James 2 (James: Consistency of Belief and Behavior)

James 2 (James: Consistency of Belief and Behavior) – Sep 27^th, 2026

We don’t know when humans began dreaming about time travel, ever since H. G. Wells coined the term “time machine” in 1895, our imaginations have been captured by time-jump stories involving black holes, wormholes, hourglasses, kitchen pantries, particle accelerators, time portals, time slips, mystical doorways, genetic disorders, and plutonium-powered Deloreans retrofitted with a flux capacitor powered by 1.21 gigawatts (“one point twenty-one jig-a-watts”) of electricity.

If we were able to make our way back to the first century CE and visit a church, it would in some ways be familiar, but we would probably feel like a fish out of water in many respects. We would certainly recognize prayers, songs, and Scriptures, the Lord’s Supper and the sharing of meals together. Try to imagine a gathering of followers of Christ and adjust your mental picture as we reflect on some of the differences. Although a few gatherings occurred in public spaces, the vast majority of churches met in private homes for at least the first 300 years (until the Emperor Constantine decriminalized Christian worship). Notably absent were many of the things we take for granted today: cars, electricity, heating and cooling, bathrooms, comfortable chairs, pulpits, sound systems, the internet, phones, cameras, paper, pens, even Bibles.

Performance

I admit that I have allowed movie versions of the New Testament to unduly influence my own mental pictures of the early church. I admit that I have imagined gospels and letters on scrolls being passed from congregation to congregation. But that’s not very realistic. Firstly, written texts were exceedingly rare because papyrus, vellum, leather, ink, and quills were very expensive and didn’t last long, so they had to be frequently reproduced. Secondly, very few people could read, with, at best, a 2-4% literacy rate at the time the New Testament was written. Thirdly, both Greek and Hebrew written texts lacked spacing between words and included little punctuation, making them exceedingly difficult to read without slow and meticulous preparation.

In our world, writing is an independent form of communication. Many things can be studied on our own, through written words. The vast majority of what we read or write is never spoken out loud. But in the ancient near East, writing was primarily understood as a representation of oral communication. In other words, oral communication came first in both order and importance. Ancient rhetoricians devoted a lot of time and effort into producing aural effects like rhythm, repetition, modulation, metaphor, alliteration, anaphora, hiatus, homoioteleuton, and more! These aural cues engage listeners, hold their attention, and make cognitive connections for their audience. Anything eventually written down had already been transmitted many times orally and refined over time. It’s easy to see this in even a rudimentary study of the Gospels, as the sayings of Jesus were repeated orally for years before anything was committed to writing.

Whereas we are accustomed to engaging with written Scripture, often via silent reading, New Testament scholar Dr. Rollin Ramsaran notes that the primary way that early Christians engaged with New Testament texts was via a storytelling performance. I am blessed to have taken two of my seminary classes with Dr. Ramsaran prior to his recent retirement. Only in the last 40 or so years has it become understood that early Christians would not have read texts but would have heard texts read to them. Even more recently, in the last decade, a significant and exciting trend in New Testament studies has been the discovery that the way texts were “read” was not standing at a podium with a scroll, but as a performance. The performer was someone who knew well the instructions or the story, who memorized these things, who could recite it by memory and act it out, who could actualize and embody the text. Remember, the Word is not just the written word. It is the living word, the embodied word.

New Testament professor and director of the “Provoking the Gospel Storytelling Project,” Richard W. Swanson, speaks of re-member-ing the story, “when Christians in the ancient world set out to remember Jesus, they chose story … Embodiment is the best starting point for biblical interpretation, and that means that the best door into all matters theoretical is a thoroughly practical engagement with the stories … When Jesus is embodied in the story that is told, and particularly when the story is played by an ensemble (which allows separation between characters and voices), then Jesus is brought back into the community that re-members him in a vivid and vigorous way. For the duration of the story, Jesus is not an idea but a physical presence with a voice and a body, a location and a presence.”

An embodied performance enables us to better know and follow the Word made flesh. When I think about performance, I think about well-crafted words, expressive emotions, full-bodied movements, heartfelt songs, and imaginative surprises. Think about how we recite nursery rhymes or even converse with young children. We raise and lower our pitch, make animal sounds, and exaggerate movements, often unwittingly engaging in performance, to help them to understand new words or concepts. What if we were to embody and perform the best story of all, the good news of the God who loves all and desires all to enter into and remain in the eternal embrace forever? May we broaden our horizons in how we engage with Scripture, utilizing every available tool and experimenting with a variety of approaches. May we fully enter the world of the story with creativity, community, expression, emotion, perseverance, practice, listening to hearers, and learning by heart. Let us consider how embodying the story together can better help us to find our places in God’s story and welcome and invite others into that story.

James 2

I feel like it is important to understand this cultural backdrop in order to better understand what James is saying and where he’s coming from. One of the things the book of James is best known for is what is known as its “two ways theology.” Today’s sermon is brought to you by the number “2!” For the remainder of our time together, we are going to read James 2 in two sections. For each section, we will take a brief look at two “two’s” – two contrasting pairs followed by two complementary pairs.

James 2:1-13 – “My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, ‘Have a seat here, please,’ while to the one who is poor you say, ‘Stand there,’ or, ‘Sit at my feet,’ have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you? You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For the one who said, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘You shall not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.”

Two judgments (partiality, compassion)

The first contrasting pair is partiality vs. compassion. James begins this section with a specific example of favoritism happening in a church gathering. From cover to cover, the Bible includes many references to God’s particular concern for the poor. In our western context, we tend to focus on merit, often believing that people should be chosen based on their abilities or skills. We may sometimes wonder why the rich are judged so harshly or unfairly in the Bible.

Ruth Anne Reese notes that “a Latin American reading of [James] fixes its gaze on the oppressed” and that “reading from the perspective of the poor shows that God’s choice of the poor provides hope to those whose lives might lead to despair and hopelessness.” Throughout Jesus’ life and ministry, he elevates those on the margins to a position of honor within the community, through his friendship with and choice of who gets to ‘play.’ As Galatians 3:28 assures us, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” Jesus elevates Gentiles, slaves, females, children, foreigners, religious and social outcasts, and the poor. The religious leaders of the day demonstrated partiality to those they considered “insiders.” James warns the church against demonstrating partiality to the rich. In this way, Jesus demonstrates compassion to all, not just those who have worldly status or riches. James reminds his listeners that Jesus announced the good news of the kingdom of God to all, even, and maybe especially, to those who experienced discrimination within the religious and social systems of their day. After all, God, who is the lawgiver, is also the most loving and most compassionate being in the universe. The law is not just a collection of commandments; it is a reflection of God’s will, which is to demonstrate compassion to all of God’s creation and image-bearers.

Two ways (indifference, love)

The second contrasting pair, indifference vs. love, springs directly from James’s conclusion that “judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13). James has already equated “the royal law” with the love of one’s neighbor. Acts 9:2 makes reference to one of the designations for early Christians, “any who belonged to the Way.” Jesus had already described himself as “the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). James, remembering Jesus’ words, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7), identifies the people of the way as people of love and mercy. And so, James challenges his listeners with the choice of two ways: the way of love and mercy, which he associates with life and salvation; and the way of indifference and vengeance, which he associates with death and barrenness.

The way of indifference (and lack of mercy) is characterized by vengeance, revenge, ruthlessness, retribution, retaliation, punishment, cruelty, violence, vindictiveness, and brutality.

In stark contrast, the way of love (and mercy) is characterized by empathy, compassion, leniency, kindness, sympathy, grace, clemency, forbearance, lenience, and goodness.

Jesus summarizes God’s will in this one statement, now known as the Great Commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). James confirms this with an instruction to “so speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.” Chrysostom lifts our vision: “By [mercy] the gates of heaven open with the greatest of ease. In short mercy is a queen that makes humans like God.” Reese fleshes this out: “the divine source of the law of love invites us to imitate God’s mercy in our own acts of mercy … This is the difficult work of welcoming those who are not like us and helping them to find a place among the people of God where they can experience the love of God by being loved as the neighbors God has brought to us … Part of loving one’s neighbors is helping those neighbors thrive in ways that recognize and facilitate the gifting God has given them.”

James 2:14-26 – “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,’ and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is barren? Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works. Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,’ and he was called the friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another road? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.”

Two components of righteousness (faith, works)

The first complementary pair is faith and works. Unfortunately, in many Christian circles, faith and works are pitted against each other, as though one is better than the other. James is pretty clear about this: a literal reading of verse 20 is that “faith without works is workless, idle, inactive.” In other words, James is saying that faith without works will not work! Fifth century theologian Cyril of Alexandria wrote, “Just as faith without works is dead, so the reverse is also true. Therefore let integrity in faith shine forth along with the glories of upright living.” James hammers home the necessity of both faith and works so much in this chapter that we would have to be completely indifferent to miss them, with 16 references related to faith (pistis, pisteuó) and 18 references related to works (ergon, ergazomai, sunergeó, poieó).

The oft-quoted Protestant assertion, sola fide, “by faith alone” (drawn largely from Paul’s writings in Romans 3:28 and Galatians 2:16), does not seem, at first glance, to gel with James. But James, writing to Jews, and Paul, writing to Gentiles, had different emphases. Reese, in referring to James’s assertion that “‘confessional belief’ without action is not saving faith,” notes that “when James declares that this kind of faith, faith not joined with works, is dead, he is saying that this faith is so morally or spiritually deficient as to be in effect dead, lifeless.” This leads to the obvious conclusion that something which is dead has no capacity to save. New Testament scholar Ben Witherington III puts it this way: “If it is a mere shell of confession, faith is like a stinking corpse. Works are the animating and animated side of faith – what gives it life.” Just as a body without pneuma (spirit, wind, breath) is a corpse, so, James says, “faith without works is also dead.”

James adds a sarcastic statement about demons for further emphasis: “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder” (James 2:19) Witherington notes that “the demons are the ultimate example of faith divorced from praxis, of right confession divorced from right living … The demons were perfectly orthodox and perfectly lost.”

Jesus warned his followers, “If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you.” (John 15:19). Because our faith and our works are incompatible with the ways of the world, we can expect troubles to come when it comes to faith and when it comes to works. We can do a kind of disaster preparedness by doing what we can to support and strengthen our own faith and works and those of other believers around us. Faith and works always go together. Reese sums it up, “Faith aids the doing of works, and good works bring faith to a state of completion.”

Two people (Abraham, Rahab)

The second complementary pair are two individuals from Hebrew Scripture, what we now call the Old Testament. It’s interesting that from among the many examples of faith included in Hebrew scriptures, James chooses the most stellar example, Abraham, and the most scandalous example, Rahab.

The first thing we can notice about Abraham is that he is male, an insider, a person of high honor as the model of someone who responds to God with faithfulness, obedience, and submission in the face of the most difficult of circumstances. Witherington notes that “James’s point is that, even in the case of believing Abraham, his works were essential as an expression of faith … His trust in God was vindicated, for he dared to offer his son, trusting God to provide or take care of the situation … Abraham did have faith … but he also had deeds flowing from that faith … James speaks of faith coming to mature expression – to its perfect end or goal – in works.”

The first thing we can notice about Rahab is that she is female, an outsider, a person of low honor as a prostitute, a Gentile, and a woman. However, as Reese observes, “Like Abraham, Rahab joins her faith to her action. Her belief that ‘The Lord your God is indeed God in heaven above and on earth below’ (Joshua 2:11b) is joined with her action in choosing to harbor the spies, to protect them by lying to government authorities, to enable them to escape, and to direct them on how to return safely to the Israelite camp.”

Witherington observes that “the rhetorical strategy here involves forestalling the objection: ‘But I am not a towering figure of faith like Abraham’ – to which the proper reply is, ‘At least you could follow the example set by Rahab!’ The last example then removes all excuse for doing nothing and shames the audience into action.” Fourth century bishop, Severian of Gabala, paints a picture of God’s love, inclusion, and welcome for all: “Listen to the testimony of Scripture. In the midst of prostitution there was a pearl, in the mire there was burnished gold, in the mud there was a flower blooming with godliness. A godly soul was concealed in a land of impiety.”

James is very clear that “a person is justified by works and not by faith alone” (James 2:24) and that in both Abraham and Rahab, their faith was active along with their works. Their faith was brought to completion by their works.

Application

In closing, I want to leave us with four pairs of reflection questions:

1. Against which individual or group have I chosen to act with partiality? In what specific situation in my life is God inviting me to step away from favoritism and towards fairness?
2. To what individual or group of people have I chosen to act indifferently by withholding love? In what way is God inviting me to put love into action this week?
3. How can I support and strengthen my own faith and the faith of other believers around me? How can I support and strengthen my own works of love and the works of love of other believers around me?
4. What excuse do I need to lay down that has been preventing me from demonstrating my faith with works of love? Whom can I feed, clothe, or visit this week?