3:10). We ought to be using our tongue to bless, encourage and lift up the people around us.

The whole stretch from James 3:13 into early chapter four is talking about having grace in our relationships with other people. So we're not being subject to ambition and greed and quarreling and fighting, but we're patient and we're kind and we're teachable and we work graciously with other people. (James 3:13-4:2)

And finally, at the very end of James chapter 5, he envisions someone among us wandering away from the faith. And he says, go find him. Go find him and bring back the one who has wandered away. (James 5:19-20)

And so you can see that James has a special concern for works of mercy, works of love, works of compassion, works of generosity.

Think about this. Every time God presents you with practical needs, he is giving you an opportunity to demonstrate that your faith is real. Every time that God presents you with needs, other people's needs, he is giving you an opportunity to demonstrate that you are in right relationship with Him. And you demonstrate your right relationship with him by showing love to the people around you.

A word of encouragement to our church family

Honestly, I see a lot of faith demonstrating itself in works in the life of this church family. I see people hungering for the word, devoted to prayer, serious about your walk with God, and I see people caring for one another, demonstrating practical care, giving of your time and resources in order to bless and help your brothers and sisters. And that is a really good testimony. When you read some of the letters of Paul, he would thank God for the believers’ faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and their love for all the saints. Faith and love. James and Paul are in complete agreement. They're just using the word justified in a little different sense. 

A word of exhortation to the unbeliever

If you're here this morning and you're not a believer, my exhortation to you is: get this living faith! Get this living faith not by trying to conjure it up in yourself, or not by trying to pull yourself up, but by looking at Jesus, looking at his sacrifice, looking at his mercy, looking at his grace until he melts your heart and plants His Word in your heart. And then you will have that living faith that will bear itself in good fruit.

Thinking about faith and works as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper

The final thing I want to say is, as we come to the Lord's Supper, we come to the Lord's Supper by faith, believing that Jesus died and rose again on our behalf, that he paid the debt of our sins and he gave Himself to be our life and to be our nourishment and to be our salvation forever. But we dare not leave this table with that kind of faith that is content with doctrinal ideas. No. Over and over again the New Testament calls us to let the Lord's sacrifice shape the way that we live.

Jesus told his followers in John 13, you are to love one another in the same way that I have loved you, with a self-giving and sacrificial love (John 13:34). “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32) And so, the sacrifice and the generosity and the gift of love that Jesus communicates to us at the table is then meant to shape the way that we love and treat one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, and we also ought to extend that same love to all of our neighbors.

Let's pray: 

Father, we thank you for this passage. Father, I pray for any who are here who don't know you. I pray that you would plant your word in their hearts that you would give birth to faith, that they might join us in following Jesus. And Father, I pray that you would fan the flame of faith so that this congregation would continue to be rich in works of faith and in demonstrations of practical love, to glorify Christ and to advance the gospel. I pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

ENDNOTES

[1] Dan McCartney, “An Epistle of Straw?” In The Doctrine on Which the Church Stands or Falls: Justification in Biblical, Theological, Historical, and Pastoral Perspective. Edited by Matthew Barrett. Wheaton: Crossway, 2019: p. 279.

[2] Robert Plummer writes, “Faith is inherently either dead or alive. If it is alive, it contains works organically in itself and thus overflows with them in the visible world. The alternative is a dead faith that does not contain such works. James’s contrast is between living and dead faith, not between a living faith that has works and a living faith that does not have works. Faith is like a seed. If a living seed is planted, it will produce a living plant. If a dead seed is planted, it will produce nothing.” Robert L. Plummer, “James.” In ESV Expository Commentary, Vol. XII: Hebrews–Revelation. Wheaton: Crossway, 2018: p. 251.

[3] From the hymn “Trust and Obey” by John H. Sammis. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Curtis P. Giese, James (Concordia Commentary). St. Louis, Concordia Publishing House, 2021.

Dan McCartney, “An Epistle of Straw?” In The Doctrine on Which the Church Stands or Falls: Justification in Biblical, Theological, Historical, and Pastoral Perspective. Edited by Matthew Barrett. Wheaton: Crossway, 2019.

Douglas J. Moo, The Letter of James (The Pillar New Testament Commentary). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000.

Robert L. Plummer, “James.” In ESV Expository Commentary, Vol. XII: Hebrews–Revelation. Wheaton: Crossway, 2018.