Old Testament violence? Ouch! - The Grace Message with Dr. Andrew Farley

How do we reconcile Old Testament violence with the message of Jesus today? What does James 2 mean when it says three times that we are “justified by works”? (We can’t ignore the presence of this phrase, and we must wrestle with it.) Why does James 5 say we will come under judgment if we don’t keep our word? Aren’t Christians free from God’s judgment?

Connect with Dr. Andrew Farley here:

[MariePierre.Y]

The gospel finally made clear, simple and only a good news (nothing hidden lurking at us to condemn us). Thank you.

[KarlL-wo]

Love this man. Breath of fresh air over here in the UK ❤❤❤

[joshbottube]

To bolster Pastor Farley‘s interpretation of James, talking about works:

“They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?” Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.””
‭‭John‬ ‭6‬:‭28‬-‭29‬ ‭NLT‬‬

[thomasjryan]

Justification by works is a justification before men. James is talking about being spiritually mature and the word save is meant to be used in the context as a temporal salvation. Dead faith just means useless on earth. Here’s an article I read from a believer who has a similar view that I have. Hope it helps.

Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing (James 1:2-4).

He is writing to believers whose faith will be tested by trials. In other words, he assumes that they have faith. He says they do.

But what, according to this passage, is James’ hoped-for outcome? It is not that the testing will prove that their faith is genuine instead of fake. He wants the testing of their faith to produce endurance, with the outcome that they will become spiritually mature.

James wants their faith to produce something, i.e., endurance. Instead of faltering during the trial, he wants them to endure. And why does he want that? It is not to make sure that their faith is genuine but so that they will be mature and complete, i.e., that the trials will ultimately lead to their spiritual maturity.

What good is it [ophelos], my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him? (James 2:14, emphasis added).

If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed, ” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? [ophelos] (James 2:15-16, emphasis added).

The word ophelos means “pertaining to a benefit to be derived from some object, event, or state—‘advantage, benefit, beneficial.’” (Louw and Nida, p. 624). The issue is not whether the faith is fake or genuine but whether the faith is beneficial. Are you deriving benefits from it? Are the poor brethren being helped by it?

Do you see that the issue isn’t being fake or genuine?

Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless [argos]? (James 2:20).

The word argos means “pertaining to being useless, in the sense of accomplishing nothing—‘useless’” (Louw and Nida, p. 624). Once again, this is not about faith being fake or genuine but about being useful. Is it doing what faith is supposed to do?

By the way, what is it supposed to do? I think we see the goal in v 22:

You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was made complete (James 2:22)

And that brings us back to the purpose of James. He wants people to become complete, in other words, spiritually mature.

James refers to dead faith twice (vv 17, 26). What did he mean by that? In English, at least, you can use the adjective dead for a range of different things, such as literal physical death, an audience being unresponsive (“The audience was dead”), or for getting into trouble (“I’m dead!”), or for lack of activity (“After 10 pm the city is dead.”). I think that the last one captures James’ meaning. Faith without works is dead, not in the sense of it being fake, but in the sense that it is unproductive. As R. T. Kendall said, “faith is no more useful than a dead body if it doesn’t have works. It is not going to be useful to another person, to God or to yourself” (Kendall, Justification by Works: Sermons on James 1–3, p. p. 174). Or as Zane Hodges commented, “So, when faith is described as dead in James 2, this can easily be understood in context as meaning that…faith is sterile, ineffectual, or unproductive” (Hodges, James, p. 63).

When you go through a trial (e.g., being asked to sacrifice your son!), the only way to become spiritually mature is to put your faith into action. That’s what happened to Abraham, and what James hopes will happen to all his readers, including you and me.