Wednesday after the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on September 1, 2021 by under
Scripture: James 2:14-26 (NKJV)
2:14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 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? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Devotion
“To be justified” in the Bible was a legal term meaning, “Based on the evidence, I find you ‘not guilty’.” What evidence gains or displays such a verdict from God? Someone else has been found guilty of our crimes, St. Paul says! Jesus “has been made sin for us” (2 Cor. 5:21), so the Triune God considers it conclusive justice for Him to be punished in our place. With Him as our ‘Plea,’ we are declared guiltless by God, not by mistaken identity, but by willing substitution, mercifully accepted by the Judge and the Substitute, in which the Holy Spirit gives us confidence.
St. James asks whether we have truly received that declaration. It produces certain things in us, and excludes their opposite—though our flesh can display conduct that blurs the content of our faith. Do our works show trust in Christ’s substitution for us, or a lack of trust? James’s words bring self-examination and redirect us to Christ—to true appreciation for what He gave to save us, and from what and to what we have been saved.
What Abraham believed was shown in his willingness to sacrifice Isaac: God would fulfill His promise of a Descendant through Abraham’s childless son, regardless of his death! It was also shown in his giving Lot the choicest lands, not dismissing him with, “Be clothed and fed…” If your works do not display a true and right faith, it is not better works that you need, but the Sacrament’s nourishment of your faith, so that it lives and breathes God’s grace to your neighbor.
Prayer: Almighty and Everlasting God, give unto us the increase of faith, hope, and charity; and that we may obtain that which Thou dost promise, make us to love that which Thou dost command; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
