C (5:18)

What does it profit my brethren if someone says he has faith but does not have works. Can faith save him?

B (5:24)

Okay, see the word save there? Now you've been through my class in Greek. You know that the Greek word here is sozo. It's the verb sozo and it occurs five times in James. As we've studied it, we can see that all five refer to being saved from judgment or difficulties in this life. But that's not the way most people interpret James 2. If you look at most commentaries, they think this is salvation from eternal condemnation. So I would say that's not a real helpful argument because you're going to need to get into what save means here. His second point, that James includes himself and that he calls them brethren. That is a strong point. But the problem is most people think that there's two types of believers, true professors and false professors. And especially if he's talking to Calvinists, they're gonna say, well, you don't know which one you are. And so that argument isn't particularly helpful.

A (6:26)

Just jumping in here to make you aware of our magazine, Grace in Focus. It is a bimonthly, six issues per year, 48 page magazine, full color. And we want you to subscribe by emailing your name and your snail mail address to gesaithalone.org the subscription is free, it can be accessed electronically or it can be actually physically sent to you. If you live in the lower 48 United States, that's our Grace and Focus magazine. Send your name and snail mail address to gesaithalone.org and the third argument about dead faith.

B (7:03)

I don't think that James talks about dead faith. I think what he talks about is faith without works is dead. It's still faith. It's just faith without works. What's dead is not the faith, it's the faith that lacks works that's dead. So here's a couple of things I would argue. First of all, James 2:14, 26 doesn't just jump out of nowhere. It's part of the context of James 2:1:13. And James 2:1:13 is talking about if you're in your church and someone comes in and they're dressed to the nines and they've got expensive clothing and they've got gold and diamonds all over and they're obviously rich, we shouldn't show favoritism to them. So that when the poor person comes in that's dressed shabbily, we say to the poor person, hey, you stand over in the corner or you sit here at my feet. And we say to the rich person, hey, sit at the best table. No we treat everybody equally in the church. So when you get to James 2:14, 26, it's still the same context. He's still talking to believers. What I would bolster James argument with brethren, my beloved Brethren is James 1:18. Do you have it there? Sam?

C (8:19)

Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Right?

B (8:26)

And who is the people he's saying that to? According to verse 16, it's beloved brethren, my beloved brethren. And According to verse 19, it's my beloved brethren. So the people who are saved by the way in 121 are my beloved brethren. They're born again people. They're not unborn again people. So therefore you can make the case that brethren, my beloved brethren and my brethren refers to born again people. But you need to go to 1:18. Secondly, I think you need to recognize that James 2:14 is not talking about being saved from eternal condemnation. It's talking about being saved from calamity in this life. And there's several things we can see that point it out. When he says, can faith save him? He's not talking about faith in Christ for everlasting life. He's not saying our faith in the promise of eternal life can't save me from God's judgment in this life. Now that's true. But look at verses 15 and 16. I see a brother sister in my church. I say something good to them, be filled and be warm. But I don't give them what's needed for the body. That's not going to benefit me or them. That's why 2:14 starts with what does it profit? And 2:16 ends with what does it profit? It's the same in Greek in both places. What benefit is it? What use is it? What does it profit? And the point is, it doesn't profit me or them. And so the point is, if I don't put what I believe into practice, then I'm going to reap the consequences. For example, let's say I believe it's more blessed to give than receive. So I see the brother sister in need. But I don't give them. What does that profit me or them? It doesn't. My faith, which is not combined with works, is not profitable for me or them. That's why faith without works is dead, means faith without works is unprofitable. So what you want to do is get the people to see that the issue here is not who's born again and who's not. The issue Is, is your faith productive or not? Even in 17, faith without works is dead. A lot of people say, well, that's not true faith. If it doesn't have works, it's not really faith. They'll say, faith without works is not faith. That's logically impossible. A cannot be non A. If I say faith without works, it's still faith. It's just without works. What's dead is that combination of faith without works. It's not. The faith is dead. And so if I believe something but I don't apply it, that's unprofitable. And that's true of anything I believe. Let's say, for example, that when you were growing up, Sam, you believed that you were to be obedient to your parents and that God would bless you if you were obedient to your parents. Right? But let's say you were disobedient to your parents. Well, would that belief that it would be a good thing to obey your parents, would that have benefited you?

C (11:28)

Not at all.

B (11:29)

All right, so you're not married yet. But let's say you get married and you believe that you will love your wife as Christ loves the church, but you don't do it. Is that going to benefit you or her if you don't love her as Christ loves the church? Nope. Basically, what this passage is saying is we need to apply scripture. James is right. It's brethren. It's born again people who need to apply scripture. Now that's true of unbelievers too. Unbelievers are going to benefit from applying scripture, but they're not yet born again. So what they first need to apply is John 3:16. They need to believe it in order to have everlasting life. And then as a believer, we need to apply what we believe. So James 2, 1426 is all about putting our faith into practice. That's what Abraham did when he offered up Isaac. That's what Rahab did when she sent the spies out. Another way, it's putting faith into practice. Well, I hope that helps. You might read Zane Hodges commentary on James. I believe we have a free ebook on James that people can download@faithalone.org and we have lots and lots of articles on James 2@faithalone.org and we HAVE YouTube videos as well. In the meantime, thanks for the question, James, and let's all keep grace in focus.

A (12:55)

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