The answer may well be, it depends on where you are. If you’re walking around, some may assert that James 2:17, which says “So…faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead,” applies to you. If you were a condemned criminal on the cross next to Jesus, and you accept Jesus as your savior and Jesus tells you that you will be in Heaven with him, as it says in Luke 23:39-43, that passage may not speak for you. Why? Because you would enter Heaven without having performed any works that would be a testament to your faith.
So there is no misunderstanding, the preceding passages, namely 14-16, say as follows: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?”
And after James 2:17, James 2:18…20-23 says as follows: “But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works... Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’—and he was called a friend of God.”
Both the condemned man on the cross and Abraham were rewarded for their faith. It seems the condemned man didn’t have to do anything except to show his faith in Jesus, and he gets a ticket to Heaven, whereas it wasn’t until Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac that God conferred His Grace on him in answer to his faith. At first glance it is ironic that the condemned man was devoted to evil and he gets an easy pass, whereas Abraham, who was devoted to doing good, was put through the mill before his faith in God was answered favorably.
As there may be no inconsistencies in the Bible, what do the condemned man and Abraham have in common in God’s eyes? By accepting the condemned man into Heaven, has God decreed, perhaps after Abraham, that you need not perform any good works to be accepted into Heaven? Has he decreed that you need not worry about what works constitute evil and what constitute goodness?
Perhaps it would help to add some perspective by taking the Old Testament into consideration. God in the Old Testament was harsh to His chosen people. For instance, a person in David’s time who transports an ark using oxen, sees the oxen stumble and the man holds the ark to steady it. For his efforts, God strikes him dead. Earlier than that, in Numbers, one of Moses people gathers sticks on the Sabbath. God tells Moses to put the man to death. What a difference between that, and the Pharisees who allowed gambling and trade to take place in God’s house of worship, an on the Sabbath no less! Did God have them put to death? No.
Considering the two events, had God become lax in conferring His Grace in New Testament times compared to Old Testament times? And it should be noted, as an aside, that the person who was put to death for gathering sticks may otherwise have had faith in God, but at that moment, perhaps because of the evil which prevailed on the world, he was given in to temptation. Here the man’s works, of gathering sticks, apparently destroyed whatever faith he otherwise may have shown in God.
Did God decide, in sending Jesus down to save the world, to put aside the harshness He levied upon His Chosen in the Old Testament? In sending Jesus down, did He try another tack, offering to confer his love if we accept Him, instead of His Wrath if we don’t? And if so, as with the condemned man, does God now assert that you need not do anything to obtain His Grace, so long as you express your faith in Him?
If that should be the case, the what is James 2:17 referring to? Some have said that works should be regarded as a “second act” following faith. The inference could well be that if you are in a position to perform ‘second acts’ following your expression of faith, and you do so, then your faith is alive. And if you’re not in a position to perform ‘second acts,’ like the condemned man on the cross, and you’ve run out of time, it is only then that your faith alone may receive God’s good Grace.
So there is no misunderstanding, the preceding passages, namely 14-16, say as follows: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?”
And after James 2:17, James 2:18…20-23 says as follows: “But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works... Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’—and he was called a friend of God.”
Both the condemned man on the cross and Abraham were rewarded for their faith. It seems the condemned man didn’t have to do anything except to show his faith in Jesus, and he gets a ticket to Heaven, whereas it wasn’t until Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac that God conferred His Grace on him in answer to his faith. At first glance it is ironic that the condemned man was devoted to evil and he gets an easy pass, whereas Abraham, who was devoted to doing good, was put through the mill before his faith in God was answered favorably.
As there may be no inconsistencies in the Bible, what do the condemned man and Abraham have in common in God’s eyes? By accepting the condemned man into Heaven, has God decreed, perhaps after Abraham, that you need not perform any good works to be accepted into Heaven? Has he decreed that you need not worry about what works constitute evil and what constitute goodness?
Perhaps it would help to add some perspective by taking the Old Testament into consideration. God in the Old Testament was harsh to His chosen people. For instance, a person in David’s time who transports an ark using oxen, sees the oxen stumble and the man holds the ark to steady it. For his efforts, God strikes him dead. Earlier than that, in Numbers, one of Moses people gathers sticks on the Sabbath. God tells Moses to put the man to death. What a difference between that, and the Pharisees who allowed gambling and trade to take place in God’s house of worship, an on the Sabbath no less! Did God have them put to death? No.
Considering the two events, had God become lax in conferring His Grace in New Testament times compared to Old Testament times? And it should be noted, as an aside, that the person who was put to death for gathering sticks may otherwise have had faith in God, but at that moment, perhaps because of the evil which prevailed on the world, he was given in to temptation. Here the man’s works, of gathering sticks, apparently destroyed whatever faith he otherwise may have shown in God.
Did God decide, in sending Jesus down to save the world, to put aside the harshness He levied upon His Chosen in the Old Testament? In sending Jesus down, did He try another tack, offering to confer his love if we accept Him, instead of His Wrath if we don’t? And if so, as with the condemned man, does God now assert that you need not do anything to obtain His Grace, so long as you express your faith in Him?
If that should be the case, the what is James 2:17 referring to? Some have said that works should be regarded as a “second act” following faith. The inference could well be that if you are in a position to perform ‘second acts’ following your expression of faith, and you do so, then your faith is alive. And if you’re not in a position to perform ‘second acts,’ like the condemned man on the cross, and you’ve run out of time, it is only then that your faith alone may receive God’s good Grace.