Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Is James 2 really about eternal salvation? What is dead faith? How can we be sure that our faith is profitable? Thank you, friend, for being here today. This is Grace in Focus. We are a ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society in North Texas. Please come learn more about us at our website, faithalone.org, including our online free seminary, our subscription free magazine coming out six times per year, and our national annual conference happening next year, 2026, May 18th, through the 21st. That’s faithalone.org. 

And now with our question and answer discussion today, here is Bob Wilkin, along with Sam Marr. 

BOB: We have a question about James 2 from someone named James. 

SAM: Yep, so his question is, he’s saying that he, I’ll sum up his email, he saw some of your videos, your videos on James and other videos related, convinced him. He was previously a four-point Calvinist now, he’s no longer. He’s been convinced that eternal security is true, and that it’s necessary to believe in the promise of Jesus, that you have to believe you have everlasting life, and that it can’t be lost. But he says in debates or conversations he has with people, the most common comeback is James 2. He’ll make some kind of statement about eternal security or everlasting life not being lost, and they will respond with James 2, and he has to argue why James 2 does not mean what they think it means. 

And so real quick, I’ll give his three quick points that he says he uses, but now he wants you to give some more points, because he says he doesn’t find these to be very effective in his debates. First, he’ll bring up that James never mentions hell, lake of fire, eternal condemnation, anything like that. So the context for eternal condemnation is not there. Two, James is clearly talking to Christians, we talk about this a lot. It’s addressed to my brethren, the beloved brethren, brothers, brothers and sisters, and James also speaks in the first person plural sometimes when he says he chose us, and that we, he’s including himself in the conversation. Point three is specifically with James 2, where it says dead faith, he argues that dead faith, if it’s dead, then it must have once been alive. We’ve said things like that before. So in addition to those three points, Bob, what are some strong arguments that you would make if you were having to debate a Calvinist or just anybody that interprets James 2 as faith without works is dead, meaning if you don’t have works, you’re not a believer or you’ve lost your everlasting life. 

BOB: Yeah, first off, let me clarify, James says he used to be a four point Calvinist, and the implication from what he’s saying is when he was, he lacked assurance. And the reason why a four or five point Calvinist would lack assurance of his or her eternal destiny, David Engelsma is a Calvinist who believes that Puritan thought has so influenced modern Calvinists, that they’re always on a quest for assurance. And he calls Puritanism and modern Puritanism, a gospel of doubt. And I think Engelsma is right. 

So that’s why James could be a four point Calvinist, and the reason he would lack assurance is he would say something like this, Christ only died for the elect. Only the elect are going to persevere to the end of their lives in faith and good works. I don’t know if Christ died for me. I don’t know if I’m going to persevere to the end of my life in faith and good works. So I look at my works to see if it’s likely that I’m on the path of perseverance. But even if I think I’m on the path, I realize I could always fall away. 

And I’ve debated a lot of Calvinists who said they’re not sure of their eternal destiny because they can’t be because if Paul himself wasn’t sure he was going to persevere, 1 Corinthians 9:27, well, then we can’t be sure. So what James found is that we could have assurance apart from perseverance. We don’t need to look at our works. We need to realize that if we simply believe in Jesus, we have everlasting life and we’re secure forever. And like you were saying, I think James now holds the view that the bullseye in evangelism is Jesus’ promise of everlasting life that can’t be lost. And when you summarized him as saying, we must believe that the salvation Jesus gives is eternal, that we can’t lose it. What that means is in order to be born again, we need to believe that. Now, of course, once we believe it, we’re secure even if we stop believing it. 

So in terms now of his question on James 2, I would give James a couple of answers beyond what you say. First of all, when you say there’s no eternal condemnation in James, I don’t think that’s a real helpful argument because James 2:14, do you have it there, Sam? What does that say? 

SAM: “What does it profit my brethren if someone says he has faith, but does not have works can faith save him?” 

BOB: Okay, see the word save there? Now you’ve been through my class in Greek. You know that the Greek word here is sozo. It’s the verb sozo and it occurs five times in James. As we’ve studied it, we can see that all five refer to being saved from judgment or difficulties in this life. But that’s not the way most people interpret James 2. If you look at most commentaries, they think this is salvation from eternal condemnation. So I would say that’s not a real helpful argument because you’re going to need to get into what save means here. 

His second point that James includes himself and that he calls them brethren and that is a strong point. But the problem is most people think that there’s two types of believers, true professors and false professors. And especially if he’s talking to Calvinist, they’re going to say, well, you don’t know which one you are. And so that argument isn’t particularly helpful. 

ANNOUNCER: Just jumping in here to make you aware of our magazine, Grace in Focus. It is a bi-monthly six issues per year, 48-page magazine, full color. And we want you to subscribe by emailing your name and your snail mail address to ges@faithalone.org. The subscription is free. It can be accessed electronically or it can be actually physically sent to you if you live in the lower 48 United States. That’s our Grace in Focus magazine. Send your name and snail mail address to ges@faithalone.org.

BOB: And the third argument about dead faith, I don’t think that James talks about dead faith. I think what he talks about is faith without works is dead. It’s still faith. It’s just faith without works. What’s dead is not the faith. It’s the faith that lacks works that’s dead. 

So here’s a couple of things I would argue. 

First of all, James 2:14-26 doesn’t just jump out of nowhere. It’s part of the context of James 2:1-13. And James 2:1-13 is talking about if you’re in your church and someone comes in and they’re dressed to the nines, and they’ve got expensive clothing and they’ve got gold and diamonds all over and they’re obviously rich, we shouldn’t show favoritism to them so that when the poor person comes in that’s dressed shabbily, we say to the poor person, hey, you stand over in the corner or you sit here at my feet. And we say to the rich person, hey sit it the best table. No, we treat everybody equally in the church. So when you get to James 2:14-26, it’s still the same context. He’s still talking to believers. What I would bolster James’s argument with, brethren, my beloved brethren is James 1:18. Do you have it there Sam? 

SAM: “Of his own will He brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” 

BOB: Right. And who is the people he’s saying that to, according to verse 16 it’s—

SAM: Beloved brethren. 

BOB: My beloved brethren and according to verse 19 it’s my beloved brethren. So the people who are saved, by the way, in 1:21 are my beloved brethren and they’re born again, people, they’re not unborn again, people. So therefore you can make the case that brethren, my beloved brethren and my brethren refers to born again people, but you need to go to 1:18. 

Secondly, I think you need to recognize that James 2:14 is not talking about being saved from eternal condemnation. It’s talking about being saved from calamity in this life. And there’s several things we can see that point it out. When he says, can faith save him, He’s not talking about faith in Christ for everlasting life. He’s not saying our faith in the promise of eternal life can’t save me from God’s judgment in this life. 

Now that’s true, but look at verses 15 and 16, I see a brother, sister in my church. I say something good to them, be filled and be warm, but I don’t give them what’s needed for the body. That’s not going to benefit me or them. That’s why 2:14 starts with what does it profit,  and 2:16 ends with, what does it profit. It’s the same in Greek in both places, what benefit is it, what use is it, what does it profit? And the point is it doesn’t profit me or them. And so the point is if I don’t put what I believe into practice, then I’m going to reap the consequences. 

For example, let’s say I believe it’s more blessed to give than receive. So I see the brother, sister, need, but I don’t give them, what does that profit me or them? It doesn’t. My faith, which is not combined with works, is not profitable for me or them. That’s why faith without works is dead means faith without works is unprofitable. 

So what you want to do is get the people to see that the issue here is not who’s born again and who’s not. The issue is, is your faith productive or not? Even in 17, faith without works is dead. A lot of people say, well, that’s not true faith. If it doesn’t have works, it’s not really faith. They’ll say faith without works is not faith. That’s logically impossible. A cannot be non-A. If I say faith without works, it’s still faith. It’s just without works. What’s dead is that combination of faith without works. It’s not the faith is dead. And so if I believe something, but I don’t apply it, that’s unprofitable. 

And that’s true of anything, I believe. Let’s say, for example, that when you were growing up, Sam, you believe that you were to be obedient to your parents and that God would bless you if you’re obedient to parents, right? But let’s say you were disobedient to your parents. Well, would that belief that it would be a good thing to obey your parents? Would that have benefited you? 

SAM: Not at all. 

BOB: All right, so you’re not married yet. But let’s say you get married and you believe that you will love your wife as Christ loves the Church, but you don’t do it. Is that going to benefit you or her if you don’t love her as Christ loves the Church? 

SAM: Nope. 

BOB: Basically, what this passage is saying is we need to apply Scripture. James is right. It’s brethren. It’s born again people who need to apply Scripture. And that’s true of unbelievers too. Unbelievers are going to benefit from applying Scripture, but they’re not yet born again. So what they first need to apply is John 3:16. They need to believe it in order to have everlasting life. And then as a believer, we need to apply what we believe.

So James 2:14-26 is all about putting our faith into practice. That’s what Abraham did when he offered up Isaac. That’s what Rahab did when she sent the spies out another way. It’s putting faith into practice. 

Well, I hope that helps. You might read Zane Hodges’ commentary on James. I believe we have a free ebook on James that people can download at faithalone.org. And we have lots and lots of articles on James 2 at faithalone.org. And we have YouTube videos as well. 

In the meantime, thanks for the question, James, and let’s all keep grace in focus. 

ANNOUNCER: We would love to know where you are when you are listening to us. Please take a short minute to send us the call letters of this station and the city where you are listening and how many times a week you listen. Thank you. You will be helping us with our stewardship. Send it to radio@faithalone.org. That’s radio@faithalone.org. We are so thankful for our financial partners who keep us on the air. Every gift is tax-deductible and very much appreciated. If you’d like to find out how you can give, go to faithalone.org.

On our next episode: Is their evidence that Judas was a believer? Please join us again and in the meantime, let’s keep grace in focus.