Trailblazin Ministries

A Dead Faith: Part 7 - James 2:21-24

Written by LaRosa Johnson
Wednesday, 12 December 2007

Now reaching the end of his discourse on the perils of a dead faith, James is now ready to bring in some examples that will help to serve as proof to his readers. Keeping in mind that his audience is Jewish, James obviously chooses two figures who were notable in Jewish history: Abraham and Rahab. He uses four of the remaining six verses in this chapter to speak on the story of Abraham, while using only a single verse for Rahab before concluding with a final illustration. Today, our text brings us to Abraham, as we examine James 2:21-24 and see how he was able to use works as an outward display of his living faith towards God. Let us begin by reading the Word of God.

James 2:21-24 (NASB) - 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness," and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.

Anyone who has studied the Word for any period of time is bound to be familiar with Abraham, the patriarch and father of the Israelite nation. Next to Moses, he is probably the most recognized person from Old Testament Scripture. The instance that James is speaking of is a very familiar passage as well, as it speaks of Abraham's offering of Isaac unto God, found in Genesis 22. With both of these being particularly heavy passages of Scripture, we will not take the time to dig into their depths, but will simply afford a brief overview of Genesis 22 before examining the words of James.

As we know, Isaac is Abraham's only begotten son, the son of promise of whom God said he would make an entire nation. In Genesis, we find God speaking to Abraham telling him to go to a mountain and sacrifice Isaac. Abraham obeyed and took his son to be slain on the mountain, only to be stopped by an angel just as he was beginning to kill him. We are told in Genesis 22:1 that this was a test (or a trial, but not a temptation, since we know from James 1:13 that God does not tempt any man) that was designed to see if Abraham's faith and trust was truly in the Lord. What we see, when we look at the chapter as a whole is that Abraham trusted God and had complete faith in Him, even though he was being asked to do something extremely difficult in the act of using his own son as a sacrifice unto God. What made this such a difficult task was the promise that God had made to Abraham to make him a father of many through this son, Isaac.

How was Abraham able to persevere and accomplish this task? Simply put, he had faith and he was willing to demonstrate his faith by walking in obedience. God told him to do something, so he was going to put his actions where his faith was, in God. He knew what God had promised him, but Abraham also knew that God is faithful and had a reason in asking him to do this. Knowing that God would not go back on his word, Abraham moved forward, believing that even in the killing of Isaac that God would either raise him from the dead or give him another son. That is how much faith Abraham had in God, which he proved by being obedient to God's command. And we see that the end result of Abraham's obedience was the perfecting or completion of his faith (James 2:22 & Hebrews 11:17). And what the perfecting of his faith means is that God made Abraham righteous in His eyes.

Now, let us remember that works do not lead to faith, nor do works save us. We see in James 2:23 that Abraham believed God and had it counted to him as righteousness and called a friend of God, but let's not leave it at that. First and foremost, let us see where this quotation is coming from; a little investigation (or a look at your cross references in the margin of your Bible) and we see that this quote comes from Genesis 15:6 (and again quoted in Romans 4:3 by Paul). Remember, the offering of Isaac takes place in Genesis 22, which is seven chapters after this proclamation of Abraham's righteousness. So, Abraham was made righteous before this work of obedience; his being made righteous came when he initially put his faith in God after being told that he would give birth to a son in his old age. With that being said, it was not this work that made him righteous, but it was Abraham's faith and belief in the Word of God that made him righteous. In other words, it was nothing that Abraham did, but all about believing what God said He would do. The same is true of us; we aren't made righteous on our own, but it is only when we trust in God and believe in Him. What about being a friend of God? It was Abraham's obedience in being willing to sacrifice his son that made him a friend of God. That is the key to being a friend of God, even today; we have to walk in obedience to His commandments. Even Jesus called His disciples friends because of their obedience in following Him (John 15:14-15).

I think this illustration and look at the life of Abraham makes this exhortation of having a living faith all the more powerful. We see clearly that he was made righteous in the eyes of God by simply believing in God's Word and promises, but he then proved to God how much he trusted Him by being willing to sacrifice the very son of promise that God had given unto Him. That is the true meaning of having a faith that is alive! It is not just faith alone that justifies us (James 2:24), but our works as well. It would have done Abraham no good to have faith in God to give him Isaac and then not continue to trust Him when asked to sacrifice his son. If he had chosen to not sacrifice Isaac, Abraham would have shown that his faith was dead and that he really didn't believe God to begin with. The same is true for us today, as believers; we have to be willing to back up our faith in God with works that present undeniable proof. If we are put in a situation where we have the option to trust God and His promises, then we need to do so, and not trust in ourselves. Life presents us with many opportunities to show that our faith is alive, but are we up to answering the challenge? I hope that we are.

Finally, I want to encourage you to really take time to meditate on this passage of Scripture and also take the time to read Genesis 15 & 22 to see just how Abraham was made righteous and was able to put his faith in God. I would even recommend reading the rest of the life of Abraham to see the instances where he failed to trust God and missed the mark (i.e. Ishmael). Let his life serve as an encouragement to us, that even in his mistakes he was made righteous and when put to the test able to prove that his faith was in His God.