Study Through James - Part 6

Today, we will be looking at James 2:14-26.

"James 2:14-26
¹⁴What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? ¹⁵Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

¹⁸But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

¹⁹You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

²⁰You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? ²¹Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²²You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ²³And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. ²⁴You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

²⁵In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? ²⁶As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead."

So, there ya have it. This is an *amazing* passage of scripture; one of my favorites.

Perhaps y'all know that Martin Luther was... * cough *... not a huge fan of James. In fact, he though James should not be a part of the Bible. But that is because he misinterpreted this passage. Martin Luther was *so* big into being saved by faith (which is indeed correct!), that he thought this passage was wrong. Luther thought that this passage was saying we are saved by our works. No no no no nonononono. =P What James is saying throughout this entire passage is: We are saved through faith, but faith produces good works. Okay, I'm not gonna go into it here. Let's just jump into the scripture, and I'll explain it more there.

First, we'll look at verses 14-17. "¹⁴What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? ¹⁵Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."
Now, this all sounds like, "Oh, okay, we're saved by our good works." Nope. That is *not* what it is saying. Read verses 15 and 16 as an example. Sure, he wished the guy well, but did he do anything? What was the point of saying what he did without doing anything? I mean, what is the point? Then, James explains in verse 17 that faith without good deeds is the same thing. What is the point of having faith if we just sit around and do nothing? Faith is dead without good works. We must have good works. I mean... what more can I say than that faith is pointless without works?
What if you just believed in Jesus. Sure, you believe in Jesus. But what if: you didn't read your Bible, you didn't pray, you didn't go to church, you didn't help the poor, you didn't tithe, you didn't do *anything* that the word of God tells us to do. What is the point? Can I express this any more plainly? =P

Next we'll look at verses 18-19: "¹⁸But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

¹⁹You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder."
In verse 18, this probably *really* confused Luther. I'm sure that he thought this was ridiculous, "...and I will show you my faith by what I do." He probably thought that meant, "My faith is my good deeds." Nope, that is *not* what James was saying. He was saying that through his works, he would show he had faith. Say for instance, what if we say we're a Christian, and we don't have anything to do with Christ. But then again, what if we say we are a Christian, and we obey Christ in everything, and go to church, and do tithe, and help the poor... well, that shows our faith! Through Christ, we do good works. Through our faith, we do good works. Okay... that probably doesn't make any sense, but I really hope you see what I mean.
As for verse 19... heh heh... does that make my illustration (What if you just believed in Jesus. Sure, you believe in Jesus. But what if: you didn't read your Bible, you didn't pray, you didn't go to church, you didn't help the poor, you didn't tithe, you didn't do *anything* that the word of God tells us to do) make more sense? Sure, we have faith in Christ... we believe in God.... we believe there is one God.... But note verse 19. Even demons believe that. And are demons good? Do demons have anything to do with God? No, obviously not.

Next, we'll look at verses 20-24. "²⁰You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? ²¹Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²²You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ²³And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. ²⁴You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone."
So... that should take Luther's confusion out. ;-) Abraham was considered righteous because of what he *did*. But, take note of verse 22: "²²You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did." See, we must have faith and good works! But also note that his faith was made complete by what he *did*. And verses 23 and 24 continue to say that deeds is what completes our faith. If we have no faith is half of the Christian life; good works is the other half. You cannot have just one or the other. Both of them must work through us. If you have one or the other, you are not living the Christian life. You must have both.

And lastly, we will look at verses 25-26: "²⁵In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? ²⁶As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead."
Yeah, Rahab the prostitute was considered righteous. Isn't that slightly interesting? ;-) And last of all: verse 26 has one of my favorite examples. The body is dead without the spirit. I'm sure everyone who is reading this has been to a funeral (I guess). When you see a dead person, don't they always look different? I think they do. But that is because their spirit is gone. Life has left that body. Faith without works is like a body without life in it. Just remember that. We all should. We all need to.

I hope all of you enjoyed the post!! =)

In Christ alone,
~Madison

Study Through James - Part 5

So, we are now at part 5 in our study! =)

Today we will be looking at James 2:1-13.

"¹My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. ²Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. ³If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," ⁴have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? ⁶But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? ⁷Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?

⁸If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself,"^a]">[a] you are doing right. ⁹But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹For he who said, "Do not commit adultery,"^b]">[b] also said, "Do not murder."^c]">[c] If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

¹²Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, ¹³because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!"

Okay, first we will look at the first paragraph: "¹My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. ²Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. ³If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," ⁴have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?"
Now, you may think: "But I don't do that! I'm totally fine! I give to the poor. I don't need to be told to do more!"
Oh yes we do. And I say *we*, including myself. ;-)
As an example: A poor man, dirty and filthy, walks up to, and begins talking to you. You don't want to talk to them right? Yeah, I know for myself I tend to stay away from people like that.
But what if George Bush came up to and started talking to you. You would show him more respect wouldn't you? Okay, yes, despite the fact he is president. ;-) I mean, you would tend to show him more honor and respect wouldn't you?
Do you see the similarity between that and the verses? Yeah. I know. We don't want to admit it. But honestly, what is the difference? Okay, sure, George Bush is in a higher rank. But they are both human. Underneath that dirt, that poor guy is just like George Bush. They are both human!

Let's look at the next paragraph: " ⁵Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? ⁶But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? ⁷Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?"
Wow... humbling... very. God says that those people we slander, those people we shove aside: *THOSE* are the people He has promised would inherit the kingdom of heaven. Heh heh... I think verse 6 has a bit of humor to it. Maybe you don't see it that way... but I sure do: "Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?" Yup. Take that as food for thought. ;-) And even more so, verse 7, "Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of Him to whom you belong?" Yeah. Does that sound like the kind of person we should be honoring?

Next paragraph: " ⁸If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. ⁹But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker."
Love your neighbor as yourself. Ever thought about that? Oh, sure, we've heard it a million times. But have we ever tried to follow it? I know I'm not that great about it. Verses 9-11 are... wow. Yeah. It says that even if we somewhat slander the poor, we are a lawbreaker. In verse 10, it says that if we stumble even over one thing, we are guilty of commiting every sin. We are as bad as people as people who commit adultery. As bad as those who murder. Yeah. Does that put things in perspective?

Next paragraph: "¹²Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, ¹³because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!""
Hmm... so... can I look dumb for once? I'm gonna say I don't know. =P You can ponder this over, and tell me what you think it means.

Thanks for reading!!

In Christ alone,

~Madison

Study Through James - Part 4

Hello everyone! Sorry for not doing a post on here in a while. I've been meaning to do another post on here for a while, but I just never got to it.
Anyway, here is the passage we are looking at today:
James 1:19-27:
¹⁹My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, ²⁰for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. ²¹Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

²²Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

²⁶If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. ²⁷Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

So, let us begin:
In verse 19, it says we are to be quick to listen and slow to speak and slow to become angry. I think this is super true. Think about it, if you speak the second something comes into your mouth, is it likely to be good or bad? You should always "think before you speak". It is just a good idea. Also, we are supposed to be quick to listen. This is also good. Listen to people when they have something to say. Just do it. It is always good to listen to someone... to help them. Think about it: this is how God acts. He always listens to our problems. Key word there: *listens*. Also, it says we are to be slow to anger, vs 20, "for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires." So, let us always hold our tongue when we want to speak... especially if we're not sure if it sounds good or not. Always think for a bit. I know that before, sometimes I had to wait a few hours or day to reply to an e-mail or something of the sort, so I don't totally blow up. It gives me time to think about what I should say. This is always the safest way to go.
In verse 21, it says that we should get rid of all moral filth. In this case, James was talking about anger, and the filth that we can have in our words. Also, he says to *humbly* accept the word given to us. That means, when you read something in the Bible, don't say, "Oh, of course I'm not sinful. I'm better than most. I'm good. I don't need this." No no no no no no no no no. =P We are supposed to *humbly accept* the word. Also, it says, "Humbly accept the word planted in you, *which can save you*." So, this word is obviously important. If we believe what it says, we are saved. =)
Next, it goes on to the word itself... how to read it and learn from it.
In verse 22, it tells us not to merely listen to the word. Now, honestly think: how many times do you actually try to apply what you learned in the Bible? I know I'm not terribly good about that. Although I do have one idea I tried: read a series of verses, and read about a verse a day. Focus on that verse that day, and try to follow it fully. But verse 22 cannot get much clearer... if any clearer. =P "Do what it says." I mean... that is pretty straightforward. Do what the Bible says. Just *do* it. That is our command. That is what we should do.
In verses 23-25 tells us how to not read the Bible, and also, how to do it. Read these verses again. We need to repeat these verses, so we make sure we get the fullness of them. We'll start in verse 22.

" ²²Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does."
This is a very good analogy. If we just hear or read God's word, and then immediately forget it, then what is the point? I mean... it is just... useless. But, in verse 25, it says the man who looks intently on the prefect law, *AND CONTINUES* to do so, and *NOT* forgetting what he has heard, then he will be blessed. Pretty cool, isn't it? =) But we have to read and study and learn, and most importantly, remember what we have read and learned.
In verses 26-27, we are told what religion is not, and what religion is.
" ²⁶If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. ²⁷Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
Remember, in verse 19, it says to be slow to become angry. In verse 26, it says basically the same thing: keep a tight rein on the tongue. It says if we don't, that we have deceived ourselves. So... remember that tongue.
James says that the religion God sees as PURE religion, is this: "To look after orphans and widows, and keep ourselves from being influenced by the world." So, always take care of orphans and widows. This can be done in many ways. Think about it: Tithing at church, giving to a charity, going to a nursing home to see widows; there are many ways to do this. Also, I think the influenced by the world thing is *super* important. Think about it. I've been to many churches, and you see some pretty darn weird stuff. You see women who have obviously never thought about modesty in their lives. You see odd stuff being taught from the pulpit. And when you see "Christians" out in public, listen to what they talk about, and how they act. Pretty weird, isn't it? We should be influencing the world, not the world be influencing us. That is our goal. We are to change the world for Christ. But if the world is changing us, how can we do that? This is a very important point.

Anyway, that is all for today. =) I hope you enjoyed the post!

In Christ alone,
~Madison