James 2:18-26
Abraham and Rahab
18But someone will say, “You have faith and I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.
19You believe that God is one. Good for you! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20O foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is worthless?
21Was not our father Abraham justified by what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
22You see that his faith was working with his actions, and his faith was perfected by what he did.
23And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called a friend of God.
24As you can see, a man is justified by his deeds and not by faith alone.
25In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute justified by her actions when she welcomed the spies and sent them off on another route?
26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
Berean Standard Bible
An objector speaks up, the way one does in an argument, and tries to split faith and deeds between two people, as though one man could hold the believing and another do the doing. James will not allow the division. A faith cannot even be shown, he says, except in what it does, and then he presses on the word believe itself.
You believe that God is one. Good for you! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
It is a stinging line. Correct belief, all on its own, is something the demons manage, and it does them no good whatever. They know exactly who God is, and the knowledge only makes them tremble. So a faith that is no more than agreeing to true statements is a faith the demons already share, and James asks whether that is really the thing a person means to rest his life on.
Then he calls two witnesses as far apart as two people can be. The first is Abraham, whom James calls our father, whose faith, James says, was working together with his actions and was brought to its completion when he laid Isaac on the altar.
And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called a friend of God.
That verdict about righteousness was credited to Abraham earlier, before the altar. James says his faith was working together with his actions, and was perfected by what he did when he offered Isaac, so the deed did not stand apart from the faith but brought it to completion. The second witness could not be less like the first. Rahab, the prostitute, is justified too, James says, by what she did, hiding Israel's spies and sending them out by a safe road. Abraham and Rahab the prostitute, and the same verdict falls on both, because in both the faith moved.
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
That is his last word on it, and it is a diagnosis rather than an insult. As a body without the spirit is dead, he says, so faith without deeds is dead. A body with no breath is not a weak body but a lifeless one, and a faith with no deeds is the same. He has put it as plainly as it can be put, that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
How We Know
James does not merely assert the two examples, he points to stories his readers knew. The line he quotes about Abraham, that he believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness, is Genesis 15:6. The offering of Isaac he ties it to comes later, at Genesis 22:9, where Abraham builds the altar and binds his son. The order is the point. The credit of righteousness stands earlier in the account than the altar, which is why James can say, in 2:22, that the faith was perfected by the deed rather than only begun by it. Rahab welcoming the spies is Joshua 2:1, and her sending them out by another road is Joshua 2:15-16. James names no chapter and counts on readers who know both.
Questions
1 What does the objector try to do, and how does James answer?
AnswerSplit faith and deeds between different people, as if one could believe and another act. James refuses the split, answering that he will show his faith by his deeds, since a faith with nothing to show for it cannot be demonstrated at all.
2 Why does James mention that demons believe?
AnswerTo show that bare belief is not saving faith. The demons hold the correct fact that God is one, and it leaves them trembling, not saved, so agreeing to true statements is something even they manage without being changed by it.
3 What does the offering of Isaac show about Abraham's faith?
AnswerThat it was real before the altar and brought to completion on it. The righteousness was credited to Abraham earlier, and James says his faith was working with his actions and was perfected by the offering, so the deed completed a faith already at work.
4 Why put Abraham and Rahab side by side?
AnswerBecause they are as unlike as two people can be, our father Abraham and Rahab the prostitute, yet the same verdict falls on both. That is how James shows the principle holds widely: a living faith acts, and a faith that never acts is dead.
What This Means for Us
Choose one conviction this family professes but has not let cost anything, one that lives only in what you would answer if asked. Choose a single action this week that would only make sense if that belief were actually true, and take it. James deliberately puts Abraham and a prostitute together to leave no one an excuse. The question he presses is not whether this family believes the right things, but whether the believing ever moves out into anything real.
Prayer
Lord, we are good at holding true things in our heads, and the demons can do that much. Forgive us for a faith that agrees with you and never stirs. Give us the believing of Abraham and of Rahab, the kind that acts on what it trusts, so that our faith proves itself alive in what we actually do. Amen.