"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 a 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." - James 2:14-17
"Religion that God our Father accepts is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" - James 1:27
Another passage worth looking up for, is Amos 5:21-24. The whole book of Amos just speaks to me about God's Heart and His heart for Justice.
3 comments:
There's a running debate right now about the book of James, which some say are in direct contradiction to Paul's writings. James says that Abraham is justified by his works, whereas Paul specifically states that Abraham is not justified by works, but by faith.
There's a suggestion that James' audience is not the gentile believers (for whom the Law does not apply) but rather for the Jewish believers, who still maintain circumcision and dietary restrictions. To them, the law is still in place, but it is part of an eternal covenent between God and the nation of Israel specifically.
When Paul comes to the church James is preaching at, he introduces the notion of the removal of the old covenant, and he is stoned there. It makes me wonder if the gospel of grace was never even meant for Israel, but only for gentile believers, and that the entire book of James (he preached at a jewish church) is targetted to those believers who remain under the law.
Just a thought to chew on.
Hi Jovial,
I was actually thinking about that, -not the debate, I didn't know about that - but the relationship between Grace and works, as I had just recently read the beginning of Romans as well.
To me, this is not about salvation, but a call for responsibility and about God's heart, what is important to Him. I have not as so studied theology so I don't know all the details, but the way I look at it seems to me that James is challenging people. We can often get so comfortable in our Christian life or our Christian circles or our life, whatever.. and forget about caring about people. It doesn't take Grace away, and being saved by Grace through faith, but I think it is more about God's Heart.
Like in Amos 5:21-23 it doesn't mean that God always hates our meetings and our assemblies, (I don't think) but it's about the context, and the heart attitude(s). That's what it speaks to me anyway.
In that way, like you parallelled that James was speaking to Jews and not Gentiles, I could think he is speaking to those who are already believers, not non-believers. Where's the debate happening by the way?
Thanks for dropping by!
I felt like adding this in here.. In case someone at some point happens to still read these comments. An interesting article by Denise Morris on binary thinking and our western mindset (those of us who are western) from which we look at things:
www.trueu.org/dorms/stulounge/A000000931.cfm
She says for example this in it:
"This type of thinking makes arguing about God's mercy versus His justice — or the issues of predestination versus free will — fairly unnecessary. Both can be true at the same time."
Post a Comment