A man is cold and hungry and you tell him "hope things get better." James wants to know what kind of faith that is. Martin Luther wrestled with this passage because it sounds like James is saying your works save you. He isn't. He's saying a living faith moves your hands, the same way a living body breathes. Abraham and Rahab both trusted God, and that trust showed up in what they did. Faith that doesn't move is a corpse, but the Christ who gives faith also gives the life that moves it.

The Rev. Dr. Peter Elliot, pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church, Seattle, WA, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study James 2:14-26.

To learn more about Messiah Lutheran, visit messiahseattle.org.

Luther called it an “epistle of straw,” but then preached from it for the rest of his life as the Word of God. In this series, host Pastor Phil Booe and guest pastors walk verse by verse through the Letter of James, written by the brother of our Lord, the leading pastor of the Jerusalem church, and a man who thought Jesus had lost His mind until the resurrection proved otherwise. James writes to scattered Christians who are suffering, squabbling, playing favorites with the rich, and letting their tongues run wild. This series takes James at his word, reading him as a confessor of Christ who stands with Paul and not against him. Faith without works is dead, he tells them, and then he spends the rest of the letter showing them a better way.

Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God’s Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.