But someone will say you have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works (my translation).

  - James 2.18

We desire to know all; we tire of doing all we know, hoping that words can count instead of deeds. Perhaps here below they may; for above they clearly cannot in God’s sight, since there it is not he who has spoken, but he who has acted, that shall be saved.

  - Columbanus, Letter to His Monks, Irish, 7th century[1]

Saving faith is more than just professing Jesus as our Savior. When faith is genuine – when it is full faith – it takes hold on a person, soul and body, and begins to fashion him into something other than what he was before belief began to be real for him.

Faith includes inward assurance of salvation. But such assurance alone is not full faith. Full faith includes evidence, in good works, that what we hope for we possess, know, love, and obey (Heb. 11.1).

James puts it rather bluntly in verse 17, saying that “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” We need to be reminded from time to time that real saving faith comes to expression in concrete actions, not just appropriate words.

My sense of verse 18 is that James is saying someone – you, maybe – may be saying that you have faith and I have works. Each of these is sufficient. But James says, in effect, that we cannot know whether faith is real apart from the works that demonstrate love for and allegiance to Him Who has saved us.

Here, down below in the presence of people, it may be enough simply to say, “Oh, yes, I believe in Jesus. Hallelujah! I’m goin’ to heaven when I die.” But that will never cut it with God. “Show me your faith without your works...” – the implication, of course, is that we cannot – “...and I will show you my faith by my works”: of course, this is what God intended all along.

If we have believed unto salvation, good works will follow, for this is the very reason why we have been saved (Eph. 2.8-10). Good works are the evidence that full faith is coming to flower in our lives. And those “good works” will refract the character and teaching of the holy and righteous and good Law of God (Rom. 7.12).

The world is a little short on good works these days – self-denying, burden-bearing, others-first, kinds of good works. Every day we are presented with opportunities for touching others with the goodness and loving-kindness of our Savior and King. Very often, however, we’re too preoccupied with other thoughts, or we think more about ourselves than we do about others, and we miss the many opportunities for doing good that God presents us.

But if we’re truly saved, the pressure for doing good will mount from within, as the Spirit transforms us increasingly into the image of Jesus Christ. Gradually and increasingly, good works will flow from true and full faith, not to our credit or praise, but to the praise and honor of Him Who empowers us for doing good.

He’ll know we’re His children – and so will we – when good works are our calling card. What opportunities will you be presented with for doing good today?

Psalm 15.1-3 (Arlington: This is the Day the Lord Has Made”)
Lord, who may dwell within Your tent, or on Your holy hill?
All those who keep Your covenant and walk within Your will.

All they who with integrity work peace and righteousness,
Forever in God’s house shall be forgiven, kept, and blessed.

Lord, let me ever be faithful in my speech, to minister your grace to others, and unstinting in my efforts to do good to my neighbor. Adapted from The Rule of Ailbe.

Full faith
In our daily ReVision column we are dealing with the nature of full faith. If you’re not subscribed to ReVision, visit the website, and when the pop-up appears, follow the instructions for updating your free subscriptions.

We depend on the Lord for the needs of The Fellowship of Ailbe. This means we come to Him daily, asking for His help in giving us wisdom to know His will, strength and skill to do it, and the resources we require for each day. As for this last, we understand that God intends to support our ministry from within the ranks of those who are served by it (Ps. 20.1-3; Rom. 15.26, 27; Gal. 6.6).

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T. M. Moore, Principal
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All Psalms for singing from The Ailbe Psalter. Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.