James is different from other books of the Bible as regards theology because he makes it very clear that works do have a place in our salvation.
Also that God does indeed test us. Actually I don’t know why anyone would think that the suffering that we go through sometimes might actually be originated
by the Lord for whatever righteous reasons he might have. Don’t forget that it was not Satan that sent Jesus to the cross. It was God as part of his
magnificent plan for our salvation. It required sacrifice. Satan understands sacrifice not. Don’t forget that for a moment, the darkest moment in history,
he thought that he had won.Praise God the father and praise our precious LordJesus, our advocate and our bridge that makes dialogue with the father even possible
but understand that the Lord does indeed test us, test our faith and runs us through the refiner’s fire on a more or less continuous basis.
Right at the outset James makes his position clear and it is near 180 to what Paul says in certain places. But perhaps not so much so on a deeper read and understanding of Paul.
1:2-3 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
What can be more assurance than that when we are going through stuff? It’s righteous and there is a reason. Suffering brings us closer to God.
For those who are not quite understand that and want a softer God James has you covered too…
3:17-18 17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. 4:7-8a 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you.
So while I am a big avid fan of everything that Paul says in Ephesians 6 about the full armor of God which is of course just another way of putting on yourself the attributes of Jesus, James
simply says – resist the devil… sins, lust, temptations be damned… just don’t go there. I guess this is to say that the devil loves snatching up the low hanging fruit. When he sees resistance he
flees… so what is he? cowardly and lazy my brothers and sisters… He might be walking up and down all over the place as he tells God in Job or maybe like a prowling lion but he
prefers to use his corny yet time honored tricks of vanity, pride, lust and other temptations to draw him away from God and to him but he would rather move on if it gets to be too
much trouble. After all… in this world… at all times but especially now there is no shortage, indeed no scarcity of low hanging fruit. Spend some time on capitol hill and other
bastion locations of sin, the modern day Sodom and Gamorahs, and perhaps I should need say no more on this point.
OK, look further at what James says about the works component of salvation.
2:14-17 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
You want to know what gives prayer a bad name sometimes? How about all those who are not of the Lord who share glibly “I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers” when some
tragic thing has happened. If you are not in the Lord and offer to pray for me I am like… hey thanks but no thanks. I got this… the Lord knows my voice and I know his. But yeah, works,,,, even the action of repenting of our sins is to some degree works… it is a “turning around” is it not? That requires a physical action.
Here is a concrete solid example of the work that works does towards our salvation… 5:19-20 19 My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
Theirs? Ours? I dare say both. Theirs and ours. Of course father God has taken a blind eye to our sins since we became covered by the blood of Jesus but righteousness of our own because
“yet not us but through Christ in us” (Galatians 2:20) does not go unobserved by Father, Son nor Holy Spirit.
James also talks famously about anger for how many of our worst sins are prompted by anger in our souls? And so he wrote: 1:19 19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,
Lastly and most dearly to my heart there is James 5:16 where James suggests: “5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” And I ask why are we not doing this? I say we should and that there is no righteous nor Holy reason to not do so. How clean would the church be if
we were all confessed of our sins one to another. Who could we then not trust if everything was on the table and we had no reason to be other than open and every reason to be. You know there is improvement to be made in this regard in any church. Why does that brother seem to not like you as much as you feel they naturally should? Because of what you did to them
Or because of what you don’t know about them? Does our church body need some healing? Each and every one of us would love to be healed and sometimes it seems the Lord
is holding back. Well maybe we are doing better in some cases with the 1st commandment from Jesus but not as well with the second – love they neighbor as thyself. Confessing sins
one to another works wonders in this regard. So what do you say? Y’all down with this suggestion from the half brother of Jesus?
So sorry Mr Martin Luther but I cannot agree with your famous words about the Book of James which sought to have purged from the canon. To me it is essential.
