Faith without works is dead

Jas 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Jas 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Jas 2:22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
Jas 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
Jas 2:24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
Jas 2:25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
Jas 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

We HAVE to believe this!
We must take it to heart!

O VAIN MAN.

We are incredibly vain, incredibly. We believe more easily in our own works and NOT the works of our faith. We believe in our own vanity more than works of faith. We want to have faith without WORKS. We want to say we believe and have that be everything there is. We want to say 'By grace we are saved through faith and NOT of works' and have that mean that the works of faith are something we should not do! Of course we cannot boast we are saved by our own works! It's ludicrous for us to believe we can save ourselves. Without grace we are lost and there is NOTHING that can change that, nothing at all. We will NEVER be saved by works, never be saved by our own actions. We are only saved by the grace of God, by the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The works that come from faith will be wrought by us through Jesus. He saves us and when He saves us we need to seek to be as He is, be as He told us over and over again in His word. We cannot claim salvation and then ignore our Savior and His admonitions to us.

How can we read the above verses-

Faith without works is dead.
Abraham justified by faith.
Rahab the harlot justified by works.
Faith without works is dead.

How can we read the above verses and turn around and say we do not have to have faith works- work wrought from our faith?

We can't, we just can't.

Our faith will require actions from us and those actions are works, faith works. So if anyone tells us we are not saved by works we can tell them they're right in one sense of the word- we are not saved by our own works committed out of vanity, we are saved by faith and that results in works of faith.

By the grace of God may we have faith works in our lives. When God calls us into action may we listen and obey, committing the works of faith He requires of us, all in His love!


Amen.