Faith Is Shown In Action

"What good is it, my brothers and sisters, to profess faith, without showing works?  Such faith has no power to save you.  If a brother or sister is in need of clothes or food, and one of you says, 'May things go well for you; be warm and satisfied,' without attending to their material needs, what good is that?  So, it is, for faith without deeds: it is totally dead.

Say to whoever challenges you, 'You have faith, and I have good deeds; show me your faith apart from actions and I, for my part, will show you my faith in the way I act.'" - James 2:14-18

(It is necessary to have faith to be saved, but following CHRIST cannot be theoretical; it must be shown in action, in deeds.  CHRIST HIMSELF says the same thing in Matthew 7:21: "Not everyone who says, 'LORD, LORD,' will enter the kingdom of heaven."

Let us look at the two examples that James takes from the Old Testament and let us compare them with Hebrews 11:31, and above all with Romans 4 [Galatians 3].  It seems that James and Paul draw opposite teachings from the same examples.  Paul says: Abraham was justified by faith and not by following the law.  James on the other hand, says that they were saved by putting their faith into practice.  Actually, in speaking of practices, Paul is thinking about the religious rites and observances of the Jews that are useless for salvation, and he says that faith is at the root of all Christian life.  James, in speaking of practices, is thinking about deeds inspired by love.  Paul said the same when he wrote: "Faith works through love" [Galatians 5:6].

These apparently contrary affirmations of James and Paul were widely discussed at the beginning of the Reformation, when certain commentators bluntly affirmed that a person is saved by faith alone.  Yet it would not be sufficient to show how we can achieve reconciliation between the words of Paul and James.  There is clearly with them quite different ways of seeing and feeling and that is due as much to the diversity of human temperaments as to the richness of the Christian experience, which is not always the same for everyone.  These real differences that we find even among the apostles encourage us to accept that others may think and express their faith in ways different from our own.)

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