10 Dead Faith
(James 2:14–20)
What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them,” Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say,” You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? (2:14–20)
A truth that James emphasizes in this text and that the Word of God teaches throughout is that what we do reveals who we are. That truth, of course, is on the deepest and most important level possible. James is not speaking simply of beliefs and intentions in general but of the foundational belief of saving faith. The genuineness of a profession of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is evidenced more by what a person does than by what he claims. A person who professes Christ but who does not live a Christ-honoring, Christ-obeying life is a fraud. In chapter 2, James twice describes such faith as being dead (2:17, 26). A person with dead faith does not and cannot produce works that are truly good and righteous, and the absence of such works is evidence of the absence of saving faith.
The New Testament is replete with examples of such dead faith. When John the Baptist “saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves,” We have Abraham for our father;” for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham’” (Matt. 3:7–9). “You cannot count on your heritage for salvation, no matter how great it may be,” he was saying. “If you truly trust in God and belong to Him, you will give evidence of it by repenting of your sins and living righteously.” His calling them vipers made it clear that their lives were anything but righteous and that their professed faith was therefore dead.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said,” Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). The inner light that the Lord gives His people will always shine outwardly in the form of good deeds. Later in the message, Jesus expanded on that truth, explaining that “not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter” (7:21).
Jesus began encountering superficial believers early in His ministry. “When He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man” (John 2:23–25). He did not entrust Himself to them because they did not belong to Him. Their belief amounted to the acknowledgment of certain truths about Jesus, but they did not trust in Him as Savior or surrender to Him as Lord.
Nicodemus, a leading Pharisee,” came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” What Nicodemus said was completely true, but “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God ” (John 3:2–3). Nicodemus believed Jesus was a prophet from God, that He spoke the truth, and that He performed miracles by divine power; and perhaps he even believed that He was the Messiah. But again, the Lord made clear that, no matter how sincere it may be, mere acknowledgment of truths about Him does not constitute spiritual rebirth.
After Jesus plainly declared,” ‘Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins’ … many came to believe in Him” (John 8:24, 30). Still again, however, the professed belief was not saving, and He told “those Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free’” (vv. 31–32). A true disciple of Christ will obey His Word. A continually disobedient life is proof of false discipleship and dead faith (cf. John 14:21, 23; 15:16).
Jesus repeatedly emphasized the basic gospel truth that mere intellectual acceptance of divine truth does not bring salvation. “Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?” He asked rhetorically. “So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits” (Matt. 7:16–20). Using a similar figure, He said,
I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned…. By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. (John 15:5–6, 8)
He concluded the parable of the soils by saying,” The one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty” (Matt. 13:23).
Through the writer of Hebrews, God commands,” Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). A profession of faith that produces no sanctification is dead faith. True believers not only are themselves God’s workmanship, Paul says, but are, in fact,” created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Eph. 2:10, emphasis added).
John wrote of this same truth:
Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:7–10)
As in many other times in its history, the church today desperately needs to recognize and deal with the soul-damning idea that mere acknowledgment of the gospel facts as being true is sufficient for salvation. We must clearly and forcefully counter the deception and delusion that knowing and accepting the truth about Jesus Christ is equivalent to having saving faith in Him. In some church circles, it even seems to be held that merely not denying God is tantamount to trusting in Him.
James will not permit such falsehood to go unchallenged. As noted numerous times in previous chapters of this commentary, the epistle of James presents a series of tests by which professed Christians can evaluate the genuineness of their faith. All of the tests are based on the foundational truth that people who make no irrevocable commitment to renounce sin and obey and serve the Lord Jesus Christ have no claim on Him and should be confronted with the reality of their lostness. How we live proves who we are—or are not—in God’s sight. As James declared in the previous chapter, genuine believers are “doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves” (1:22).
It cannot be stressed too often that no one can be saved by works. Salvation is entirely “by grace … through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8–9). If works could have any part in salvation, it would no longer be by God’s grace. But neither can it be stressed too often that, as James declares in the present passage,” faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself” (James 2:17). Genuine, transforming faith not only should, but will, produce genuine good works, notably repentance and obedient submission to Christ’s lordship. This is the expression of the new nature, created in the new birth (2 Cor. 5:17). It will not be perfect obedience and repentance, but good works will be present.
We might say that it costs us nothing to become a Christian but everything to live fully as one. We will bear fruit and should bear much fruit. Nothing we possess could merit the least part of salvation; but once we are saved, everything we have belongs to the Lord. That, of course, is what lordship means, and it was Jesus point in the parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price. “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field,” He said,” which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Matt. 13:44–46).
For the self-deceived, however, salvation amounts to nothing more than a casual acknowledgment of the facts about Christ, with no idea or intention of permanent, irrevocable commitment to Him and to His Word and will.
The seventeenth-century English preacher Thomas Brooks wrote:
Christ hath freed you from all your enemies, from the curse of the law, the predominant damnatory power of sin, the wrath of God, the sting of death, and the torments of hell; but what is the end and design of Christ in doing these great and marvelous things for his people? It is not that we should throw off duties of righteousness and holiness, but that their hearts may be the more free and sweet in all holy duties and heavenly services…. Ah, souls! I know no such arguments to work you to a lively and constant performance of all heavenly services, like those that are drawn from the consideration of the great and glorious things that Christ hath done for you. (Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices [Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1984], 123–24)
As mentioned in chapter 1, James’s primary audience was Jewish,” the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad” (James 1:1; cf. 2:21). Those Jews had identified themselves with the Christian faith, many of them, doubtless, at considerable cost. As in most Christian assemblies, however, some of them were genuine believers and some were not. That was the reason for James’s presenting so many tests of faith. It is why Paul also admonishes,” Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!” (2 Cor. 13:5).
Some Jews had gone from an extreme legalistic Judaism to the opposite extreme of an antinomian Christianity. They replaced a works-righteousness system with one that required no works at all. Those Jews who were honest had long since realized that they could not possibly keep all the commandments of God or meet His standards of righteousness. The Law was a hopelessly demanding burden they could not possibly carry. Over the previous centuries, rabbis had added still more burdens in the form of traditions, which they laid “on men’s shoulders” (Matt. 23:4). Consequently, when they heard the gospel of salvation through grace alone and faith alone, many Jews were immediately attracted. Some assumed this new religion gave everything and demanded nothing. Such people would make a profession of believing about Christ, but with the mistaken notion that, because works are not efficacious for salvation, they are, therefore, not necessary for anything. The inevitable result was nonsaving faith and a type of living that differed little, if at all, from the way they had formerly lived. It may even have led to worse conduct.
In James 2:14–20, James provides three characteristics of such false, dead, and worthless faith. It is marked by empty confession (v. 14); false compassion (vv. 15–17); and shallow conviction (vv. 18–20).
EMPTY CONFESSION
What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? (2:14)
My brethren perhaps refers especially to James’s fellow Jews, but he is also addressing the church at large.
If someone says is the phrase that governs the interpretation of the entire passage. James does not say that this person actually has saving faith, but that he claims to have it.
No particular kind of faith is mentioned, but the context indicates that it refers to acknowledgment that one believes the basic truths of the gospel. A person making such a claim would believe in such things as the existence of God, Scripture as the Word of God, and, presumably, in the messiahship of Christ and in His atoning death, resurrection, and ascension. In any case, the theological orthodoxy of such a person’s faith is not in question; the issue is that he has no works. The verb form in that phrase describes someone who continually lacks evidence to support the claim of faith he routinely makes.
Likewise, no particular type of works is specified; but the obvious meaning is that of righteous behavior conforming to God’s revealed Word that is pleasing and acceptable to Him. Some of the righteous and godly works James has already mentioned are endurance (1:3), perseverance under trial (1:12), purity of life (1:21), obedience to Scripture (1:22–23), compassion for the needy (1:27), and impartiality (2:1–9). Later he mentions such things as acts of compassion (2:15), control of the tongue (3:2–12), humility (4:6, 10), truthfulness (4:11), and patience (5:8).
The question Can that faith save him? is not offered to dispute the importance of faith, but to oppose the idea that just any kind of faith can save (cf. Matt. 7:16–18). The grammatical form of the question calls for a negative answer— “No, it cannot save.” A profession of faith that is devoid of righteous works cannot save a person, no matter how strongly it may be proclaimed. As already noted, it is not that some amount of good works added to true faith can save a person, but rather that faith that is genuine and saving will inevitably produce good works.
No New Testament writer is more adamant that salvation is solely by God’s grace working through man’s faith than Paul, and no writing of Paul makes that clearer than does his letter to the church at Rome. Yet in that letter he unequivocally asserts that God
will render to each person according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. … It is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified. For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus. (Rom. 2:6–10, 13–16)
James is therefore obviously not in conflict with Paul about the basis of salvation, as some interpreters have maintained. They are not standing face-to-face confronting each other, but are standing back-to-back fighting two common enemies. Paul opposes works-righteous legal-ism; James opposes easy-believism. But both men make clear that we are going to be judged on the basis of what we have done, for that is a sure indicator of genuine salvation. “Do not marvel at this” Jesus said; “for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28–29).
In a passage already cited, Paul delineates in the clearest possible way the proper relationship between faith and works. After declaring that “by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast,” he immediately adds,” For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Eph. 2:8–10). In another place he says that in all things believers are to “show [themselves] to be an example of good deeds” (Titus 2:7). Stated negatively,” Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness” (2 Tim. 2:196), and those who “profess to know God, but by their deeds … deny Him, [are] detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed” (Titus 1:16).
Where there is true salvation, where sovereign grace reaches down to regenerate and transform a person from sinner to saint, God will create in the soul of that person new longings to forsake sin and self and gladly serve the Lord Jesus Christ and obey His divine standards of righteousness. The moment that Zaccheus believed in Jesus, he said,” Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much” (Luke 19:8). When pagans in Ephesus trusted in Christ and were “confessing and disclosing their practices … many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver” (Acts 19:18–19). By the indwelling Spirit working through their new natures, they instinctively knew that occult practices were evil and had no place in their redeemed lives. In the same way, many former pagans in Thessalonica had “turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God” (1 Thess. 1:9).
It is not that newborn believers immediately understand the full implications of the gospel and know everything they should believe and everything they should and should not do. Those things come with ever-increasing awareness as one grows in knowledge of the Word and in fellowship with the Lord. But there is an immediate and new spiritual and moral orientation that the Lord gives every child who is born into His family and kingdom. No one is saved without becoming a new creation, and, by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the new creation produces such righteous works as repentance, submission, obedience, and love of God and fellow believers. Salvation does not produce immediate perfection, but a new direction. The new disposition that hates sin, loves the Lord, and seeks to know Him and obey His will begins to manifest itself in behavior.
FALSE COMPASSION
If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them,” Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. (2:15–17)
Second, James illustrates his point by comparing faith without works to words of compassion without corresponding acts of compassion. This is a fitting analogy, because dead faith can be characterized by false compassion, by a verbal concern for those in need that is no more than a hypocritical sham.
The Greek construction indicates a need on the part of such believers that is long-standing, not temporary. Without clothing does not mean stark naked but rather poorly and insufficiently clothed, suggesting they were cold and miserable due to lack of proper clothes. Similarly, in need of daily food does not necessarily indicate starvation but rather insufficient nourishment for normal, healthy living. The reference is to those who are deprived of the necessities of life. Proclaiming the same truth, John asks rhetorically,” Whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:17).
“Go in peace, be warmed and be filled” is a remarkably heartless and foolish statement, by which James indicates an attitude of total disregard for the welfare of others to the point of absurdity. People do not actually say such words, but they often imply that sentiment by a selfish disinterest that does not give those in need what is necessary for their body. Go in peace is equivalent to a perfunctory,” God bless you;” and be warmed and be filled is tantamount to saying,” God take care of you”—while having no intention of being a channel for that care.
The middle/passive voice of the Greek verbs rendered be warmed and be filled suggests an even more indifferent, cruel, and sarcastic attitude, which says, in effect,” warm and feed yourself,” as if such a needy person would not already have done so if able.
The question What use is that? implies the answer. The fatuous and outrageous comment, Go in peace, be warmed and be filled, is of no use at all, being totally worthless.
Just as professed compassion without kindness and care is phony, so is that faith which is nothing but an empty claim. This is a well-chosen analogy, because compassion is one of the evidences of true regeneration.
The story is told of a European queen several centuries ago who left her coachman sitting outside during the winter while she attended the theater. The drama was so heart wrenching that the queen sobbed throughout the entire performance. But when she returned to the carriage and discovered the coachman had frozen to death, she did not shed a tear! She was deeply moved by a fictional tragedy but completely untouched by a real one with which she was directly involved and for which she was even directly responsible.
It is amazing that so many people can become emotionally involved in a movie, play, popular song, or TV program, weeping over tragedies and becoming incensed at wrongs and injustices, and yet show no concern or compassion for the plight of a neighbor or acquaintance who is in real need. In our artificial, self-centered world, fantasy often becomes more meaningful than reality.
How utterly different from that was believers’ reaction to the need of fellow saints in Jerusalem just after Pentecost. Those new Christians spontaneously “began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need” (Acts 2:45). A short while later the same selfless spirit was evident.
The congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need. (Acts 4:32–35)
Jesus spoke to this issue on several occasions, using words and imagery that are impossible to misunderstand. In the story of the Good Samaritan, He made clear that those who belong to Him are obligated to help anyone in need—friend or stranger, fellow citizen or foreigner, admired or despised. And, as far as we are able, we are to see that the person’s need is completely met (see Luke 10:30–35).
In even stronger terms, Jesus taught that His people have a special obligation to help each other. In fact, He said, to help fellow believers is to directly serve Him; and not to serve them is to forsake Him. In the day of judgment, that service or lack of it will be the mark that separates the sheep from the goats; those with true, living faith from those with false, dead faith. Those who enter the kingdom will not be those who merely professed the name of Jesus Christ but those whose lives of obedience and service to Him proved their profession was true.
But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.
Then the King will say to those on His right,” Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.” Then the righteous will answer Him,” Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You? “The King will answer and say to them,” Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.”
Then He will also say to those on His left,” Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. … Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me” (Matt. 25:31–41, 45)
SHALLOW CONVICTION
But someone may well say,” You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? (2:18–20)
A third characteristic of dead faith is shallow conviction, a recognition of certain facts about God and His Word without submission to either.
It seems most likely that someone refers to James himself, speaking of himself using the third person out of humility. He was not boasting, trying to prove that his own Christian life was more exemplary than another’s. He was not speaking primarily about faithfulness in the faith but about faith itself. He was saying, in effect, to anyone opposing the truth he was declaring about true salvation,” You claim to have faith and that nothing else is necessary, that your faith can stand by itself before God and bring salvation. But the truth is, you cannot show me your faith without the works, without any practical evidence or outworking of it, because true faith always gives practical evidence. You cannot demonstrate your kind of faith because you have nothing to demonstrate it with.” As just stated in the previous verse,” Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.” Such faith is not really faith at all, certainly not saving faith. As noted above, living faith produces good fruit, for that is its nature and its purpose. Dead faith does not because it cannot.
It is for that reason that a remembered experience of giving one’s life to Jesus Christ, even with a specific date and place, is not in itself proof of salvation. The only certain proof is the life lived after such a profession was made.
Jesus repeatedly warned against false confidence of salvation. “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord, ‘ and do not do what I say?” He asked.
Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great. (Luke 6:46–49)
On another occasion, He said,” You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, neither is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them” (John 13:13–17).
Perhaps His sternest warning is found in the Sermon on the Mount: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles? ‘And then I will declare to them, ? never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness’” (Matt. 7:21–23, emphasis added).
Paul declares that “in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love” (Gal. 5:6, emphasis added). Peter says:
His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. (2 Pet. 1:3–11)
John assures us that
the one who says,” I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining. The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. (1 John 2:4–11)
John was here writing of what Jesus called the second greatest commandment: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:39).
Every true Christian has times of unfaithfulness, sin, and barrenness. It is during those times that he is in danger of losing assurance of salvation, for the blessing of peace and confidence from the Spirit is forfeited. Security of salvation is eternal and permanent, being based on the Lord’s sovereign power to keep those who belong to Him. But assurance of salvation is temporal and can fluctuate, for it is a blessing granted to those who are obedient to the Lord.
You believe that God is one, James goes on to say. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. You do well carries a touch of sarcasm, cast against an imaginary, but universally common, orthodoxy that is devoid of saving faith. Orthodox doctrine is no guarantee of salvation, James insists. Even the demons are orthodox in the sense of knowing and acknowledging truth about God.
Jewish orthodoxy was always centered in belief in the one true God, stated succinctly in the Shema: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!” (Deut. 6:4). Where most Jews fell short was in not obeying the following verse, which commands,” You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (v. 5).
James’s point, as it were, is that belief in the truth of Deuteronomy 6:4 without obedience to 6:5 is a worthless kind of belief like that possessed by demons. As far as factual doctrine is concerned, demons are monotheists, all of whom know and believe there is one true God. They also are very much aware that Scripture is God’s Word, that Jesus Christ is God’s Son, that salvation is by grace through faith, that Jesus died, was buried, and raised to atone for the sins of the world, and that He ascended to heaven and is now seated at His Father’s right hand. They know quite well that there is a literal heaven and a literal hell. They doubtless have a clearer knowledge of the millennium and its related truths than does even the most devoted Bible scholar. But all of that orthodox knowledge, divinely and eternally significant as it is, cannot save them. They know the truth about God, Christ, and the Spirit, but hate it and them.
Orthodox doctrine is immeasurably better than heresy, of course, for it is true and points toward God and the way of salvation. But mere assent to it as true cannot bring a person to God and to salvation.
Phrissō (shudder) means to bristle and tremble and was commonly used of the trembling associated with great fear. Demons at least have the sense to shudder at God’s truth in a state of fear, for they know that eternal torment awaits them in hell (Matt. 8:29–31; Mark 5:7; Luke 4:41; Acts 19:15). In that regard, they are much more realistic and sensible than those with false faith who think they will escape God’s judgment by their shallow and superficial faith.
The Puritan theologian Thomas Manton described non-saving faith in forceful terms:
[It is] a simple and naked assent to such things as are propounded in the Word of God, and maketh men more knowing but not better, not more holy or heavenly. They that have it may believe the promises, the doctrines, the precepts as well as the histories. … but yet, lively saving faith it is not, for he who hath that findeth his heart engaged to Christ and doth so believe the promises of the gospel concerning pardon of sin and life eternal that he seeth after them as his happiness. And doth so believe the mysteries of our redemption by Christ as that all his hope and peace and confidence is drawn from thence and doth so believe the threatenings, whether of temporal plagues or eternal damnation as that in comparison of them all the frightful things of the world are as nothing. (The Complete Works of Thomas Manton [London: James Nisbet, 1874], 17:113–14)
He goes on to speak of a somewhat deeper kind of faith, which, because it is nearer to genuine, complete faith, is all the more deceptive and dangerous.
[This sort of faith] is distinguished from temporary faith, which is an assent to scriptural or gospel truth, accompanied with a slight and insufficient touch upon the heart, called “a taste of the heavenly gift, and of the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,” Heb. vi. 4–6. By this kind of faith, the mind is not only enlightened, but the heart affected with some joy, and the life in some measure reformed, at least, from grosser sins, called,” [escaping] the pollutions of the world,” 2 Peter ii. 20; but the impression is not deep enough, nor is the joy and delight rooted enough to encounter all temptations to the contrary. Therefore this sense of religion may be choked, or worn off, either by the cares of this world, or by voluptuous living, or by great and bitter persecutions and troubles for righteousness’ sake. It is a common deceit: many are persuaded that Jesus is the Christ, the only Son of God, and so are moved to embrace his person, and in some measure to obey his precepts, and to depend upon his promises, and fear his threatenings, and so by consequence to have their hearts loosened from the world in part, and seem to prefer Christ and their duty to him above worldly things, as long as no temptations do assault their resolutions, or sensual objects stand not up in any considerable strength to entice them; but at length, when they find his laws so strict and spiritual, and contrary either to the bent of their affections or worldly interests, they fall off, and lose all their taste and relish of the hopes of the gospel, and so declare plainly that they were not rooted and grounded in the faith and hope thereof. (Ibid., 114)
Further, James asks, But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Foolish has the idea of “empty” or “defective” and identifies anyone who opposes the truth that true saving faith produces works of righteousness.
Argos (useless) carries the idea of fruitlessness, lack of productivity. “Every tree that does not bear good fruit,” Jesus said,” is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matt. 7:19). A fruitless life is certain proof that it does not belong to God and is unacceptable to God, because it does not have His divine life within.
Luke reports that a number of people in Samaria, including a magician named Simon,” believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, [and] were being baptized, men and women alike” (Acts 8:12; cf. vv. 9, 13). But after witnessing various miracles and seeing
that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, [Simon] offered them money, saying,” Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit” But Peter said to him,” May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you” (vv. 18–22)
Simon’s belief obviously was not to salvation, but was merely a recognition that what Philip preached was true. His knowledge about God was correct, but Peter warned him that his “heart [was] not right before God” and that he therefore had no part in the working of the Spirit he had witnessed and acclaimed. His faith was dead and worthless.