Changed
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
One of the pieces we saw this past Sunday in our reading of Matthew 6 was that our prayers should be done in secret. Seeing that putting our prayers on the modern street corner (social media) is not the purpose of our prayers. We are to be in conversation with God. Prayers for the benefit of others, as well as ourselves is good, but not something that we need to show to everyone. We see that our prayers should change us and the world.
James tells us the same with our faith. It is not enough that we have that simple faith. James tells us it should change us and bring us to living differently. James shows two examples of it from the past. Abraham, who believed and then followed God to a new land that he had not yet seen. Believing that God would give this land to his descendants. And then, as the people come to take possession of that land promised to Abraham, Rahab shows her faith by her action in protection of the spies who came.
We sometimes ask questions of texts like this about how we understand being saved by faith alone. I’d like us to shift to a different question from this passage. How are we changed by having faith? Do people see that I am changed by my faith in Jesus? You likely won’t have to move to new country, as Abraham did. You won’t be housing spies, highly unlikely in our days. But we are changed because of our faith in Jesus. How is it showing?