“Now someone may argue, ‘Some people have faith; others have good deeds.’ But I say, ‘How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.’ You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?”
James is just getting started on what is starting to sound a little like a rant as he calls his readers out on their understanding of faith. You can feel the fire under him, and ultimately this is the fire of the Holy Spirit speaking this message to His people. To me it feels akin to when Jesus turned over the tables in the Temple — God will not tolerate injustice in his kingdom.
We know that James is speaking about a justice issue here because of the verses we have been reading in the past few days. He started off talking about favoritism which led right into arguments about the very worth of Christian faith in the first place. If we are going to oppress people, why are we even claiming to have a faith in Jesus? You cannot follow Jesus and walk in the opposite direction at the same time. And no, it is not that some people are gifted in “faith” and others in “good deeds.” Loophole door slammed shut on that one. Demons have faith. Let that sink in.
The things that become core to your very existence are the things that make your faith in Jesus either real or useless. When we ask the Holy Spirit to cultivate Christ-likeness in us, we get a supernatural fire that we are seeing here in James himself. I have no doubt that he was living out his faith in some pretty dynamic ways. Not because of a legalistic system in which he was trying to check off his “good Christian” boxes. No, he couldn’t help himself. The Holy Spirit burns in you when you participate in this kind of faith, and when that fire is burning your life’s work will be Kingdom work.