“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe — and shudder!” – James 2:14, 19

WE KNOW SCRIPTURE states that “…one is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Romans 3:28) and we are doctrinally precise to declare that through the free gift of faith alone – given by God – we are freely justified and pronounced righteous in God’s sight. This is one of the fundamental tenets of the Christian faith the apostle Paul relayed as a foundational labourer in the body of Christ.

James’ epistle in no way counters anything Paul stated; he elaborates the ‘other side of the coin’. Both aspects are inseparable, thus revealing a unity embodied throughout the Scriptures that must be read as a whole – not isolating certain verses and chapters to one’s own understanding and liking – if we are to arrive at a balanced and wholesome view of God’s revelation. We are to declare the whole counsel of God.

Paul also deals with the aspect of the believer manifesting the fruits of faith and salvation in Romans 6: “Are we to continue in sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”, yet there are many who profess faith in Christ and who are well acquainted with the doctrine of Justification by Faith while failing to show evidence of a genuine work of life-transforming grace in their heart. This is nothing more than a mere intellectual belief of Christ and His substitutionary work and many are deceptively and perilously satisfied to remain on that level.

In addition to the gospel accounts, James soberingly taught that demons are aware of Who God is; they recognized Jesus as the Messiah – the Christ. The devil is a brilliant theologian, more clever and articulate than many of our leading professors in biblical studies – he is a scholar in both realms of reformed and liberal. The shameful aspect is that spiritual principalities of evil tremble with fear before God, yet reverence toward a holy God is a missing hallmark in our churches today. I’m sure that if such a healthy fear of God prevailed, much of our worship would radically transform.

Not only a mere belief, but also a ‘faith’ that manifests in power, deceiving many into believing they were labouring for Christ, should greatly sound the alarm to those who profess adherence to Christ: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven…did we not prophesy in Your name, cast out demons in Your name and do mighty works in Your name?” These are going to be ‘believers’ who have a false assurance – not the witness of the Spirit (Romans 8:16) – and who are not known (redeemed) by Christ. Such believers are those who embrace a fabricated Christ rather than the Messiah revealed through the written Word of God. Many that profess to know God deny Him by the nature or motive of their works (Titus 1:16).

The authenticity of salvation is not merely giving assent to biblical truths or confessing Jesus Christ as Lord; it is the work of God that bears the stamp of regeneration in a soul; the disposition of one’s nature that is now heaven-bent and from whose innermost being flows rivers of life – the fruit of Christ’s righteousness that wins lost souls.