Validation by Works; James 2:23-26
What exactly is the
relationship of application to doctrine? That is James’ topic at the end of
this second chapter. He starts this section by asking the question: “What value
is it, or what applicational value is it, my
brethren, if a man claims he has doctrine but he has no application/production?
Can that faith save him?” We have seen that the word “save” is used in three
senses in the Scripture, and we have seen that here it is talking about saved
from the power of sin in the believer’s life. The question is: Can that faith
in doctrine deliver him from the power of sin? And the answer is no, as is
indicated by the structure in the Greek. Then there is an illustration given
concerning the importance of application of doctrine in verses 15 and 16; in
verse 17 there is a conclusion, “Even so doctrine, if it has no production, is
dead.” We saw that “dead” does not mean non-existent but non-productive, that
it means it was once alive but is no longer functioning. Then there are the
words of the opponent in vv. 18, 19, and these are important to understand
because they set up what follows from v. 20 to the end of the chapter. James is
acting like a debater. He says his position is that faith needs to have
application in order to have value in the spiritual life. But there is an
opponent: there are people who say.. And this is the
classic debater’s technique, using the opponent’s words, citing them and then
refuting them. The opponent says that there is no necessary connection between
doctrine and application. James says that is nonsense, and he uses two examples
from the Old Testament. The first is Abraham who is the paradigm of faith in
the Old Testament: faith in doctrine and spiritual growth. Abraham is cited
many times by Paul as the example of Old Testament faith. But then James uses
another illustration from the opposite end of the social and spiritual
spectrum. Abraham is the father of the Jewish race; Rahab,
on the other hand, is not only not Jewish—she is a Canaanite living in a
Canaanite city—but she is a prostitute at the opposite end of the spectrum from
Abraham. By using these two examples James is going to demonstrate his point.
Testing is the way the
believer advances in the spiritual life. We saw this in James 1:2-4 where James
sets the scene for this epistle. Once doctrine becomes EPIGNOSIS [e)pignwsij] it
has to be tested. We go through life’s situations to give the opportunity to
choose whether we are going to solve the problem, whether adversity or
prosperity, with human viewpoint techniques or whether we are going to use the
problem-solving skills outlined in the Word of God. The goal is spiritual
maturity.
James 2:22 NASB “You see that faith was working with
his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected.” James begins
this with the verb BLEPO [blepw],
a present active indicative, second person singular here. “You (singular) see.”
We will see a contrast in verse 24 and that is why this is important. BLEPO means to
see physically. There is another word that is used later, HORAO [o(raw], which is used more of thinking when the two are used in the same
context and BLEPO seems to have a sense more of physical sight. But BLEPO is also
used metaphorically to mean to think about, to ponder, to contemplate, to
discern, and to perceive. Usually, especially with the emphasis here on the
singular, James is emphasizing this one point that he has just made about
Abraham. He is saying to his readers: Now pay attention to what we just saw;
think about it; contemplate the example. By this time in Abraham’s life, when
he was probably about 120 years of age, he finally learned the lesson of 1
Peter 5:7, “casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” The
result is interesting. “Was working” is an imperfect active indicative of the
Greek SUNERGO [sunergw]—ERGO = to work; SUN = the
preposition meaning with—meaning to work together. The imperfect is the tense
emphasizing continuous action or repeated action in past time. But it is also
an active voice, which means the subject performs the action of the verb. It is
s third person singular verb, so that means that one thing or one individual is
performing the action. What is the subject of the verb? Faith,
the feminine singular of PISTIS [pistij].
Faith was working with works, so that means that faith/doctrine is performing
the action. That is a very interesting concept. How can doctrine perform any
action? What we see here in this passage is that doctrine is working with
application. The believer makes the volitional choice to use EPIGNOSIS
doctrine but in terms of spiritual growth there is a dynamic that occurs
between the EPIGNOSIS doctrine and the application,
and in the dynamic of the two working together spiritual growth takes place. It
is imperceptible, but every time we choose to apply doctrine in our soul we
advance spiritually. Sometimes there is a lot of spiritual growth but it
happens incrementally as we apply doctrine, and there is this dynamic.
Remember, the two power
sources in the spiritual life are the Holy Spirit and Bible doctrine. As we
learn doctrine under the filling of the Holy Spirit and it is transferred to EPIGNOSIS and
then applied—all under the filling of the Holy Spirit—we will advance and grow.
That is the point James is making in verse 22: “You see that faith [doctrine]
was working with his works [application], and as a result of the works
[production], faith was perfected [brought to completion].” Here we have the
Greek word TELEIOO [teleiow],
aorist passive indicative. It means to perfect, although that meaning is very
rare in the New Testament, to finish, to bring to completion, or to bring to
maturity. It is in the aorist tense and that just summarizes the action. This
is what is called the constative aorist which just
views the past action as a whole, describing the action, as it were, in summary
fashion without focusing on the beginning or the end of the action. It stresses
the occurrence of the action more than the nature of the event. So what we see
here is that doctrine brings the person to maturity. This is all a process.
Doctrine is brought to completion. The ultimate end of doctrine is not just to
know it, not to be able to impress all your friends with how much you know
about the Bible; the issue in learning the Word is to apply it so that the Lord
is glorified, and this takes place only after you reach spiritual adulthood.
The final stage of spiritual adulthood is spiritual maturity. This is what
Abraham has reached now and we read in verse 23 that he gains a new title for
this; he is called the “friend of God.”
James 2:23 NASB “and the Scripture was fulfilled
which says, ‘AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD,
AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,’
and he was called the friend of God.” The word “fulfilled” is not TELEIOO but it
means almost the same thing. This is the verb PLEROO [plhrow], the same word we have for the filling of the Holy
Spirit. This is an aorist passive indicative; it means to fill, to fulfil, to
accomplish, to complete, or to bring to completion. TELEIOO in this
kind of context usually relates to maturity, whereas PLEROO has the
idea of bringing about a fulfilment of a doctrinal principle or of a promise. PLEROO here
refers to the fact that there is a process going on that started with Abraham’s
initial justification at the point of faith alone in Christ alone. The quote
comes from Genesis 15:6. It was on the basis of imputed righteousness that
Abraham was saved, and that is the meaning of the passage. Then we have another
Old testament quote following that, that he was called
the friend of God. He wasn’t called the friend of God in Genesis. This comes
from two passages. The context of 2 Chronicles 20 is that Jehoshaphat
is under attack from an alliance comprised of the Ammonites and Moabites and a
couple of other external enemies of Israel. They are about to attack and are on the eve of a
major battle. Jehoshaphat calls the nation together
for prayer to God.
A point about prayer: it
should be doctrinally based. You need to know some things about God and how God
works in human history so that you can build a case with God based upon the
Scriptures for why He should answer your prayer.
Jehoshaphat is going to make a case for why God should give him
victory over the enemy. He starts building his case historically. 2 Chronicles
20:7 NASB “Did You not, O our God, drive
out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and give it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend
forever?” That is where we get the phrase that Abraham was the friend of God.
What Jehoshaphat is doing is reminding God that He
made a promise in the Abrahamic covenant. He began to
fulfil that promise when the people invaded the land and drove out the
Canaanites. Then he continues to rehearse all the things that God had done to
fulfil that covenant, and he is going to conclude with his request to God to
give him victory over their enemies. The second reference is from Isaiah 41:8 NASB
“But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, Descendant of
Abraham My friend.” So God calls Abraham “My friend,” and this is a very
important term because it takes a close relationship with Abraham based on
Abraham’s advance to maturity. So even though God’s love for us never changes,
that God always has maximum personal love for us no matter how carnal we are or
how spiritual we are, He seems to have a special designation of closeness for
those who advance to spiritual maturity. In spite of all David’s carnality God
describes him as “a man after God’s own heart,” very close to God. So as we
advance to spiritual maturity there is a special level of rapport that the
believer can have with God as a result of his advance to spiritual maturity.
This is going to be reflected on the believer when we get to heaven. We can
draw the analogy from the New Testament that there are those who are going to
advance to spiritual maturity in the church age and they will have positions
that are very close to God when we get into the kingdom. They will be ruling
and reigning with Jesus Christ based upon the tremendous capacity that they
develop during their life on the earth.
Then James comes to the
conclusion of this section and he uses a slightly different word than the one
we saw earlier, the present active indicative, third person plural of HORAO [o(raw], which means to see, to pay attention. It is distinct from BELPO in that BLEPO usually
indicates a single look, in this kind of a context looking at a single point,
whereas HORAO emphasizes the entire argument, exercising
discernment in the mentality of the soul and focusing on the whole argument
that he has constructed. Now you can understand that a man is justified by
works. James 2:24, “You see that a man is justified by works and not only
justified by faith.” In other words, there are two different kinds of justification.
Then he comes to the second
illustration from the life of Rahab. James 2:25 NASB “In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received
the messengers and sent them out by another way?” We need to go back to Joshua
chapter two to understand what he is referring to.
Joshua 2:1 NASB
“Then Joshua the son of Nun sent two men as spies secretly from Shittim, saying, ‘Go, view the land, especially Jericho.’ So they went and came into the house of a harlot
whose name was Rahab, and lodged there.”
Apparently among the Canaanite culture an innkeeper provided a little bit more
than bed and breakfast. So prostitution was practised in the local inns by the
innkeepers. So Rahab was apparently an innkeeper and
provided extra “benefits” for those who stayed at her inn. They are incognito
and yet their disguise was not successful, and the king of Jericho realizes who they are. [2] “It was told the king of Jericho, saying, ‘Behold, men from the sons of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.’ [3]
And the king of Jericho sent {word} to Rahab,
saying, ‘Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house,
for they have come to search out all the land.’ [4] But the woman had taken the
two men and hidden them, and she said, ‘Yes, the men came to me, but I did not
know where they were from. [5] It came about when {it was time} to
shut the gate at dark, that the men went out; I do not know where the men went.
Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.’” Apparently she realized who
they were and she hid them before the king’s men go there. [6] “But she had
brought them up to the roof and hidden them in the stalks of flax which she had
laid in order on the roof.” Rahab is clearly a
believer by this time and her allegiance is to God.
Joshua 2:9 NASB
“and said to the men, ‘I know that the LORD …” She uses YAHWEH, the personal covenant name of God. This indicates
that she knows some doctrine. She knows something about the Abrahamic
covenant, she knows something about the history of Israel, and she knows something about God’s relationship to Israel. “… has given you the land, and that the terror of
you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away
before you. [10] For we have heard how the LORD dried up
the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you
did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly
destroyed. [11] When we heard {it,} our hearts melted and no courage
remained in any man any longer because of you; for the LORD your God,
He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.” She recognizes
God, believes in God, and she is a believer at this point and has been. So she
makes a decision to cast her lot with the Israelites. 12] “Now therefore,
please swear to me by the LORD, since I have dealt kindly [chesed] with you, that you also
will deal kindly [chesed,
always a word which is related to faithfulness to a covenant] with my father’s household,
and give me a pledge of truth, [13] and spare my father and my
mother and my brothers and my sisters, with all who belong to them, and deliver
our lives from death.”
When Joshua attacked after
their seven-day siege and the walls came down, every area of the walls came
down except the area where Rahab’s house existed.
There was a scarlet rope that she let out from a window to identify where her
inn existed and she was protected. She and her family were the only survivors
and everyone else in Jericho was slaughtered. Why was all the livestock
slaughtered? Because God wanted to show that he would sustain them by His own
power and they did not have to rely upon the goods of the Canaanites for their
own sustenance. So God demanded absolute destruction of the enemy. Eventually
they didn’t d that and that is why they had so much trouble during the period
of the judges.
So this brings us to the
end of James chapter two. Rahab was justified by her
works. When she let the messengers go that validated the doctrine that was in
her soul. In spite of what might have happened to her in that context—she could
have been arrested and perhaps lost her life—she was going to apply doctrine
and she was going to maintain her allegiance to YAHWEH. James concludes in verse
26: “For just as the body without {the} spirit is dead, so also faith without
works is dead.”
Conclusion
1) James’ theme from 1:21 to 2:26
is the importance of applying doctrine. He is not minimizing the importance of
doctrine but he is stressing the priority of application. He realizes that you
can’t apply what you don’t know, and before we know something we have to take
the time and the discipline to learn it and to make sure we really understand
it. That takes dedication, concentration, and a lot of endurance. So James
doesn’t minimize the importance of doctrine but he stresses the fact that is
doesn’t end with accumulation of knowledge and facts, that is the just the
starting point and it ends with application.
2) Hearing doctrine without application is simply
accumulation of GNOSIS [gnwsij]
doctrine in the mentality of the soul, and according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 8
that can lead to arrogance. So if we stop short of application all we are going
to produce in our life is arrogance. Remember, God makes war with the arrogant—1
Peter 5:5; Proverbs 3:34; James 4:6.
3) God’s plan for the believer is to bring the believer
to spiritual maturity so that the character of Christ is manifest in the life.
If you are believer that is God’s plan for your life.
4) Spiritual growth and spiritual advance comes through
a) continuous, repeated attendance at Bible class to learn doctrine, b)
operation of the grace learning spiral so that you can move from GNOSIS to EPIGNOSIS, c)
the exercise of positive volition to apply EPIGNOSIS doctrine in the midst of the tests of life.
5) The only way to pass tests in life is to have doctrine
in your soul as EPIGNOSIS doctrine. As you apply that doctrine, which James
calls faith, it works with your application to advance
you to spiritual maturity. If you have doctrine without application then you
will never advance spiritually and you will be miserable.
6) If you apply doctrine in the midst of the adversities
and prosperities of life, then no matter what your circumstances are you will
always have the most incredible happiness, stability and tranquillity imaginable.