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Faith: Affirm and Act (Part 2) by Peter Wade
The book of James takes the truth of calling things that be not as though they were a step further. This book is about faith and action. James 2:14-20 says, "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, 'You have faith; I have deeds.' Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that -- and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?"
Let me focus on James 2:17: "In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." In 1903 a new Bible translation came out that caused a real storm. It was the first of the modern paraphrases. Up to that time, most Christians used the King James Version. Then the English brought out the Revised Version in 1881, and the Americans were not happy with that, so they brought out their own American Standard Version in 1901. Then a scholar named Richard Weymouth published The New Testament in Modern English. It took the Christian world by storm because of the very expressive phrases he used. A great example is his translation of James 2:14-22.
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He translates in verse 14: "What good is it, my brethren, if a man professes to have faith, and yet his actions do not correspond?" Then in verses 17 and 18: "So also faith, if it is unaccompanied by obedience, has no life in it -- so long as it stands alone. Nay, some one will say, 'You have faith, I have actions: prove to me your faith apart from corresponding actions and I will prove mine to you by my actions'." The expressive phrase I want you to keep in mind is "corresponding actions". Faith must have corresponding actions. If you call "things that are not as though they were", you must act as if they are. All faith must have an action that corresponds to it.
Faith co-operating
Let me quote one more verse from Weymouth; James 2:22 concerning Abraham: "You notice that his faith was co-operating with his actions, and that by his actions his faith was perfected..." Faith co-operating with actions. What does that mean? When Abraham took a step of faith, he acted the way he expected it to happen, and his faith co-operated and brought it to pass. There are two stages to faith: speaking words -- calling "things that are not as though they were" -- and then taking corresponding action.
I could buy you a first-class airline ticket to send you around the world, and if I did, you would probably say, "Terrific". Yet unless you took the action of walking up the steps of the plane at the airport, the ticket is not going to get you anywhere, is it? I can recall the first time I went to the United States. I was 32, a minister of a small church in Western Australia seating only 75 people and usually about half full. I had been corresponding with a teaching ministry in America from time to time. Then one day a letter came saying, "If we sent you an airline ticket, would you come for three months and study in our summer school?" And I thought, "Terrific." Then challenges set in, and it looked for a while as if it was not going to happen. The ticket did not arrive.
I had to take an action of faith. I obtained my passport and then a visa from the American consulate in Perth. I obtained an international health certificate and had the smallpox injection that everybody had to go through in those days. I took all the steps that were possible while I was waiting for the airline ticket to come. And even though I received a letter stating the ticket was not going to come, I had taken all the steps I could, for I believed that God wanted me to go and learn more about His Word at this particular institution.
Very late on a Friday night, just two days before I needed to leave, I received a phone call from the airline saying that they had just received a telex message about me. It was marked as "Urgent" and their orders were to call me immediately and issue me with a return ticket to the United States. Now, what if I had waited? What if I had not obtained my passport, or the visa, or health certificate? My faith co-operated with my actions, and by my actions my faith was perfected.
James says, "If you say you are a man of faith, show me your faith without actions." Can you do it? No, you can only talk about it. You cannot demonstrate your faith unless you can show an action that has proved your faith. Faith is a mental capacity, and an action is in the material world. It is not possible for a man to say, "I have faith. I'm OK," and not take any action.
The example of Abraham
James gives the example of Abraham, whom God told to offer his son on the altar, which would have delayed the fulfillment of the original promise of an extended family. Abraham and his son journeyed with his servants to the foot of the mountain. He said to the servants, "Stay here with the donkey; we will worship and then we will come back to you" (Genesis 22:5). After they had constructed the altar, the son said, "What are we going to use for an offering?" Abraham replied, "God will supply the offering." Did he only have faith in God? No, he had faith with corresponding actions. He went up the mountain without an offering, not knowing how it would work out. Yet he did what God had told him.
We say we have faith in God. We say we believe God for finances, yet we sit at home worrying about how we're going to pay the bills and wonder why our faith doesn't work. Faith must have corresponding actions. We say we believe God for our physical health, and yet we talk about our pains, our age, and so on. Faith without corresponding action is dead. It's useless; it's not going to produce anything. It is what I call mental assent. You merely say that it's possible, that it's true, but you are not willing to do anything about it, so you do not get the result that it promises.
The key to the passage in James 2:14-20 is back in chapter 1, where it says, "Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves" (verse 22, KJV). "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says" (NIV). A listener, a hearer, is one who says, "I have faith." A doer is one who says, "I have faith, and I'm taking the corresponding action." Just listening to the Word and not doing anything is to deceive yourself. It is self-delusion to say, "I have faith in God" but to do nothing about it. Who are you kidding? Yourself. If you want your faith to work, or as it says in Weymouth's translation, if you want your faith to co-operate, then produce some corresponding actions. That is the Biblical principle.
The modern day "how-to" books by Napoleon Hill, Dale Carnegie, Zig Ziglar or whoever you want to name, pick up that principle and say, "Decide what you want and act as if it is true." It is a Biblical principle, and one that you and I must apply in every situation if we want the success that God's Word says we can have. It's not enough just to call things that are not as though they were, as we saw from Romans 4:17, but we must also take a corresponding action.
If you believe God for good health, then don't lay on the bed moaning about your headache. Where's the corresponding action? Get up and do something. If you have bills that you're worrying about, then thank God for finance. Worry is not going to help it, is it? Worry will kill you and your estate will have to pay the bills in the long run. Maintain your confidence as you apply the principles of God's Word and take an action.
The houses on rock and sand
A great example of faith with corresponding actions is seen in Matthew 7:24. Jesus said, "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice..." Can you see those two aspects there: faith and corresponding action? "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."
What was the difference? The man who built his house on the sand had warmed the pew, sat on the premises, listened to the teaching, but had done nothing about it. On the other hand, the one who built his house on the rock had done all these things, but had also put into practice God's Word.
Everybody is subject to the storms of life. Those who can withstand them and be victorious are those who have faith with corresponding actions; people who hear the Word and do it. And when problems come, when ill health comes, when lack of finance comes, you may go under if you have not applied the principles of the Word of God. You can hang the Word around your neck on a chain, you can keep it in your wallet, but it doesn't do you any good until you apply it. Can you see this simple truth? There's more truth in that parable, of course, but I'm just illustrating the truth from James 2:17 -- faith without corresponding action is dead.
You have God's faith
Let's tie all this in with the Romans passage again. Abraham had the same kind of faith that God had, and God's faith was that which called "things that are not as though they were". You have the same kind of faith that God has, and now you must take the second step in the same way that Abraham did. Abraham not only called "things that are not as though they were", but he also produced the corresponding actions.
Genesis 13:2 says that Abraham was a man of great wealth, a great cattle man. He had a private army and many servants. How did he get all this? He applied the principles that God had laid down. He had the faith of God, and he took the action that was necessary.
Paul, who wrote the statement in Romans, was also a great man. In Philippians 4:13, Paul says, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Paul did the doing, but Christ did the strengthening. That's a great principle. When you became a believer you received faith from God (Romans 12:3) and now have His strengthening within. What is God waiting for? He's waiting for your corresponding action. Paul says, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength." There was nothing that Paul could not do. He could do everything because he had Christ resident within and he matched his faith with actions that corresponded.
You worship the God that "calls things that are not as though they were" (Romans 4:17). Now apply the corresponding action (James 2:18), and then receive the results that God has promised.
The End
Copyright © 1991 Peter Wade. The Bible text in this publication, except where otherwise indicated, is from the New International Version (NIV), Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. This article appears on the site: http://www.peterwade.com/. It is not available in print. Would you like your own copy of books by Peter Wade? See our Catalog.
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