James 2 is the passage that says faith without works is dead.
In that chapter, three sins are identified by name as sort of examples of how extremely bad sin is. Those 3 sins, not in order, are:
1) Murder (verse 11)
2) Adultery (verse 11)
3) Partiality to the rich over the raggedly dressed poor. (verses 2-9)
James wrote: For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
In other words, one thing is just as bad as the others.
Murder (acts that physically harm others) is just as bad as adultery (violating God's boundaries for sex), which is just as bad as partiality (economic and social injustice) to the rich over the poor, which is equally as bad as murder or adultery.
Kinda like the Holy Spirit really wanted to make a point.
If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? (verse 15, 16)
Church profit is not in the accumulation and display of financial prosperity, but in addressing financial deprivation.
But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called (verse 6,7)
Worshiping "job creators" and defending the 1%, the 10%, and the other upper percent against the haters among the poor masses who work for them----- that may be the conservative platform. But the Bible says that those percent generally don't care about you or your Jesus. Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called.
If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. (James 2: 8,9)
I agree in principle with the conservative Christian position on homosexuality and abortion. But to take those two points as the total sum of my identity as a socially conscious follower of Jesus Christ is to highlight James 2:11 in my Bible and blot out the rest of the chapter with a black marker.
The law of God tells me several things I should not do, but it tells me many more things that I should do. If I only live by the don'ts without also living by the do's (or vice versa) then I am not living as God told me to live. I am not working as God told me to work.
It doesn't mean I don't believe in God. But, even the demons believe—and tremble! (verse 19)
If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. (James 2: 8,9)
I agree in principle with the conservative Christian position on homosexuality and abortion. But to take those two points as the total sum of my identity as a socially conscious follower of Jesus Christ is to highlight James 2:11 in my Bible and blot out the rest of the chapter with a black marker.
The law of God tells me several things I should not do, but it tells me many more things that I should do. If I only live by the don'ts without also living by the do's (or vice versa) then I am not living as God told me to live. I am not working as God told me to work.
It doesn't mean I don't believe in God. But, even the demons believe—and tremble! (verse 19)
It doesn't mean I haven't received Jesus Christ by faith; but faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (verses 17, 20)
One more thing about James chapter 2. The passage names 2 Old Testament saints as examples of true faith enlivened by godly works. Those two Biblical role models are Abraham and Rahab: a wealthy patriarch and a homeless prostitute.
One more thing about James chapter 2. The passage names 2 Old Testament saints as examples of true faith enlivened by godly works. Those two Biblical role models are Abraham and Rahab: a wealthy patriarch and a homeless prostitute.
In God's eyes, they were equals.
The rich patriarch is equal to the homeless prostitute.
The rich patriarch is equal to the homeless prostitute.
For there is no partiality with God. (Romans 2: 11)
---Anderson T. Graves
II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry,
and rural leadership development.
Rev.
Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse
Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO); and director
of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human
Development (NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
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