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Condemned here, in these verses, is judging people by worldly standards. Are we ever guilty of this? Do we give preferential treatment to the "big contributors" in the church? Are places of leadership granted on similar conditions?
Notice, in verse 2, the situation seems to refer to the "assembly", this probably did not refer to a church service but rather to a business meeting called to decide matters of disagreement between members. It was a Jewish Law that all men, free, slave, rich or poor, had to be treated equally in these meetings, but in the worship services, places were provided for people according to their rank and circumstance. This was incorporated into the Christian Church and practiced clear up to this century, where it has moderated a great deal. James condemns this practice as being un-Christ like.
Matthew Henry, 250 years ago, believed this was un-Christ like and said in his commentary, "Equality does not encourage rudeness or disorder, civil respect must be paid and some differences allowed in our church towards persons of different ranks, but this must never be such as to influence the proceedings of Christian societies in disposing of the offices of the church (elections)."
James reminds these Jews that God chose the poor to be rich in the faith and therefore, heirs to the Kingdom. It had been suggested that it is easier for a camel to pass through the "eye of the needle" than for a rich man to enter Heaven. The "eye of the needle", of course, was a small opening beside the most used gates in the wall around Jerusalem where camels and people could enter, by the skin of their teeth, after the city gates were closed at sun down.
Verse 6 declares a known fact that we human beings are made backwards, we dishonor the poor, who honor us, and honor the rich, who dishonor us.
So in discriminating, we break one of the Laws of God, and if you break one of the Laws of God, you are guilty of them all. So, judge not, by discriminating, less you be judged without mercy, for mercy triumphs over judgment.
So one of the characteristics of faith is not discriminating.
Faith Proves Itself by Works
["Click here for James 2:14-26"]
These are very difficult verses to explain in light of all the other writings in the New Testament. Our goal, in this commentary, is to establish what came first, faith or works. Does verse 18 help? "Some will say, you have faith and I have works, but I say, show me your faith apart from your works and I, by my faith, will show you my works." Does this help? I'm afraid it does not help very much at first reading.
We need to establish, in light of the rest of the New Testament, what James means by a "dead faith". How can we justify Heb. 11:17, which says, "By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac", with James 2:21, which says, "Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac upon the alter?" We readily see a controversy between the two authors as to what justified Abraham, faith or works.
Verse 14 asks the question, "Can faith save a man without works?" You must answer this question, I will attempt to help. In Romans, Paul says that faith was "reckoned" to Abraham as righteousness", James acknowledges this in verse 23. Paul also says in Romans 5:1, "We are justified by faith." He goes on in chapter 4:2-5, and asks, "If Abraham was justified by works, did he not have something to boast about?" "But what does the scripture say, 'Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." Now to one who works, what he does is not reckoned as a gift to God but as his due, and to one who does not work but trusts Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness."
Now lets get back to some of the other questions in verse 14. "What does it profit if a man says he has faith, but has not works?" The answer, of course, is, faith produces salvation, we are saved by faith. But we must go on from there and ask, What does it profit a person, in this world, if they do have faith and do not evidence it by works? Paul believed that faith produced repentance and repentance produced the desire to work, to tell and do. The knowledge that we have been saved from Hell is something that we will want to tell others about. If it does not, it certainly is not a living faith. James agrees with Paul, faith that does not, in some way, promote enthusiasm and gratitude, is dead and profits nothing.
Now lets get back to the first question, "Can that faith save him?" I believe that the sum of the scriptures in the New Testament teach that faith, alone, can save. The "key" words that James uses are "profit" and "dead". Profit means gain. we gain nothing from works, even James admits that it is our due. But there is something to be said for works. Paul agrees that a believer who does not work for the Lord is certainly no asset to the Kingdom, therefore, he could be considered as "dead" as far as his contribution is concerned. Verse 18, which we referred to back at the beginning, may have been well founded 1900 years ago, but not necessarily so today. Today many people are active in charitable causes who are not Christian. We Christians have, by abdication, allowed others to do our work for us. So good works are not necessarily a demonstration of faith.
However, it is difficult to believe that anyone, who is a Christian, knowing from what they have been saved, loving a forgiving and compassionate Lord, can be void of feelings for their fellow man.
In verse 22, James says that faith is "completed" by works. We know that this is true. Faith is complimented by works, faith is made manifest by works and faith grows by works. Faith, without works, is incomplete.
In verse 23, James acknowledges that Abraham's obedience and faith was reckoned to him as righteousness and we see in verse 24 another admission that Abraham appears to have needed both faith and works to be justified. James was still holding on to the Jewish law that required evidence of faith from the believer. Surly Abraham evidenced his faith in the act of obedience to God in offering up of his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice to God, but it was his belief in God, his faith, that allowed him to do this and according to verse 23, was reckoned to him as righteousness. We believe that we are justified by faith apart from works.
To further back up his idea about the necessity of works, James uses the example of Rahab, the harlot, who lived on the wall around Jericho. She saved the Israelites that were sent to spy out the city. She was saved when the city was destroyed. Now, was she saved because of what she did or was she saved because she had faith enough to do what she did? We believe that she demonstrated faith in doing what she did and that faith saved Rahab from destruction.
What am I doing, am I disagreeing with God's word? Surly, that would be very foolish. No, I am simply doing as I have always done and have always urged others to do, interpret scripture in light of all the New Testament teachings. Both examples used by James were from the Old Testament. Both lived in the Dispensation of the Law and even though James was now living in the Dispensation of Grace, Jewish tradition was still very strong in his life. Actually, I believe that Paul and James believed the same thing, but expressed it differently, because of the way that they were saved. Jesus was Paul's Savior, Jesus was James' Brother. Paul knew that his works would condemn him while James felt that he had observed the Law and his faith was simply an extension of obedience to the Law.
We believe that James ultimately accepted Jesus as his Savior and ultimately the doctrine of Justification by Faith, but he never got over the Jewish emphasis on works. To James, faith that didn't manifest works, was unacceptable. We can see a parallel between Paul and James and Calvin and Luther. James and Luther both emphasized works, Paul and Calvin both emphasized faith. James and Luther believed that you could "fall out of Grace", Paul and Calvin believed in the eternal security of the believer.
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