Our lives show if we have been justified by faith in Jesus apart from works. No change of life indicates no justification by faith has occurred.
Dead faith can not save because it shows we have not been justified by faith apart from works.
WRONG Emphasis:
James 2:14-18 (NIV)
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14 [/SUP] What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?
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15 [/SUP] Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
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16 [/SUP] 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?
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17 [/SUP] In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
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18 [/SUP] 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.
THE EMPHASIS IS NOT DEEDS, IT IS LOVE.
JUST TO SHOW YOU, THAT YOU HAVE MISINTERPRETED THOSE VERSES, HERE IS GOD'S PARALLEL VERSES:
1 John 3:15-21 (NKJV)
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15 [/SUP] Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
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16 [/SUP]
By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down
our lives for the brethren.
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17 [/SUP] But
whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
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18 [/SUP] My little children,
let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
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19 [/SUP] And
by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.
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20 [/SUP] For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
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21 [/SUP] Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us,
we have confidence toward God.
Romans 5:5-10 (NKJV)
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5 [/SUP] Now hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
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6 [/SUP] For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
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7 [/SUP] For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.
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8 [/SUP] But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
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9 [/SUP] Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
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10 [/SUP] For
if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
Now that should be simple enough that EVEN YOU can understand that YOU have TOTALLY misunderstood JAMES. We were Reconciled to GOD while we were STILL ENEMIES, therefore James is talking about HOW we are to know that the the HOLY SPIRIT is IN OUR HEARTS, and HOW THE LOVE FOR OTHERS, MANIFESTS THAT
GOD'S LOVE IN OUR HEARTS, WILL MEET THE NEEDS OF OTHERS. NO BROTHERLY LOVE, MEANS YOU DO NOT HAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT IN YOU.