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Faith without works

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James 2


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2
My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
2For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;
3And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:
4Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?
5Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
6But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
7Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?
8If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
9But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
10For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
11For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
12So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.

13For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
14What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
15If a brother or sister be naked, and 26For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
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of daily food,
16And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

17Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
19Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
20But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
21Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
22Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?

23And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
24Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
25Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
26For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
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For me faith is a double edged word just as in a marriage, we know that the Lord is faithful in all things, but then there is us; are we faithful? We trust and believe without any doubt that our Lord is faithful, this is to say, we have faith in Him: We have reliance on His Word. But then us, are we reliable to His Word? seeing that faith comes (only) by hearing (i.e. accepting and relying upon) the Word of God. Again for me, this is how I view this matter in James:

v14. though a man say he has reliance on God´s Word, and has no reliability to God´s Word; can mere saying so save him?
v17. Even so reliance on God´s Word, if it has not reliability to God´s Word, is dead, b eing alone.
v18. Yes, a man may say, he has reliance on God´s Word, and I have reliabilty to God´s Word: Show me your reliance on God´s Word without being reliable to God´s Word, and I will show you my reliance on God´s Word by my reliability to God´s Word.
v21. Was not Abraham justified by reliability to God´s Word, when he had offered Isaac?
v22. See how reliance on God´s Word worked with his reliability to God´s Word; and it was by reliability to God´s Word was his reliance on God´s Word made perfect (of full age).

We must consider why Christ tells us plainly, "Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say"?
Faith is our having faith in His promises; but it is also being faithful to make the sincere effort to do the things which He says, and one cannot be without the other.
For if we do actually have faith, this sincerity will seek to do what He says. Christ tells us to do many things, but there are many which are taught that they don´t have to do any thing; it is another Jesus they are being taught.
 
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I think this is one of those times in the bible, where the word dead or death is used as a sort of separation vs. a non existence. Faith without works is separate from our bodies, and therefor not displayed. Without displaying your faith it does not spread, and more importantly you cannot prove it to yourself. (Which causes a large amount of issues in us) I do not believe faith without works is not faith at all. I believe that faith with works does have a positive effect and not a negative one like it's counterpart.

To me "Faith without works" in the bible refers to displaying your faith. If it had anything to do with the existence of faith, it would directly interfere with "actions do not earn salvation". Faith and faith alone earns salvation, and it is that single act that does so. However faith with actions will cause you to live a happier life and grow stronger in faith and closer to God.
 
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It is important for us to remember to be living in the Spirit at all times, and this is the meaning behind the passage in James 2:14-26. We should always check our motives when doing good. If it is not good deeds brought out by the Holy Spirit then there probably is an ulterior motive behind it. Living by faith empowered by the Holy Spirit will naturally produce the good works that GOD has for you to do. We should not get caught up in legalism by saying that we need to do a certain amount or a certain kind of works. James even explains this well in James 2:22 "You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected." And the latter half of Romans 14:23 helps as well, "whatever is not from faith is sin."
 
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My view on this is, since the Word of God is inspired by the Spirit of God then, whenever we follow the Word of God, we are following what the Spirit would have us do ! If Paul says, "woe unto me if I preach not the gospel" and also says, "preach the word, be instant in season and out of season" should I not obey ? Yes, I NEEED to do the work of preaching and many other good works, according to what the bible says.
 
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If we love God we want do what pleases Him. The stronger the love, the greater the faith and the more Christlike we become which shows in everything we do. Life void of Godly works is not Christlike.


Mat 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
 
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Grace and Peace

It's great to see mature Christians having conversation and not resorting to debates.
 
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My view on this is,Ephesians 2:8,9,"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."

question in James 2:14 is "Can faith save him?" Romans 4:5 answers this clearly: "But to him that worketh NOT, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith IS COUNTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS." Yes, faith can save him. In fact, nothing else could. When a person tries to be saved by faith and works, he cannot be saved Romans 11:6;Gal. 5:2;Gal. 5:4

James 2:17,"Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." Yes, it is true, that if you have faith in Christ, but do not work and serve the Lord, your faith will not bear FRUIT.
If you have faith in the Lord, but you don't do anything for others, your faith will not be of any value to them. It will be useless to them. You are not demonstrating your faith in Christ to others by just telling them to "Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled," if you are not willing to do something to help them. In fact, you will be a discredit to Christianity and do much harm to the gospel.

accept His payment
 
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RJ

Truly, Faith with out works is dead, it talking about the unbeliever.

Jesus said, "I am the vine and you are the branch; if you are in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit (works); with out me you can do nothing."

We bear his fruit (works) not ours. If you do not bear his fruit it means you faith is dead and he is not living in you.

" It is by Faith in Grace that you are saved; it is a gift and not of your own works (fruit), or you could boast."
 
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Grace and Peace

It's great to see mature Christians having conversation and not resorting to debates.

Aaaaamennn! to that!

I literally cringe when I opened this thread, expecting nothing but battle of "who can sling more verses at each other" of some sort.

Instead I see personal lessons learned from the Scriptures, crediting the Holy Spirit for His teachings and motivations. Amen indeed!
 
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blessing all. In the department of works,to me,grace freely given by the Lord to us from Eph 2:8-10 is so we can preform that which we truly believe. For who would go somewhere or do something if they did not wish to do this,works is action.( james 2:15-17) praying for someone is good!! Meeting the need of that person is even better. For by the action preformed can others see fruit from us. And by this action,can all see Jesus in us.Just a thought.
 
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Jas 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

Jas 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

I broke my ankle, a while back! I ask the LORD ? are you going to heal this or not! I need to work tomorrow!
He said ? You going to walk in faith or Not? I had to take three steps by faith for my healing! I was healed on the third step !

faith takes a Action, it does not work by its self!

That is many misunderstand this scripture! It not the water than is saving. But the faith of obeying! Salvation takes a act of faith !


1Pe 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

Gal 5:6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

Everything we do musty be for His glory and honor! Not selfish self centered reasons! We want things for the wrong reasons sometimes!
Our reasons must be good reasons! For others or for our LORD! Lastly for us?

When We pray? We worship Him first! then pray for others ,then pray for our needs or wants ,thanking Him as if we already had what we prayed for! Accepting his perfect will above all we want! Because He mostly is going to do the best for us and We do not always know the best . He Does 100% of the time!
We can Trust him Always! We must if we want the Best!His perfect will Always!

I know the LORD has a Permissive will and a Perfect will!

When i had sugar diabetes ,mine was very bad! I had to take 5 shots a day !3 nova log and 2 lantus ! I told my LORD that i wanted healing, but only if it could be in HIS perfect will! If it had to be in His permissive will, i would give my self the 5 shots a day until i died!
It took about three weeks or so after i got out of the Hospital to be healed 100% !

God is No respecter of persons !it never personal !I believe it is child like faith!

He has Already done everything for us! He left Nothing undone! We Must accept By faith , what He already Did! We All pray at times as if These things are future when they are Past! We pray for healing , when in Fact He already suffered for our Healing! We ask Him to do the things over again He already did for All of Us!

I think? What we should be praying is for us to be able to accept What He already Did for US!


1Pe 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
Isa 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

Luk 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

God has given Us Everything we will ever need in our spirit! We must accept it by Faith in our Outward mind!

2Co 4:16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
 
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