The Natural Result of Faith

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

(James 2:14-17 ESV)

Our beliefs govern our actions. Our actions are determined by our beliefs. This is something we all recognize to be true.

Because we believe in the law of gravity, we are careful as we approach a high cliff. Because we believe in gravity, we don’t jump out of airplanes without a parachute. If we didn’t believe in gravity, these precautions would seem completely unnecessary.

In the same way, because we believe that life is precious, we do what we can to protect and preserve it. We try to make healthy choices. We make use of the medical care that’s available to us. And we encourage others to do the same. If we didn’t believe that life is precious, if we believed that it was worthless, we’d behave in the opposite manner.

This is the argument that James is making in the above passage. If we claim to have faith, but we do not have works, our faith is not genuine and it’s not able to save. Our faith will naturally produce good works.

He uses the illustration of someone in need. If we wish them well, but do nothing about their need, is it genuine? Of course not. If we truly care about their well-being, we’ll do whatever we can to help them in their time of need.

Scripture clearly teaches that we’re saved not by what we do, but through faith in Jesus. Realizing this, some of us take this truth to an unhealthy extreme. We think that it doesn’t matter what we do, we feel that we’re free to live as we please, because God’s salvation is a free gift.

This mindset, however, is not fitting with a life of faith. If we truly believe in the Lord, if we truly believe that he’s saved us from sin and death, we cannot continue to pursue these things. Our faith will lead us to repentance. It will lead us to turn from our sin to Christ.

So, although our works play no role in our salvation, they are a necessary result of our faith. It’s impossible for us to possess faith without works. Our trust in the Lord will naturally lead us to produce the fruit of faith.