Life Application:
Stories of Living Faith
Alex Hollub is a medical doctor who volunteers his time every Tuesday afternoon to staff the
Christian Community Clinic in Arlington, Texas. On a typical Tuesday he may see more than fifteen
patients in three hours.

A woman waiting to be seen at the clinic commended the staff by saying, “They are not here for
themselves. They are not selfish.” Hollub feels that God led him to volunteer his time at the clinic. He
says, “We send missionaries all over the world, and right in our own backyard there are people in need.”
In Indianapolis, Indiana, the Indianapolis Training Center has turned a former Stouffer Hotel into a
juvenile detention center. In 1992 Indianapolis mayor Steve Goldsmith asked the organization, a part of
Bill Gothard’s Institute in Basic Life Principles, to help in reclaiming rebellious teens. Now a juvenile
court judge offers young offenders a choice. They may serve their sentence at a government-run
detention center, or at the ITC. In 1994 approximately 130 teens chose the ITC. Mr. Goldsmith, who is
Jewish, commended the program by saying, “The [juvenile offenders] in the Gothard program have seen
and adopted values that they never would have gotten in the court system.” One juvenile sent to the
center for robbery completed his stay, and on returning home he called every person he had robbed and
asked for forgiveness.

During four years of bloody war in the former Yugoslavia province of Croatia, Southern Baptists have
sent almost three million dollars worth of food, cooking supplies, and other help to victims on all sides.
Croatian Baptists have set up aid organizations to channel food and help from Southern Baptists and
other Christian organizations. In Karlovac, Croatia, pastor Ladislav Ruzicka distributed food parcels to
people who trekked through snow to get food, cooking oil, and other basic supplies. Ruzicka has
directed a major food distribution effort during the Yugoslavian war. A Karlovac newspaper survey

named him as one of the city’s best-known and most-admired persons, the first time a Protestant pastor
had received this recognition. His food distribution work, along with active evangelistic programs, has
helped his churches grow.

Denise was married to a prominent pastor, but after seventeen years of marriage he asked her for a
divorce. She took her two children to Atlanta, Georgia, to be near friends and family. She found a job at
Georgia Power Company, but affordable lodging was a problem. A friend brought her into contact with
Beginning Anew, a family ministry which prevents families from becoming homeless. Established by
Trinity Baptist Church and Ebenezer United Methodist Church in Conyers, Georgia, the ministry pays
rent and most of the bills on an apartment or a duplex. Over a six- to twelve-month period, the client
gradually assumes financial responsibility.

After some months in the program, Denise gradually began paying larger portions of the rent.
Eventually she assumed the entire cost herself. She said, “Beginning Anew was the Lord’s provision. It
amazes me because it has enabled us to live like we always had.”
A church, a pastor, a doctor, an organization—each of these has demonstrated that faith will
produce works. Their actions leave us with the challenge of impacting our own world as they have
influenced theirs. 1

Digging Deeper :
James’s Dialogue on Faith and Works (vv. 18–20)
Interpreters differ in their understanding of three features in these verses. Differences include: (1)
the identity of the speaker referred to as someone will say. (2) the length of the statement of the
speaker, and (3) the identity of the You and I of verse 18.

A common answer to these questions is that the speaker in verse 18 is an objector to the views of
James. The first half of verse 18 contains the objection, and his comments end there. The use of the
terms You and I represents the speaker’s effort to introduce two imaginary persons. One person
emphasizes the importance of faith, and the other stresses works. In the last half of verse 18 and in
verse 19 James replied to the objector. In verse 20 James presented a challenging demand to the
objector.

Using these guidelines, we can provide the following brief interpretation of the section. In the first
part of verse 18 James introduced the words of an imaginary objector who argued that God had a place
for some people to emphasize faith while others emphasized works. In the final part of the verse James
challenged the objector to show his faith without works. For James the only way to show faith was by
works.

In verse 19 James admitted that intellectual acceptance of God’s existence was good, but it did not
go far enough. Even the devil believes in the existence of God. In verse 20 James challenged his
imaginary objector to realize that a faith which has no deeds is barren and empty.
Intellectual Faith (v. 19)

James commended the belief in God’s existence mentioned in verse 19, but then he warned that
mere belief in God’s existence did not bring salvation. Believing in the existence of God can involve only
assent to a creed. People who have only intellectual faith may uphold orthodox doctrines and support
evangelical principles. The problem is that they have only made a mental commitment to the belief.
They have not involved their wills, and they do nothing to demonstrate the reality of their faith.
We see intellectual faith when we hear someone say, “I believe that eight times eight is sixty-four,”
or when they say, “I believe that World War II ended in 1945.” Both facts are true, but accepting them
involves only the mind, not the will. Whenever someone sincerely says, “I believe in Jesus Christ as Lord
and Savior,” that person is claiming a commitment to Jesus Christ. Commitment to Christ involves a
willingness to obey him, not merely the acceptance of right doctrines about him (John 3:36).

Considered Righteous (v. 21)

Both the KJV and the NKJV translate this phrase by the single word justified. Paul uses this word in
Romans 3:24 (“justified”) to describe the act by which God acquitted or declared righteous those who
had formerly been seen only as sinners. For Paul this justification came by faith in Jesus Christ (Rom.
3:26).

James was not teaching that right standing with God comes by works. He was teaching that
Abraham’s faith was a proof of the faith that he professed. The actions of Abraham led those who saw
him to consider him as righteous.

Paul was explaining how a lost sinner could receive righteousness with God. That came through faith
in Jesus Christ. James was teaching how a person could show others the reality of faith. That came only
by producing works of obedience and concern for others. Both were using the same word, but with a
different meaning and emphasis. Paul wanted to urge self-righteous people to quit trusting in
themselves and to trust in Jesus. James wanted to urge indifferent people to show their faith in Jesus by
producing works as evidence.

Faith and Works According to James and Paul (v. 24)

James claimed that individuals were justified by works and not by faith only (Jas. 2:24). Paul insisted
that people received justification by faith without the Law (Rom. 3:28). Apparently conflicting
statements like these caused the Reformation leader Martin Luther to describe James’s writing as a
letter of straw. Luther felt that James did not correctly teach gospel content according to the rest of the
New Testament.

Do Paul and James conflict? Absolutely not! James wrote to people whose barren lives distorted the
doctrine of salvation by faith. He insisted that saving faith must show itself in deeds. Paul wrote to
people who denied the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith. He refuted their insistence that a
person must keep the requirements of Moses’ law in order to be saved.

James was contrasting two types of faith, one which was genuine and another which was false. Paul
was contrasting two plans of salvation, one which God approved, and another which human beings
devised. James described the kind of faith which proved or demonstrated righteousness before human
beings. Paul described the kind of faith which received God’s approval. They were not opposing one
another, but they fought against different enemies of the gospel. 2

Questions to Consider:
1. What does your church do to help the poor? In what other ways is your church demonstrating
your faith?

2. How are you involved individually in demonstrating faith to people outside the church?

3. How do you explain the different statements about faith that James and Paul make? 3

Prayer Time:



1 Thomas D. Lea, Hebrews, James, vol. 10, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville,
TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 290–291.
2 Thomas D. Lea, Hebrews, James, vol. 10, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville,
TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 293–295.
3 Thomas D. Lea, Hebrews, James, vol. 10, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville,
TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 297.