Faith and Works
Faith and Works
November 5th, 2025
Scripture: James 2:8–26
Each week, our Bible Study gathers to explore the same passage that will shape our Sunday message. It’s a time to pause midweek, open God’s Word, and let His truth prepare our hearts for worship.
If you can’t join us on Wednesdays, this blog is a great way to follow along. You can reflect on the passage, spend time in Scripture, and come ready for Sunday with your heart already grounded in God’s Word.
This week’s study comes from James 2:8–26, a challenging and practical passage that calls us to live out our faith through action. James reminds us that genuine faith isn’t just something we say or believe—it’s something we do, flowing from love, mercy, and obedience to God.
Lord, thank You for Your Word and for the reminder in James that true faith is shown through love in action. Open our hearts as we study today—help us not only to believe but to live out our faith with compassion, mercy, and obedience. May what we learn draw us closer to You and shape how we love others.
Amen.
James is the brother of Jesus, and the leader of the church in Jerusalem. This is an early letter, likely written in the mid-40s before the council of Jerusalem in 49 AD (Acts 15).
James 2:8–13
8 Indeed, if you fulfill the royal law prescribed in the Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. 9 If, however, you show favoritism, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all. 11 For he who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not murder. So if you do not commit adultery, but you murder, you are a lawbreaker.
12 Speak and act as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom. 13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has not shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Sometimes Paul and James are put at odds, as though they believed in different gospels, but the core of their message is clear, and in complete agreement. Compare this passage to
Galatians 5: “3 Again I testify to every man who gets himself circumcised that he is obligated to do the entire law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law are alienated from Christ; you have fallen from grace… what matters is faith working through love… 13 For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.”
Paul makes the harmony explicit:
"For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift—not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do" (Ephesians 2:8–10).
As followers of Jesus, both our words and our actions are meant to be in line with the truth of the good news that we say we believe. If we are no longer under the law, and live in freedom, then we need to live like it. Mercy and faith are a free gift from God, and they make a difference.
The evidence (or “fruit”) of God’s presence in our lives is lives that are genuinely changed. If we have been shown mercy and understood what has been done for us, we will show mercy to others. Mercy wins over judgment, and James calls us to live out that truth.
Faith Without Works Is Dead
James 2:14–17
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?
James isn't saying we earn salvation through works—he's exposing counterfeit faith. The question "Can such faith save him?" implies the answer: no, because it's not real faith. Earlier in chapter 2, James showed churches claiming “everyone is equal” while treating the rich better than the poor. Their actions exposed what they actually believed.
James is diagnosing hypocrisy: claiming faith while living as if it's not true. He is not saying that our works save us; he is pointing out that true faith leads to good works.
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 does not have works, is dead by itself.
James makes his point very clear here: words alone are not faith. If we claim to care about others, but do nothing when they are in need, then we don’t really care about them. When you love someone, and they are in need, you can’t help but run to them and care for them. If your best friend, or parent, or child was starving or naked, you wouldn’t say, “I hope things work out.”
Faith is either alive, or it is dead.
If we have been made alive in Jesus, it will make a difference in our lives. This is not a promise that we will become immediately perfect, or that all of our problems go away. It is pointing out the obvious: if our faith doesn’t change anything, or mean anything, then it isn’t real faith. Faith is tied up in love for others, because that is the heart of who Jesus was. Love is what he taught, and showed, and died for. If we say that we believe in Jesus and follow him, but do not love, then our faith is dead, because it is meaningless.
It is actually more damaging to others when we say we believe something but act in the opposite way. Most people who are angry with God or the church are really angry at hypocrisy. They saw people preaching and judging but not living it out. We usually judge ourselves by what we say, but others by what they do. We can see dead faith in others, but miss it in ourselves.
Faith Proven by Action
James 2:18–19
18 But someone will say, “one person has faith, and another has 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.
James is responding to someone who might suggest they are just different gifts for different people. He doesn’t buy it. Faith is true when it’s tested and shown to be real. James gives the extreme example of demons. They know that there is a God, and that Jesus is Lord. If that’s faith, demons have it. There is a real problem with our definition of faith if demons are faithful.
To the contrary, they have shown that they are faithless by opposing Jesus and attacking his people. Even the demons know that their faithlessness will lead to judgement. They shudder, knowing their lack of mercy reveals a lack of true faith: something James’s opponents seem blind to.
Faith Made Complete by Works
James 2:20–25
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?
Here again, it might look at first glance like James is pointing out how works saved people, but if we know the stories he is referencing, we can see that they’re carefully chosen. Both Abraham and Rahab actually do something that at first glance looks unfaithful. Their actions— sacrificing your child, or betraying your country to spies—are not good works that earned their way into God’s mercy. Their works are proof of their faith because what they chose to do showed the depth of their trust and belief in God.
When James says we're 'not justified by faith alone,' he means false faith—the demonic faith of verse 19. He's rescuing faith from being gutted of its of power and turned into empty words.
Faith and works are active together. It is when we actually choose to do something about our faith that it is made real, beforehand it is a theory, or mere words.
Faith means following Jesus, not just cheering him on from the sidelines. As we read in Hebrews last week, faith is something that must endure, and reflect Jesus’ call to love. Faithfulness isn’t proven in a moment, but over a lifetime. Jesus isn’t calling us to be cheerleaders or sponsors; he is calling us to followers.
Faith That Is Alive
James 2:26
26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
Works are the evidence and fruit of faith. They are the result of faith, like apples are the result of a healthy apple tree. If we remove all of the love and trust from what we call “faith” we are left with only a dead shell of what Jesus intended. It might look fine on the outside, but if you check, there is no pulse. A misunderstanding of what grace and faith are lead us to the kind of faith that drains us and leaves us lifeless and empty.
Faith that says it “believes in” forgiveness, selflessness, and love while refusing to forgive, make time, or care for others is hollow and lifeless. Faith like that won’t bring us the joy and peace Jesus promised; it blinds us from experiencing how Jesus has forgiven us, and how he sees us as valuable and worthy of love.
James isn’t just scolding lazy believers; he is encouraging us to discover that faith is meant to be alive and powerful! Jesus didn’t die for us to continue as slaves to sin, he died for us to live in freedom.
James reminds us that faith is not just a belief we hold—it’s a life we live. True faith shows itself in how we care for others, act with mercy, and follow Jesus in practical ways. As we reflect on this passage, let us ask ourselves: Does my faith move me to love and serve, or is it only words? God calls us to a faith that is alive, active, and transformative—for ourselves and for those around us.
Lord, thank You for the gift of faith and for showing us how to live it out. Help us to move beyond words and let our actions reflect Your love. Give us hearts that are merciful, hands that serve, and lives that shine Your truth to the world. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Posted in Works, Faith and works, James 2:8–26, Bible Study
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