James 2:14-18; Ephesians 2:10
What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): We read in the text, “Created in Christ Jesus.” We are the branches; He is the Vine out of which we grow. Your life, and all your fruit-producing power lie in your union to Christ. Beloved, if you are what you profess to be, you are one with Jesus by that vital union which cannot be dissolved; and good works follow upon that union. Joined to Jesus by faith in Him, love to Him, and imitation of Him, you walk in good works. Our good works must flow from our union with Christ by virtue of our faith in Him.
JOHN OWEN (1616-1683): Faith is the spring and cause of all obedience, for “without faith it is impossible to please God,” Hebrews 11:6; and the obedience that is accepted with Him is “the obedience of faith.”
THOMAS BROOKS (1608-1680): Till men have faith in Christ, their best services are but glorious sins.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): Without faith, you can’t begin―faith is the beginning, that’s essential.
THE EDITOR: It is significant that the entire chapter of Hebrews 11, after stating its initial definitions of faith, extensively describes its nature, and its effects, in acts of faith by the saints, as evidences of their faith.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): If a man believes, then he will do “good works.”
C. H. SPURGEON: The faith which does not produce good works is not saving faith: it is not the faith of God’s elect: it is not faith at all in the Scriptural sense…Faith shows itself by good works, and therefore is no dead faith. God’s house is a hive for workers, not a nest for drones. Those who rejoice that everything is done for them by another, even the Lord Jesus, and therefore hate legality, are the best doers in the world upon gospel principles. If we are not positively serving the Lord, and doing His holy will to the best of our power, we may seriously debate our interest in divine things…If a man says he has faith, and has no works, he lies.
THOMAS MANTON (1620-1677): Faith is not an idle grace.
MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546): Faith is a living, restless thing. It cannot be inoperative.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): We have got to act on our faith. There is no point or purpose in reading the doctrine and understanding the teaching if we do nothing about it. We have got to translate it into practice.
HORATIUS BONAR (1808-1889): The faith which goes no further than the intellect can neither save nor sanctify. It is no faith at all. It is unbelief.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: There is always an element of venture in faith. Faith is entirely different from a mere intellectual assent and belief. Faith is putting what we believe into practice and into operation. I am tempted to repeat a story to illustrate this point―a person was standing on one side of Niagara Falls, watching a man who could not only walk over the Falls on a tightrope, but who could actually trundle a wheelbarrow across as well. He turned to a man standing by and said: “Do you believe that I can not only take a wheelbarrow over to the other side, but that I can also take it across with a man sitting in it?” “Yes, I do,” said the man. “Well,” he replied, “take your seat in the wheelbarrow.” But he would not! The story represents the difference between intellectual assent and true faith. Faith gets into the wheelbarrow! It believes the message to such an extent that it begins to practise it. The proof of true faith is that it is practiced―that it shows itself in action.
ROWLAND HILL (1744-1833): Faith is a mere imagination, unless it is proved by works; if we are believers, we have that “faith which worketh by love,” Galatians 5:6.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Faith, where it is true, is a working grace: it works by love, love to God and love to our brethren; and faith, thus working by love, is all in all in our Christianity…Here is the procuring cause of all, namely, Christ, who purchased the Spirit and His saving gifts and graces. All come through Him as a Saviour…“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life, Titus 3:5-7.
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): “Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end,” Hebrews 3:6. The word “hope” I take for faith; and indeed hope is nothing else but the constancy of faith.
WILLIAM GOUGE (1575-1653): Where there is no hope, there is no faith.
THOMAS BROOKS: A man full of hope, will be full of action.
MATTHEW HENRY: Paul says to Titus, “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works,” Titus 3:8. This is a true Christian doctrine of highest importance, which ministers must most earnestly and constantly press, that those who have believed in God do not think that a bare naked faith will save them; but it must be an operative working faith, bringing forth the fruit of righteousness; they must make it their care “to maintain good works,” not to do them occasionally, only when opportunities come their way, but to seek opportunities for doing them.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): To “maintain” these according to the significance of the word used, is to excel in them; to outdo others, by way of example, and so to provoke to love and to good works, to make them the employment and business of men’s lives; for which there should be a thoughtfulness, a carefulness, a studious concern in those who “have believed in God,” who are regenerated and renewed by the Spirit of God, and are justified by faith in the righteousness of Christ; who believe in Him for peace, pardon, righteousness, life, and salvation: these are under great obligations to perform good works; the love of Christ should constrain them to do them; and they are the only persons that are capable of doing them well, for they are sanctified—made ready for every good work; they are created in Christ Jesus to them; they have the Spirit of Christ in them, and the strength of Christ with them, without which they cannot be performed well; and they have faith in Christ, without which it is impossible to please God.
THE EDITOR: True believers do good works because they have eternal life, not to obtain eternal life. Good works show the world a visible evidence of the Christian’s faith.
JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688): Faith is not a notional and historical assent in the head; it is a principle of life—a principle of strength.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN: Faith is the principle of works; works are the manifestation of faith, making it visible.
AUGUSTUS TOPLADY (1713-1778): If God gives you Paul’s faith, He will give you James’s works.
