“Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone...For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” A living faith has works; if not, it’s in a coffin. Is it any wonder that we are exhorted to “...be careful to maintain good works.” The judgment seat of Christ is not about the existence of works in a Christian’s life, but the quality of their works. We are to assume all believers have them, of one “sort” or another.
Jesus told His disciples that when men saw their good works, they would glorify the Father in Heaven. Good works are something we can leave behind for our loved ones to remember us by. “Dorcas...was full of good works...and all the widows stood by him [Peter] weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them.” And, ultimately, they will follow us to Heaven: “...and their works do follow them.”
If James were living today, I imagine he would have come from Missouri—the “show-me” state. “Shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” In other words, James believed we ought to “put-up or shut-up.”
Like a rowboat, the Christian life has two oars—faith and works; take away one, and you go in circles.
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