James 2:15-16. James becomes more exact in his example, a hypothetical situation he raises for the sake of argument. Perhaps there is a brother or sister in basic need of clothing and food. How would you treat them? James uses both the word for brother and the word for sister here. He makes the image more personal. This is a Christian who is in need.

Different Bible versions translate the idea of clothing here in several ways. Some say, “naked” while others have “poorly dressed,” or another form of this idea. James is not presenting a person who is completely naked. The word used here has the idea of a person lacking the outer garment. In James’s time, people had at least two layers of clothing. The outer layer was more of a coat. So James presents a person who is in need to be properly dressed for the weather. It is still in immediate need.

The other immediate need this person has is for daily food. There is a unique word here for “daily” but it does not suggest that there is a long-term need. The person doesn’t get away with saying, “I cannot take care of your needs because they will drain my resources and I cannot take care of myself and my family in that case.” This is an immediate need that will not occur regularly. This person is one who has the ability to meet the need but chooses instead to wish them well on their way.

James makes the imagery even more personal by referring to his reader, “one of you says.” Originally, this is his audience of his congregants spread abroad. But it refers to us also. Especially poignant is what they say to the person in need. “Go in peace, warm yourself and satisfy yourself.” “Go in peace” is a Hebrew phrase that uses the word shalom in Hebrew to wish the person well. To wish them well without helping them is essentially a crime.

This is the kind of empty saying that would make Jesus overturn a table or two, the kind of thing that would make Ghandi say, “I like their Christ, but I don’t like their Christians.” That’s the statement that gets you out of the obligation to love one another, as John would say, to bless each other, or to have “all things in common and share your goods” as Luke observed of the Jerusalem church in Acts.

This pious person tells the person in need to warm themselves and satisfy themselves. I am translating it that way because that is what they would have to do when they got no assistance from the person they are talking to. Whether they asked for help or not, the person recognizes that they need help and has the resources to help them. That person is at fault here.

James brings us back to his main point by linking to the beginning of his argument by repeating “what use is it?” This Christian who sees the need he can fulfill but refuses to do so and piles on pious statements is useless, you his faith is useless. He can quote whatever systematic theology he wants, but when the need is there, he fell short. His faith comes up short and we could question his beliefs that clearly teach him to act with compassion and fulfill the need.

James 2:17. James offers the first summary to end this paragraph. Just as useless as the brother or sister who says a passing unhelpful comment is faith by itself–without deeds. He goes out of his way to stress that this is faith without deeds. He emphasizes this kind of faith by saying “faith by itself” and “if it has no deeds.” He stresses the importance of faith backed up by deeds, specifically compassionate deeds.

James 2:18. This verse begins the next paragraph of this section. It also begins James’s second argument for a living faith that has deeds, a theological argument. Scholars admit this is one of the hardest verses in the book of James to interpret. James has set up a hypothetical person to contradict him. The problem lies in figuring out how much of this verse is a quotation from his opponent. How much does this person say, and how much does James respond in this short dialogue?

For the study, we will understand the hypothetical person to say, “You have faith, and I have deeds. Show me your faith without the deeds.” The rest is James’s reply, “I will show you my faith by my deeds.” This is the best way to understand what James says later in verse 20. James’s opponent challenges him to prove his faith without deeds. James retorts by saying faith is proven by deeds. He is addressing something that someone might think is a hole in his argument.

You cannot be a true Christian and have a hidden faith. Works are the proof or evidence of your faith. Faith and deeds go together like peanut butter and Jelly, Bonnie and Clyde, principle and practice. Deeds are the best way to broadcast that belief system you claim to have. Peter said that people would see our good deeds and glorify our Father in heaven (1 Peter 2:12). That is what James is getting at.

James 2:19. Here is James’s theological argument. He states a belief that God is one. This is the Shema of the Old Testament, the grounding faith statement and belief about God held by saints of Old (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). To prove that faith alone is empty and useless, he says that demons believe that too. But they don’t do anything about it except shudder. They know that God’s word because they live on the spiritual plane of existence and fight Him every day.

The word “shudder” only appears here in the New Testament. James may have gotten it from a couple of Old Testament references (Job 4:15; Jeremiah 2:12). It is a gut reaction, a feeling of complete loss. They shudder because they know they are beaten and God reigns supreme. They know who He is just as much so that he uses as they know themselves. The truth and reality of God’s oneness does not cause them to stop the evil they are doing or give up and submit themselves to Him.

The point is that you cannot believe something, and hold it deeply within yourself as a fundamental and foundational principle or truth. If you do not act on your belief, it is worthless. You are no different than demons who know the truth, live in fear of it but do not react according to the truth. You do will to believe the truth, but you fail if you don’t act based on it.

James 2:20. James addresses his challenger with another question. This begins the third and last argument he has for a living faith that requires deeds as evidence of the faith. This is his biblical argument that faith and deeds go together. He calls this person a foolish person, reminding us of the Proverbs and other wisdom literature that compares the wise and foolish.

He has used the argument that faith without deeds is dead before, and now he says this is useless. The word he uses for “useless” can also mean lazy or idle. It doesn’t get anywhere or do anything. His argument is not about salvation, but about sanctification. Faith must work through deeds.

James 2:21-23. James gives the biblical example of Abraham offering his son Isaac on the altar (Genesis 22). He uses this example to show that as Abraham’s faith was tested by God (Genesis 22:1) he did the deed of obedience. God commanded him to sacrifice Isaac, the son of the promise, trusting God to bring the problems through Isaac’s deliverance from sacrifice or give the promise by another means.

This question about Abraham offering up Isaac is another rhetorical question, expecting a positive answer. Offering Isaac was the deed Abraham did that proved his faith. James refers to Abraham as “our father.” Some commentators use this as evidence that James was only writing to Jewish Christians. However, Abraham is the father of faith, so anyone who comes to Christ in faith comes the way Abraham did. This makes him the father of everyone who has come to Christ through faith.

He explains in verse 22 that his deeds were working with his faith, proving that faith with action. If he really believed that God would provide the promise even if Isaac was sacrificed, he would obey God and go through the motions of sacrificing Isaac on the altar. If he did not believe that God would fulfill the promise through Isaac miraculously (Hebrews points to a belief that God would raise him from the dead – Hebrews 11:17-19), he would not risk Isaac’s life through sacrifice. How strong is Abraham’s faith to trust God would return Isaac to him even after death with no proof that He would!

James declares that the result of Abraham’s faith working through deeds perfected his faith. The word for perfect here refers to the completion of something. Abraham’s faith was not complete until he acted and did the deeds required by his conviction of faith. James is teaching us that faith is not complete until we act on it.

In verse 23, he refers to Genesis 15:6 and quotes the verse that tells us that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. This verse comes before Abraham’s proof through deeds by sacrificing Isaac in Genesis 22. The Scripture was fulfilled, completed and became reality. Genesis 15:6 is where Abraham trusts that God will fulfill the promise. It looks forward to Genesis 22 when the promise is put in jeopardy through the act of sacrifice. Abraham’s faith did not just go up to Isaac’s birth, but the protection of his life during the testing of his faith that God would still fulfill His promise.

James also calls Abraham a friend of God. Moses was called a friend of God (Exodus 33:11). Where does James get the idea that Abraham was a friend of God? He knows his Bible well. Abraham is not directly called God’s friend, but he is called God’s friend from other passages (2 Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8).