{"id":4865,"date":"2009-05-07T13:17:22","date_gmt":"2009-05-07T13:17:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2009\/05\/a-brothers-wisdom-48.html"},"modified":"2009-05-07T13:17:22","modified_gmt":"2009-05-07T13:17:22","slug":"a-brothers-wisdom-48","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/05\/a-brothers-wisdom-48.html","title":{"rendered":"A Brother’s Wisdom 48"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JesusJames*.jpg\"<\/span>The last lines in James 2:14-17 simply put forth what has been implicit all along:<\/p>\n

14<\/a> <\/span>What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15<\/a> <\/span>Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16<\/a> <\/span>If
\none of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,”
\nbut does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17<\/a> <\/span>In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Faith alone (a slogan used in the Reformation in a way unlike what James is here talking about) is not enough. Faith with action — with works — the only kind of faith that really works.<\/p>\n

Now to clarify that Reformation comment: James is not talking about works\/deeds that put forth a case before God that we deserve to be saved. Instead, he is talking to a specific context: those who claim to be Christians but who do not act like it; those who claim to be followers of Jesus but who do not really follow him. Those who claim they believe\/trust the Lord who was poor but do not treat the poor well. It’s about living out one’s claims.<\/p>\n

This is Sermon the Mount kind of stuff; this is about good trees producing good fruit. Bad fruit — no works — indicates bad tree — no faith.<\/p>\n

<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The last lines in James 2:14-17 simply put forth what has been implicit all along: 14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to him,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-james"],"yoast_head":"\nA Brother's Wisdom 48 - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/05\/a-brothers-wisdom-48.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Brother's Wisdom 48 - Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The last lines in James 2:14-17 simply put forth what has been implicit all along: 14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? 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