We will conclude our look at what James calls a "dead faith" today. He's going to provide two examples of Biblical characters whose faith was alive and active.
"You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?" (James 2:20-21) Human sacrifice was practiced by some of the pagan peoples of Abraham's day, so God's request did not seem bizarre to him in the way it does to us. Abraham knew the pagan gods weren't real, but if the true God commanded him to do something, he was going to do it even if it didn't make sense to him. In addition, Abraham believed God was going to raise Isaac from the dead after he had been sacrificed. He knew God had promised him many descendants through Isaac, and so he believed God was going to bring Isaac back to life in order to fulfill that promise. "By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, 'It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.' Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death." (Hebrews 11:17-19)
Abraham believed in the one true God. Because he believed in Him, he left Ur for a territory God promised to his descendants. The childless Abraham believed God when He said He was going to give him as many descendants as the sand on the seashore. Abraham was already in the habit of believing God and acting on his faith in God long before God ever asked him to give up Isaac. So, in faith, he prepared to give up his one and only son, fully believing God was going to raise him back up and eventually bring from Isaac all the descendants He had promised. Abraham's act of faith said to God, "I trust You with everything, even with my only son whom I love with all my heart. I believe You are going to do for me all that You've promised, and if that means You have to raise my son from the dead, I believe You're going to raise my son from the dead. There is nothing too hard for You! I have given my life, my heart, and my soul to You. I will not withhold anything from You. You mean more to me than anything in the world."
God never intended for Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, but in his heart Abraham had already given Isaac to the Lord, so when the Lord provided a substitute (the ram caught in the thicket), it was as if Isaac actually had come back from the dead. This is why Paul says, "In a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from the dead." God never intended for Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, but instead God intended to provide a substitute even greater than the ram caught in the thicket. God intended to provide His one and only Son, and He intended to raise that Son from the dead, and He intended to bring forth many descendants from Him (all who will believe on Him as Savior).
James's point is that faith that produces no action is of little value. If you have time, read Chapter 11 of Hebrews, the chapter known as the "Hebrews Hall Of Faith", and you will see that the faith of everyone mentioned in it was proven by his or her actions. If we have faith in God, we should want to do the things God tells us to do, so James says of Abraham, "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 considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone." (James 2:22-24)
Are we saved by faith and not by works? Yes, because we can't perfectly keep the commandments and the laws of God. We can never be good enough to earn salvation. But even salvation through faith demonstrates faith and deeds working together. When in our hearts we first believe in Christ, the action we take is to repent and accept Him as Savior. So even on the day of salvation we find our faith and our deeds working together. Everything about the believer's life from there on out should display faith and deeds working together. Why do we obey God at all? Isn't it because we believe in Him? Isn't it because we believe there is a blessing for obedience and judgment for disobedience? Then this is faith and deeds working together. We believe there is a God who requires godly living; therefore we strive to live in a way that honors Him.
After using the respectable example of Abraham, James now uses the example of a woman who was once a harlot. This will show his readers that they can't say, "Well, of course Abraham did great deeds through faith! But average ordinary people like me can't expect to compare ourselves to Abraham. God doesn't intend to use my faith to perform great deeds." On the contrary, every person in the Bible started out as average and ordinary, but they believed in a God who could do extraordinary things, and so their faith and their deeds worked together. "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 a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead." (James 2:25-26)
In the book of Joshua we find the account of Rahab hiding the spies because she feared the God of Israel. Because she did a good deed for them, the men saved her life and the lives of her parents and siblings when they took the city of Jericho. Rahab is believed by many scholars to be the same Rahab who is later mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus Christ in Matthew 1:5. This would mean that after being rescued from Jericho, she converted to the God of Israel and married a man of that nation. Matthew says that Rahab was the mother of Boaz, and this would make her the great-great-grandmother of King David. Rahab's act of faith saved not only the lives of the spies, her own life, and the lives of her family members, but it placed her in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus.
True faith is always accompanied by deeds. Who knows what the Lord will do for us when we act in faith? Look what a great nation He made of Abraham! Look what a position of prominence the Lord gave Rahab in the genealogy of His Son! What might He do for you and me? Yes, we may be average ordinary people, but we serve a God who does extraordinary things. So let's follow Him where He leads us. Let's see what adventures He has in store for us when we demonstrate our faith by our actions.
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