Bible School · New Testament survey · Class 47 of 53

Faith that works: James on trials, hearing and doing, and partiality

James 1–2 · about 21 minutes · Faith that works

By the end of this class you should be able to

Identify the author, audience and setting of the letter of James and explain why it reads like Jewish wisdom literature.
Describe how James connects trials, endurance, wisdom and the word of God in chapter 1.
Explain James's argument against partiality toward the rich in 2:1-13, including the 'royal law'.
Set out James 2:14-26 and the different ways Christians have reconciled it with Paul on justification.
Show how the letter echoes the teaching of Jesus and what it says of him.

Read the passage

1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes of the Dispersion: Greetings. ²Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. ⁶But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷That man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. ⁹The brother in humble circumstances should exult in his high position. ¹⁰But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field. ¹¹For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its flower falls and its beauty is lost. So too, the rich man will fade away in the midst of his pursuits. ¹²Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him. ¹³When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone. ¹⁴But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed. ¹⁵Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. ¹⁶Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. ¹⁷Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow. ¹⁸He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of His creation. ¹⁹My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, ²⁰for man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desires. ²¹Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and every expression of evil, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save your souls. ²²Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves. ²³For anyone who hears the word but does not carry it out is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror, ²⁴and after observing himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom, and continues to do so—not being a forgetful hearer, but an effective doer—he will be blessed in what he does. ²⁶If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his heart and his religion is worthless. ²⁷Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Open James 1 in the reader (BSB)

2My brothers, as you hold out your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, do not show favoritism. ²Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. ³If you lavish attention on the man in fine clothes and say, “Here is a seat of honor,” but say to the poor man, “You must stand” or “Sit at my feet,” ⁴have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? ⁵Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him? ⁶But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you into court? ⁷Are they not the ones who blaspheme the noble name by which you have been called? ⁸If you really fulfill the royal law stated in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. ⁹But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. ¹²Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom. ¹³For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment. ¹⁴What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith, but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? ¹⁵Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶If one of you tells him, “Go in peace; stay warm and well fed,” but does not provide for his physical needs, what good is that? ¹⁷So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead. 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.

Open James 2 in the reader (BSB)

01Background

The letter is written by 'James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ' (). Most scholars and the early church understood him to be James the brother of Jesus, who did not believe during Jesus' ministry (), saw the risen Lord (), and became a leader of the church in Jerusalem (; ; ; ). The first-century Jewish historian Josephus records the stoning in Jerusalem, about AD 62, of James, the brother of Jesus called Christ. Some critical scholars think the letter was written after his death by a follower, partly because its Greek is polished. Others reply that Galilee was bilingual and a scribe may have helped. If James wrote it, a date in the 40s or 50s makes it one of the earliest New Testament writings.

It is addressed to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion (). The readers are most likely Jewish Christians outside Palestine, though some think the phrase describes the whole people of God, as Peter's language does in . They meet in an 'assembly' (the Greek word is synagoge, ), a sign of how Jewish the community's life was. They face hardship, and some of them, according to the letter, are poor and oppressed by wealthy landowners and judges (; ). There are also tensions inside the group: favouritism, quarrels and talk that is not matched by action.

The letter has been called the Proverbs of the New Testament. It has short commands and vivid pictures from daily life (waves, grass, mirrors, bridles), and no extended argument about Christ's death, because its purpose is to describe what living faith looks like in a community under pressure.

02Outline

Greeting to the scattered twelve tribes
Trials, wisdom, riches and the gift of new birth
Be quick to hear, doers of the word, pure religion
No partiality: the royal law and the law of liberty
Faith without works is dead: Abraham and Rahab

03How to read it

James is a letter in form, but in content it is a sermon or a collection of wisdom teaching. It uses the genre of Jewish wisdom, the same tradition as Proverbs and Job, and its commands are meant to be read as wisdom is read: as vivid, direct and sometimes exaggerated pictures of a way of living, not as a legal code or a systematic treatise. Its sentences are short and set in contrasts (hearer and doer, poor and rich, faith and works). Themes return rather than build in a straight line: wisdom in returns in , the tongue in in , and trials in in .

Two guides help.

First, James is steeped in the Old Testament and in the teaching of Jesus. The Sermon on the Mount is behind much of it: the blessing on those who endure, the demand to be perfect, the call to do and not merely hear (), the rule of mercy () and the instruction to ask God (). James rarely marks these as quotations.
Second, a text must be read by what it opposes. In 2:14-26 James opposes a faith that is only a claim, words said to the hungry without bread. He is not arguing against trusting God for salvation.

This matters most for the debated passage on faith and works. Paul and James use the same words (faith, works, justify, Abraham, ), but they face different questions. Paul writes against the idea that Gentiles must keep the works of the law of Moses to be counted among God's people. James writes against the idea that a creed without obedience is enough. They are guarding opposite fences of the same road.

04What the text says

Chapter 1:2–4

James opens by telling his readers to count it all joy when they meet trials of many kinds. The Greek peirasmos means a test or trial, and the context of to 15 shows that it can also mean temptation. The same circumstance can be a test of faith from God's side and a temptation from the human side. The reason for joy is not the pain but the outcome: testing produces endurance (hypomone), and endurance, when it has its full effect, makes the believer 'mature and complete' (teleios and holokleros), lacking nothing.

Chapter 1:5–8

A person who lacks wisdom should ask God, who gives generously 'without reproach'. The one who asks must ask in faith without doubting, like a wave driven by the wind. The 'double-minded man' (dipsychos, literally two-souled) is James's word for someone divided in loyalty. The word is not known before James in surviving Greek, and it reappears in .

Chapter 1:9–11

The lowly believer should glory in his high standing and the rich in his humbling, because the rich will fade like a flower in the sun, an image from . This opens the concern with poor and rich that returns in .

Chapter 1:12–18

A blessing: the one who endures testing will receive the 'crown of life' promised to those who love God. Temptation does not come from God. It arises from a person's own desire, which gives birth to sin, and sin when full-grown to death. God, by contrast, is the Father of the heavenly lights, the source of every good gift, and of his own will he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that believers are a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. The birth image prepares for the implanted word in .

Chapter 1:19–27

Be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. Receive the implanted word with meekness and be a doer of it, not a hearer only. Hearing without doing is like glancing in a mirror and forgetting what one looks like. The person who looks into the perfect law of freedom (older versions say 'liberty') and persists will be blessed in the doing. This is God's law as Jesus taught it, a law that frees because it is kept from the heart. Pure religion, the chapter ends, is to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world. These are the twin concerns of the prophets: mercy to the vulnerable and purity before God.

Chapter 2:1–7

James forbids favouritism among those who hold the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. The Greek word prosopolempsia, literally 'receiving the face', reflects a Hebrew idiom for partiality (; ). He pictures a man in gold rings and fine clothes shown to a good seat, while a poor man is told to stand or sit on the floor. That makes the assembly a court of judges with evil thoughts. God has chosen the poor to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, yet it is the rich who drag believers into court and blaspheme the good name called over them.

Chapter 2:8–13

The 'royal law' is the law of the King, and James identifies it with , 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself', the command Jesus also ranked second in . Partiality breaks it. The law is a unity: whoever keeps it all but fails in one point is guilty of all (), because one lawgiver stands behind each command. The section ends: 'Mercy triumphs over judgment.' Judgment will be without mercy for the one who showed none.

Chapter 2:14–26

James asks whether a faith with no works can save. His example is a brother or sister without clothing or daily food, and a believer who says 'go in peace, keep warm and eat well' without giving what the body needs. What good is that? So faith by itself, without works, is dead. Even demons believe that God is one, and shudder (). The verb dikaioo, 'justify', is used of Abraham offering Isaac () and of Rahab (). cites , that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, and says the Scripture was fulfilled in the offering of Isaac in . Abraham was then called the friend of God (compare ; ). , that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone, is the centre of the dispute. The closing comparison is that as a body without the spirit is dead, so is faith without works.

05Key terms

trial or temptation peirasmos: A testing. The word can describe an external trial that proves faith or an inner temptation that invites sin; context decides, and James uses both senses.
endurance hypomone: Steadfastness under pressure, literally remaining under. It is the quality that trials produce and the thing that finishes the work of maturity.
mature teleios: Complete, having reached the goal. It means whole, with nothing missing, not sinless. The same root appears in .
double-minded dipsychos: Literally two-souled. A person whose loyalty is split between trusting God and trusting something else.
partiality prosopolempsia: Literally receiving the face, that is, judging by outward position. It is forbidden in the law of Moses and condemned by James.
justify dikaioo: To declare or show to be righteous. Paul usually means God's declaration that a person is in the right; James, in , is often taken to mean the vindication of a faith shown to be genuine.

06In the whole Bible

James holds together themes that are sometimes set against each other. God is the giver of every good gift and is not the author of temptation (, 17). New life begins with his initiative: he gave us birth by the word of truth (). Yet God also expects a way of life, and faith that does not produce one is not what the letter calls faith. holds the same two things: saved by grace through faith, and created for good works. James presses the second to a community in danger of forgetting it.

The letter also carries forward the Old Testament concern for the poor. The law, prophets and Psalms hold that God hears the cry of the oppressed (; ; ). James brings this into the Christian assembly: wealth must not decide who has status. The reversal in which the lowly are exalted is also the teaching of Jesus (, ).

On the doctrine of justification, the passage sits within the wider witness of Scripture. stands behind both James and Paul (; ). The traditions that explain the relation of James and Paul are described below. All agree that James does not teach that deeds earn standing with God, and that the Bible nowhere treats a faith with no change in life as saving.

07Where Christ is

James names Jesus only twice, in and , and in each case with great weight. He calls himself a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in he speaks of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ; the Greek can also be read as 'our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory', a title Paul also uses in . That the Lord's own brother calls him Lord, and links him with the glory of God, is a high claim.

The larger Christological content in James is the echo of Jesus' own teaching. The warning against partiality, the preference for the poor as heirs of the kingdom (compare ), the royal law of love of neighbour (), the demand that hearing become doing (), and the promise of mercy for the merciful () all come from the Sermon on the Mount and the teaching around it. James presents Jesus as the authoritative teacher whose words the community is to live. His doer of the word is a picture of discipleship: to hear Jesus and then act.

There is a faint echo in . The offering of Isaac () has long been read as a pattern of the Father who gives his Son (compare ), but James uses it only to show faith completed by action. The class takes the link as an echo, not the point of the passage.

08How traditions read it

is a main text in the debate over justification. Lutheran and Reformed traditions teach that a person is justified by grace through faith alone, and that James is speaking of the evidence of that faith before others, or using 'justified' in the sense of 'shown to be righteous'. Martin Luther, in his 1522 preface, judged the letter of lesser worth because it did not, in his view, teach Christ clearly; he later softened that judgment. Catholic teaching, as set out at the Council of Trent, holds that justification is a real making righteous that grows through faith working in love, and so reads James as describing how justification increases through good works. Eastern Orthodox teaching speaks of cooperation between divine grace and human response, and has framed the question less in these Western terms. Many evangelicals add that Paul himself speaks of faith working through love (), and see the two apostles saying one thing from opposite directions.

09Review questions

Who was James, and what do the New Testament and Josephus tell us about him?
What does James say that trials produce, and what is the final result of that process in ?
How does the example of the rich man and the poor man in illustrate partiality, and how does the 'royal law' of judge it?
What examples does James give in to show that faith without works is dead, and what is the claim of ?
In what ways do Paul and James use the words 'faith', 'works' and 'justify' differently, and what do and contribute to their arguments?

Prepared with AI assistance. A scholar's review is still to come; if you spot anything to correct, please tell us.

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