well now let me read the second half of
chapter two of James and let me warn you
you're going to have to use your brains
because this is the most controversial
part of his epistle beginning to read it
verse fourteen what good is it my
brothers if a man claims to have faith
but has no deeds can such faith save him
suppose a brother or sister is without
clothes and daily food if 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 in the
same way faith by itself if it is not
accompanied by action is dead but
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 you believe that there is one God
good even the demons believe that and
shudder
you foolish men do you want evidence
that faith without deeds is useless was
not our ancestor Abraham considered
righteous for what he did when he
offered his son Isaac on the altar you
see that his faith and his actions were
working together and his faith was made
complete by what he did 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 you see
that a person is justified by what he
does and not by faith alone in 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 another direction
as the body without the Spirit is dead
so faith without deeds is dead some very
strong statements in that passage and
some statements which really upset
Martin Luther on the basis of this
passage he called James's epistle a
right stroy epistle or an epistle of
straw and what he meant was that it had
no nourishment in it nothing to get his
teeth into didn't feel it built him up
at all strong language but then Martin
Luther was hooked on the gospel and he
said there's no gospel in this letter
and therefore for him it shouldn't have
been in the New Testament
indeed as professor of New Testament in
Wittenberg University he forbade his
students to study James well we'll come
to that
not in this talk but in the next one
because it's such a controversial
passage that I'm going to spend two
sessions on it the first I've called
exegetical and simply we're going to
look at the passage and what it actually
says
and then the second talk I've labeled
theological and that's when you'll
really have to use your brains
but the greatest unexplored territory in
the world is between your ears and I'm
going to ask you to love God with all
your minds and really think hard in the
second talk but this time we're only
concerned with the exegetical or the
exegesis of the passage what does it
actually say now the connection with the
previous section is with verse 1 of
chapter 2 with where James says don't
try and hold the faith and favoritism
but now he realizes but I wonder if they
understand what I mean by holding the
faith do they have a right understanding
of what faith really is and so he's now
discussing the matter of faith and the
overall message is faith and action
belong together the key word here is
deeds or works in Greek oh God
I mentioned that because some of you may
be more familiar with the word economics
and that's from the same word and it
means action if you've got a new car
you'll find that the ergonomics have
been studied carefully the movements of
your arms and hands where the switches
are where the knobs are and they've
designed the cockpit so that you can
easily reach the switches and the knobs
you need have even put the gear change
on the steering wheel or the radio
change on the steering wheel it's
ergonomic that has done that because
they study the action
of the human body when driving a car and
try and fit their cars to the actions so
that's the word agar which means action
doesn't just mean deeds it means active
and in fact I think a lot of
misunderstanding of this passage would
have been avoided if the word Works
wasn't in it but the word actions was
he's talking about faith that acts faith
that works faith that is not passive but
active that's what James is on about
because the one thing he can't stand is
Schramm religion and xem religion is
based on profession but not on practice
and it's the difference between faith
that doesn't act and faith the does act
that is his real concern so having given
you a preview of the conclusion let's
now see how he arrives at it
the real key question for any religion
is how does that religion relate faith
and works those are the two great
subjects of religion doctrine and duty
how do they relate which comes first is
the key question and Christianity alone
among all the world religions says faith
comes first and then actions that's the
usual understanding but James is saying
something a little more than that and
we've got to realize what he's saying
and the quickest way to analyze this
section of his letter is to do so by
examining the figures of speech he uses
the arguments he uses
and therefore in the first section
verses 14 to 17 we look at three things
we look at an assumption he makes we
look at an analogy makes and then we
look at an assertion he makes and I've
deliberately chosen those three words so
that you see the difference between them
let's look at the assumption he makes
this assumption by asking what are
called rhetorical questions that means
asking a question when you hope that
you'll get the right answer and it
usually means you don't want the answer
given because it is assumed and he has
these two rhetorical questions both
about faith without action faith without
works faces out deeds and the two
questions are first what good is it and
it expects everybody to answer no good
at all and then the second question is
can such faith save him and again he
expects a negative answer of course not
now he's assuming the answer to both
questions he's asking them in the hope
in the expectation that he will get
negative answers to both questions
nothing at all or of course not mind you
he's not entirely sure that he will get
that answer so he now uses an analogy to
back that up I kind of similarly saying
that this situation is similar to that
it's what Jesus was always doing with
his parables the kingdom of heaven is
like this it's a parable basically and
he says now suppose
is that one of your fellow believers
that's the meaning of suppose a sister
or a brother
he's now speaking about people within
the fellowship suppose you've meet a
brother or sister who is starving and
shivering that he lacks enough food for
the day and lacks enough clothing and
you said to him well god bless you I'm
trying to think of a modern equivalent
he actually has the peasant saying well
bless you God will supply your food and
clothes that you need goodbye did you
know that goodbye is short for God be
with ye and originally was a typical
religious expression used in daily life
God be with you goodbye we've made it so
that we don't realize we're talking
about God but this man is simply wishing
them well he's giving them words of
comfort without any deeds of comfort and
you just need to state that and it's so
obvious that that's a useless thing to
do or say you're not helping that man if
you just say well god bless you and may
God find you some food and clothes it
doesn't help the man at all
it's no good now I want to underline
that this is an analogy he is not here
describing the works that he's mentioned
before he's not saying faith without
this kind of activity is useless not
saying that this is an analogy and my
proof is not just the word suppose but
the word at the end of it he says in the
same way
face that works is dead the word is a
Greek word who toss which means likewise
it means so even so just so it is
underlining that this is purely a
parable a likeness I mention that
because this is when many people have
gone wrong with James they've assumed
his saying that faith without works of
love is useless he's not saying that at
all he's saying in the same way love
without works is useless faith without
works is useless love without works is
useless
it's an analogy and therefore were not
to assume that it's part of his argument
for works he will later give us two
illustration of what he does mean which
aren't works of love at all they're
works of faith and this is the first
distinction I want you to get very clear
in your minds works of love and works of
faith are two different things but just
as love without deeds is useless so
faith without deeds is useless you got a
picture that word like wise or
translated in the New International
Version errs in the same way by the way
that's the word so in John 3:16 which is
so misunderstood it doesn't mean God so
loved the world meaning so much or so
deeply it means in the same way God
loved the world and that drives you back
to verses 15 and 14 to understand what
John 3:16 means read my little book on
John 3:16 most people miss
understand that verse completely by
interpreting so to mean so much so
deeply and here again he's using the
same word so which in chapter 3 verse 14
and 15 of John is used in its right
sense as Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness even so just in the same
way he will lift up the Son of man you
see the difference and so we shouldn't
really say for God so loved the world we
should say for in the same way God loved
the world back back then to this verse
he is illustrating a principle but he's
not illustrating what he means by works
of faith he's saying as in the case of
love and sympathy if you don't give the
person the necessities of life it's
useless
you're not helping them by saying god
bless your brother and often we can use
that phrase god bless you to avoid doing
anything about someone's need I just
throw that out as an aside so this is an
analogy that middle statement is simply
to illustrate the principle that without
deeds love can be useless and therefore
without deeds faith can be useless but
it's not the same kind of deeds that's
the point I want to make very strongly
so having made an assumption in asking
two questions and having backed that up
with a parable or a metaphor or a simile
he's saying now you understand what I'm
saying now I can make a straight
statement an assertion and he makes the
assertion that phases out works cannot
survive it's dead
has no life in it and therefore it
cannot help so many have missed that key
phrase in the same way he's not talking
about the works of faith now he is back
to talking about faith without action is
dead in itself and I want you to notice
that it's faith and works go together
it's not faith must lead to works it's
faith must have works it must act or to
put it very simply faith is something
you do it's not something you think not
something you feel it's not even
something you say it's something you do
and that applies to repentance also it's
not just feeling sorry or even saying
sorry it's being sorry enough to do
something or is the schoolboy to find
repentance it's being sorry enough to
stop another thing that's as good a
definition of repentance as I've ever
come across
so he's saying now categorically faith
that doesn't act doesn't save if you
don't do anything with your faith it
can't do anything for you very strong
statement but we're going to explore
that more and more as we go through
these two sessions now he moves on to an
argument and the answer to that argument
and I have to confess at this point I
get lost
in the next few verses I really don't
fully understand them so if any of you
does please come and tell me afterwards
he is now imagining a heckler an
objector someone joining in and
objecting to his straight statement that
faith without works is dead and it's an
interesting objection now bear in mind
that James is imagining what the heckler
will say but I think he must have had
this kind of objection frequently when
he preached and that there were people
who came to matrons and I don't agree
with you all did you really mean this as
every preacher gets and so he is basing
it on real objections Paul did this in
Romans 6 is that shall we say let's sin
that grace may abound extraordinary
thing and Paul is imagining and object
of saying that but that must be because
it had that objection and therefore he
puts in the imaginary conversation into
Romans just as James is putting this
imaginary conversation into his letter
now the problem arises and I'm sorry but
I'm going to raise problems with you
that you never knew existed and that
leads to confusion and I apologize in
advance but you need to be aware that
there are these differences of opinion
about what James means the other problem
we have is not imagination but
punctuation because the original great
New Testament had no punctuation marks
in it they simply wrote the Greek
letters in one long string of letters
with no quotation marks no commas no
full stops nothing
and so you've sometimes got to imagine
where the punctuation would come and in
the next few verses in the original
manuscript we don't have the punctuation
now what difference does that make
well quite simply we don't know where
the objection ends and if you have the
New International Version and looking
that you'll find the inverted commas
come immediately after the first
sentence in this little section did you
notice that and therefore assume that
the rest of this paragraph is James's
reply but the more I looked into it the
more I can't fit that in I just don't
understand what James is trying to say
if he is making those two comments let's
look at the three comments and what they
say first and then begin to ask who said
who is saying it the three comments are
first you have faith and I have works
now I'm quite sure that's the objector
that's the other man talking but then
the NRV closes the quotation marks the
second statement says this you can't
demonstrate your faith I can and the
third statement goes on to say your
faith is no better than a demon's faith
because even the demons believe in one
God and they sugar they have some
reaction they don't have faith but they
have a reaction
now it's the second and third sayings
that such a puzzle to the commentators
that I wrote down one commentator and
what he said see if I can find it the
interpretation of this difficult verse
are very numerous and for the most part
highly subtle and unsatisfactory and
that was the best comment commentary I
could lay my hands on he's baffled and
he then takes four pages of tiny print
to give all the interpretations that
have been and none of them is
satisfactory so I'm sorry but these few
verses are a real problem when we're
asking now what is said is clear enough
but who said it is not at all clear I've
wrestled with this I've written to other
preachers told them my problem none of
them could help me and so if I leave you
in complete bewilderment share that with
every commentator but I'm going to give
you my conclusion my conclusion is that
all three statements are from the
heckler the objector and the when he
says you and your he is referring to
James and referring to James's claim
that faith without works is dead that's
the best I can do and so let's go
through the three statements the first
statement we know is the statement of
the objector and in this he separates
faith and works regards them as two
different things
and he says to James you have faith I
have worked that's quite a common
objection actually especially of
unbelievers but even if some believers
they say I'm not a theologian
have you heard believers say of course
they are every believer is a theologian
because theology is what you think about
God and every believer has thoughts
about God but they say I'm not a
theologian I'm just a practicing
Christian I just do it now I've said
mockingly actually and I've never meant
this seriously but I have said that my
wife and I are good partners I preach
and she practices and the two go
together beautifully that's not fair at
all on our robbers but there are
Christians who say this kind of thing
and you say I may not have faith but I
have works I do it
and so this objective is actually
separating faith and works and saying
you can have one without the other and
he's saying you're the theologian you
have the faith you have the doctrine
I just cannot not do it fair enough
but that's quite a statement to make and
you can see that he's made a very
foolish mistake already in thinking that
James is thinking of faith and work as
two entirely separate things and he's
saying you have the one and I have the
other that's it well that's that's easy
enough to understand but then the second
statement you show me your faith without
works and I'll show you mine with works
now is that James talking or is it the
objections of him
I think it's still the objective not
least because he has the same direct
address you in Greek Su Su
and it's emphatic in each case and I
think it's still attacking James and
what it's saying is this you have faith
I have works you can demonstrate your
faith to anybody else you can't let them
see it it's all in here but he said I
can show people what I believe by what I
do I can show people my faith by my
works now when he says my faith we don't
know what he's really saying we don't
know if his shares James's faith or not
what he's really saying is what
unbelievers have said to me you have
this doctrine of faith but he said I'm
just a do good Christian and I get on
with it and therefore I show people what
I believe by what I do and what he
believes may or may not be the phone
question faith but it's making the point
you can't demonstrate a faith of that
work which is exactly what James was
trying to say so it ceases to be a real
objection but he is saying to
demonstrate your faith you but I've
worked he's almost in blind but you
don't really need faith you show what by
what you do what you really believe and
that's the important thing
so though it could be James's reply I
don't think he'd say show me your faith
to a man has just said I don't have
faith I have works so I think it's the
objector still saying
you can't demonstrate a faith without
works but I will show you what I believe
by my works let's move to the third
statement and here there is a very
definite ridiculing of faith without
works it's saying what do you believe
now every Jew has a Creed taken from
Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 3 here o
Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one
and it immediately goes on to say and
you shall love the Lord your God with
all your heart with all your strength
with all your I'm trying to get there
with him with everything you've got the
enemy and we often quote that second
part but he's saying if you believe in
one God so do all the demons in hell and
they do have a reaction to it they do
shudder or the literal word as they
bristle their hair stand on end
well now we know this from the Gospel
story that the demons again and again
said to Jesus were afraid of you they
trembled before Jesus and the demons
believe in one God which is everything
the Jews believe in and they've made
that verse in Deuteronomy their Creed
they call it the Shema hear o Israel the
Lord our God the Lord is one and that
word one monotheism believing in one God
only three religions of the world do
that Christianity Judaism and Islam and
that's why there's a move afoot to bring
those three religions together
and the Muslims want that some Jews one
did some Christians are even falling for
it but the fact that we all believe in
one God is not the important issue the
important thing is what kind of one God
do you believe in that's far more
important simple monotheism isn't it
really important it's not life-changing
just to relieve in one God it can be the
opposite can lead to fear of God if you
believe in one God and nothing else and
the demons believe in one God and they
bristle the hair stands on end they're
afraid of that one God in other words
this is saying what uses your faith and
again I think it must be an object of
saying this because why would James say
to a man who says I don't have faith but
I have works why would James say to him
your faith is no better than the demons
I don't follow but if it's the objector
talking to James John I can understand
it he's saying your faith in one God
doesn't make any difference and that's
true
so I must leave you with that conundrum
I believe that up to this point the end
of verse 19 it's still the objector
making three criticisms of the man he
thinks only has faith now funnily enough
he's half agreeing with James James has
specifically said faith without works is
no use and what the objectives saying
faith isn't any use anyway what you need
it works now have I left you in utter
confusion
maybe you never noticed this before and
we're the punctuation marks came but it
is really a big question in the
commentaries I've looked at none of them
really understand what is being said and
I can only leave you with what I think
is happening but please don't take that
as gospel truth as they say don't think
I'm infallible I'm not the Pope I have
no ambition to be and no ambition to be
taken as the last word on Scripture I've
said it before and I'll say it again do
you know don't believe anything I say if
you can't find it for yourself in the
scripture
that's my safety I'm just one of God's
teachers of his word and no teacher is
infallible and the commentaries are not
infallible I've got plenty of them but
the only infallible book I've got is
that and when it's uncertain I'm on set
and that's all there is the same so
having claimed that this was the
argument from the objector I move on to
the answer to his argument and as soon
as I move on to verse 20 I get
confirmation that what I've been saying
is perhaps the best interpretation
because at this point James says oh you
silly man rather like captain Mannering
silly boy and here James is saying you
empty man uses the word empty hollow
minded you silly man
you foolish man the literal word is view
vain man but not vain in the sense of
proud vain in the sense of empty Hollow
and when James says that he's saying all
your arguments are based on the wrong
supposition so let's go right back to
what I'm really saying you foolish man
do you really want to know what I'm
saying do you really want to be
convinced do you really want it's a
challenge to a man who is making
objections for the sake of making
objections and that's why I believe that
the punctuation marks in the NIV are
wrong and that they should have gone
right on to the end of verse 19 and then
James comes back and says o foolish man
empty-headed men do you really want me
convinced of what I'm saying do you
really want the truth or are you just
arguing for the sake of arguing that's
how I understand it this next verse and
that gives me a clue that all those
statements so far are empty-headed
statements that are said without really
thinking and they're objecting to
James's basic claim now says James I
want to give you the proof that what I'm
saying is real you've got the wrong end
of the stick you've misunderstood the
point
you really are arguing from entirely
different premises and to answer this
man with proof he goes to his Bible and
his Bible being in the early days of the
church was the Jewish Bible never forget
that the early church had no New
Testament they had the verbal New
Testament but not the written and so he
goes back to the written Old Testament
for his proof and that's James's
essential stand he's a Jew he believes
in the Old Testament as the Word of God
as we should and I hope do and he goes
back to two people in the Old Testament
Abraham and Rahab what what a contrast
to more different people who could
hardly paint one is a man one is a woman
one is a man in the chosen people of God
future Jews and the other is a woman who
is a Canaanite a Gentile Abraham is a
respectable man he's a farmer he's
respectable looked up to Rahab she's a
woman of the streets looked down on by
everybody he couldn't have chosen a
greater contrast by the way be in Hebrew
is pronounced like a V so we should
really say Avraham and Rav but since
most of you speak English I'm going to
refer to Abraham and Rahab now do you
know the stories of these two you all
know the story of Abraham you might not
be as familiar with the story of Rahab
which is at the beginning of the book of
Joshua so it's not part of the Jewish
Torah the Jewish Torah is the first five
books of the Bible Genesis Exodus
Leviticus numbers Deuteronomy and our
revered by the Jews more than any other
books in the Old Testament they are
referred to as the law of Moses so one
of these people is taken out of the law
the Torah and the other is taken from
scriptures outside the Torah it's almost
as if James is saying I want you to
realize the breath of salvation and the
different people that you will find
inside God's people
because Rahab became part of the chosen
people and both Abraham and Ram they
both became ancestors of King David and
the son of David our Lord Jesus Christ
and if you read Matthew 1
there's Abraham and there's Reb
incredible how these two totally
different people found their way into
God's people and into the family tree of
the Lord Jesus Christ quite astonishing
so that's the contrast and therefore the
comparison isn't more important still
what did they have in common what did
they share that led them to the position
they later helped and the answer is they
both had a faith that worked they both
put their faith to work they both did
something that made their faith real
when Abraham sacrificed Isaac got a told
him to do that got it promised that
through Isaac you will have more
descendants than you can imagine more
than the sand on the seashore more than
the stars in the sky and yet later God
said now I want you to sacrifice your
only beloved son and to do it on Mount
Moriah which later became known as
Calvary or Golgotha very interesting how
it ties up with the death of Jesus
but the main point is that God was
asking Abraham to kill off his only hope
for the future what a test of his faith
to believe God in those seconds when his
only hope of having a nation of
descendants was this one boy and God
says kill him and he went on his way to
do just that what a test of his faith
but he did it and even on the way the
boy who was carrying a bundle of wood
for the fire said we've got the word for
the fire but we've got no lamb no sheep
to sacrifice and was just simply told
the Lord will provide and then there
must have been a moment of horror when
Abraham the father lifted up the knife
to kill his son on the altar and it was
at that point that an angel told Abraham
stop it's all right
it was a test of your faith and that's
all it was meant to be so you don't need
to kill the boy and then comes one of
the most interesting remarks in the
Bible and when I've drawn attention to
it I've been hounded you wouldn't
believe it but it says then that God
says to Abraham now I know that you fear
me
now I know but doesn't God know
everything before
no he says I didn't know but now I do
now there's a little insight into a very
profound huge question which I'm not
going into now the question is does God
know everything we're going to do
he knows everything we can do and his
outcome but he says to Abraham no I know
not only did he know but Abraham knew as
well when he acted on his faith it made
his faith sure God was now sure of
Abraham and Abraham was sure of God in
stopping the sacrifice both were sure of
each other which they hadn't been before
well I must leave that huge question for
philosophers philosophical seminar but
let's get back to the issue that was
Abraham he risked his entire future in
obedience to God his faith was tested to
the extreme and he passed the test and
here James says do you see how his deeds
his works his actions cooperated with
his faith and completed his faith
now notice those two verbs faith and
works cooperated and the works completed
his faith very important words the word
cooperated his translation our Greek
word synergism which is made up of
together work it's a word of cooperation
it's a word of doing something together
Paul says we are Co working with God
and for Abraham his works and his faith
worked together and God was sure of his
faith from that moment his faith was
completed by his works and his faith was
a cooperation between faith and works
that's what James is saying right now
he's saying is your faith complete are
you works cooperating with your faith do
your actions take risks for God and then
you will know and God will know that you
really do believe in him I'll come back
to that in the second talk but that's
the point he's making let's go on to
Rahab over half and again she put her
faith into action she did something
about it the stories in Joshua chapter 2
but let me just retell it the children
of Israel have crossed the Jordan and
they're now camping just inside the
Promised Land interestingly enough got
part of the Jordan for this generation
as he parted the Red Sea for the
previous generation he had to repeat it
for them
because most of them went alive when
they went through the Red Sea in fact
all but two of them were dead and so he
repeats the separation of the waters and
they walk on dry land through to the
promised land incidentally he has to
take them through the ten commandments
all over again to make sure that it's
theirs and so the Ten Commandments are
repeated in Deuteronomy as well as
Exodus and so for a second and that's
what the word Deuteronomy means
deuteros ii normos law and so the second
law is given to the same ten
commandments plus a lot of others as
they were the first time but you see
what he's doing an entire generation has
died in the wilderness as punishment
from the lack of faith and so God has
got a new generation and he separates
the water column brings them through and
runand
their into the promised land but only
just and facing them is a heavily
fortified city Jericho and that's their
first objective to take if they don't
take Jericho they won't get any further
it's guarding the very place where they
cross the Jordan and you know the story
of the walls of Jericho falling down at
the sound of trumpets and shouting
hallelujah but one part of the wall did
not fall down I don't think
archaeologists have found that bit of
the wall yet but one part of the wall
didn't fall down and it was the part on
which a house was actually built on the
wall and it was a brothel and it was run
by a prostitute called ramp and it was
right on the side facing where the camp
of the Israelites were and Joshua sent
in two spies and said going to find out
what's happening in the city and come
back and tell us how it's going to be
taken or how difficult it will be and so
the two spies came into the city and I
think quite cutely decided to seek a bed
in the brothel
as the least likely place to be
discovered and Rahab took them in and
when they came to search the house
they'd heard that there were spies got
in and the police came to search she
took them up to the roof and hid them
under a pile of flax which was drying in
the Sun it's all there in Joshua tomb
and when the police challenged Rams and
have the spies come in here neighbors
say they saw two men who were not men of
Jericho and she said no they've already
left straight lie by the way and she'd
hidden them under the flags and then she
not only gave him a bed for the night
but she said I suggest when you leave
the town that you go east towards the
mountains
don't rush straight back to the
Israelites go east and I'll tell them
you went back to the camp West second
lie see what I'm saying is now the
Abraham not Rahab were perfect people
they are both recorded as telling lies
to save their own skin so she sent them
east up into the mountain instead of
West back to camp and told them she'd
seen them go west so they charged out to
go west and follow them back to camp and
capture them before they got back but
they found no one of course and then she
said and then after three days slip
around Jericho and you'll get back to
the camp so she she saved their lives
and the reason she did so is there in
Joshua tomb she said we have all heard
about what your God has done for you and
she mentions the separation in the Red
Sea
and she said we're all afraid of you
because we think your God's gonna give
you this city which you want but she
added to that her faith and she said
it's your God I believe in and then she
said when you take the city not if you
take it but when you take it would you
please be kind to my family and they
said well she'd let them out of the
window on the wall on a rope when they
fled up into the mountains and they said
hang a scarlet cord from your window and
we'll see it and if your family is
gathered in that room they'll be safe
and so it turned out the walls all fell
down except one bit and it was her house
and it stayed up with a scarlet cord
hanging from the window it's a wonderful
story now what had that in common with
Abraham very simply she risked her whole
future she risked her life and she did
it because she believed in the God of
Israel it's a thrilling story both
Abraham and RAM
they weren't concerned with giving food
and drink to the hungry and the naked
that's a work of love what there were
concerned with was their faith their
trust and their obedience and they both
acted on their faith and therefore both
were justified both became Friends of
God though actually the title friend of
God was given to Abraham not immediately
but years and years later by two
prophets who called Abraham the friend
of God and still to this day all the
Muslims call Abraham the friend of God
what at times underhand how did he get
it he got it by believing and acting on
his face and so the conclusion comes
again for the fifth time in just 13
verses for the fifth time
James make this clear assertion and
claim he's answered the arguments he's
given his own argument so now he comes
back to the basic thought faith without
works is as dead as a corpse it cannot
save it can't do you any good at all and
it certainly won't do anybody else
anything any good at all and that's the
conclusion that is the most argued
statement from James letter and in the
next talk I must deal with the theology
surely that statement is a contradiction
of Paul's teaching surely we can't
accept both Paul and James on faith and
works paul says specifically not of
works lest any man should boast we are
saved by faith that is the gift of God
not of works lest any man should boast
I'm quoting just one of Paul statements
to that effect and we look at the other
statements in the next talk is there not
here a straight contradiction doesn't
Paul teach we are justified by faith
alone and does not James say the exact
opposite you can see he says that a man
is justified by his works and not by
faith alone
and this is where most evangelicals hit
the buffers and rise up in horror some
of them as Martin Luther did say you
can't contradict all will come back in
half an Arn over now this time and we
look at that big question together