James 2:17-22 “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (18) But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. (19) You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe--and tremble! (20) But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? (21) Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? (22) Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?”
The Holy Spirit through the apostle James made it very plain for us to understand the concept of the evidence of faith, for in the above quoted passage of scripture He said that we show others our faith by our works. In explaining what it means to show our faith by our works, James goes on in this passage to give us the example of Abraham acting on what he believed thus showing us his faith. In other words his act of faith was his works. And so in the same manner, what we believe will be evidenced by what we say with our mouths and how we behave. Notice that James emphasises to us the absolute necessity of our acting in response to that which we believe, and he uses the demons as an example of those who believe but do not act accordingly. James teaches us in this passage that our actions make our faith “perfect”. The word translated “perfect” can also be translated “complete” and that would be a better rendering of the word in this passage. So what does James mean when he says that our actions make our faith complete? The answer to that question is given to us in this same passage when James also tells us that faith without works is dead. In other words, James is teaching us that faith without action produces no results, but on the other hand faith with action does produce results, or is made complete. So what are the results produced? The results are the power of God being manifested. In the example given above, the scripture teaches us that when Abraham acted in faith that God sent His angel to prevent him from sacrificing his son and God supernaturally provided the ram for the sacrifice (Genesis 22:1-13). In other words God’s power was manifested. And so we can see very clearly that faith with corresponding action experiences the power of God whereas faith without corresponding action will never experience God’s power.
Michael E.B. Maher
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