Quick note: My apologies for getting behind on responding to comments and questions this week. I'll get to them as soon as I can - probably on Tuesday. Sorry for the delay!
Real Faith Works
There's been a lot of brouhaha about James chapter 2 - about how James contradicts Paul, about how James is holds to salvation about works, etc. etc. This is unnecessary. James here is talking about REAL faith. Real faith always works (meaning that it will manifest fruit by actions). The key to understanding this passage comes in verse 14:
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith (NIV - such faith) save him? (emphasis mine)
Notice here that ESV and NIV (and most modern translations) draw a distinction, saying not just "can faith save him" (because the answer to that would be yes), but "can THAT faith save him". I believe here that James is drawing a distinction between this "fake faith" and true faith, which always bears fruit. That is why The Message phrases it (helpfully) this way:
Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it?
Read the rest of the passage this way and I think it should clear up any confusion. The point here is not that works save a person, but that a person who is saved will display works from a changed heart. If there are no works, how do you know if the heart has been changed? True faith is more than words. True faith always works. Faith apart from works is no faith at all - it is merely words ABOUT faith.
Questions? Comments?