What use is it 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.

—James 2:14-17

The whole faith vs. works debate has always felt to me a bit like the chicken and the egg. It’s one of those ideas that no matter how long you wrestle with it, trying to wrap your head around it, it feels like there is a contradiction or fallacy at play preventing you from fully digesting it and understanding it. 

Our passage for today is a challenging one because it seems to complicate the matter like few other passages in Scripture. There are several places in the Bible where the writers are clear that our salvation comes through faith in Christ rather than what we can do on our own, but on the surface, this snippet of James seems to say the opposite—that works are necessary for salvation.

So which is it? Faith or works? I think the key is in the two examples that James offers later in chapter two.

The first example James points to is Abraham, the father of the Israelites. There were several times in Abraham’s life when God spoke to him, telling him what he needed to do or where he needed to go, and Abraham was faced with the choice of whether or not to obey. Of these, James references what was likely the hardest command for Abraham to follow—the command to sacrifice Isaac, the son God had promised would be the first of a nation of descendants.

Just to give us some context, after God told Abraham that he was to go sacrifice his son, the Bible says that he got up early the next morning to go on the journey. There was no delay, no sleeping in, and having a late brunch for some extra time with his son. He made it a priority to do as God had commanded him to do. 

In addition, they had to travel for several days to reach the place where Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac. Can you imagine having to carry the weight of the purpose of that trip for several days? We know Abraham didn’t share his purpose because Isaac was confused about the lack of an animal to sacrifice. He just had to carry that weight for days.

The second example is Rahab. I find it interesting that James chose Rahab to pair with Abraham. Abraham was the revered father of the Jewish people. Rahab was a woman, a Gentile, and a prostitute. Culturally, it should have been three strikes you’re out, but that’s not the case. Instead, she is one of two people in the history of the Jewish people that James uses as an example of how faith and works are related because she recognized the authority of God and His people and chose to serve Him by saving the Israelite spies.

In both of these examples, works are involved, but neither of these people is trying to save themselves through what they are doing. There is no catastrophe Abraham is trying to save himself from by sacrificing Isaac. It’s true that Rahab asked that her family be spared in return for her help, but even before the spies came, she had placed her faith in God by recognizing His authority, and her actions were born out of obedience to the God who “dried up the water of the Red Sea” (Joshua 2:10).

The key is obedience. Abraham was obedient, speedily, and without hesitation despite the long journey during which he had to carry the burden of knowing their purpose. I think most of us, if we even set out, would have turned back long before we made it to the place we’d been told to go. Rahab was also obedient. She knew the power of the God of Israel, so she chose to be obedient by honoring and sheltering His chosen people. 

Here’s the thing about obedience. It’s relational. It requires that the person being obedient trusts (or has faith in) the person giving the orders. In fact, obedience is the fruit of faith—it’s the outward evidence of the inward reality.

That is the exact opposite of the works Paul is talking about when he writes to Ephesus and Rome. Those works refer to someone trying to be their own superhero by just being good enough to earn God’s favor. Rather than a relational act of faith, it’s an attempt at making religion occupational, making it a transaction of works in exchange for favor and blessing. Considering Jesus’s reaction to all the commerce taking place in the temple, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say He’s not interested in only having a business relationship with His people.

Obedience seems very similar to the biblical concept of works because it involves doing something, but where one involves doing something for personal gain, the other is an act of love toward One who is known and trusted. As we go through this week, I hope we’ll be vigilant for the Lord’s guidance so that we can be obedient in faith and love for our Savior.