James 2: Faith and
Works
James jumps right in to the major points in this letter! Chapter
two is about partiality, the law, and the need to live out our faith.
James provides examples that are scathing attacks on believers who
claim that works are not important. Elsa Tamez finds in chapter
two a message of hope for the poor, but also an attack on most Churches
in the United States. How does your congregation read James 2? What
is James calling your congregation to do?
1. James and Partiality
(estimated time: 50 minutes)
James is concerned with how his community is showing preferred
treatment to the rich. Do we show preferred treatment to the rich
today? How about to other groups of people? This exercise is from
the Episcopal Church Anti-Racism Initiative, but looks at discrimination
of many sorts.
Supplies
Discrimination Questions
Commentary on James 2:1-13 for each person or group
Commentary on Oppression by Elsa Tamez
Experiential Activity: Discrimination Line Up
Have your group make a single line across the middle of an empty
space. There should be room to step back or forward about ten steps,
everyone is facing the leader. Let the group know that you will
ask them to take one step BACKWARD for every statement that is true,
one step FORWARD if the statement is not true. Remind the group
that this exercise is about very personal experiences and each person
may choose to step or not based on their own understanding of the
question and willingness to share. A person may choose not to step
on any question.
Watch the movement of the group before asking the next question;
allow time for indecision and comments. About half-way through ask
the group to notice the line-up before continuing. You may need
to add items that are appropriate to your specific community.
- I have been discriminated against because of my ethnic heritage.
- I have been discriminated against because of my race.
- I have been discriminated against because of my accent.
- I have been discriminated against because of the region of
the US I am from.
- I have been discriminated against because of my gender.
- I have been discriminated against because of my immigration
status.
- I have been discriminated against because of my political views.
- I have been discriminated against because of my income level.
- I have been discriminated against because of my age.
- I have been discriminated against because of my disability.
Before ending the activity, ask your group if there is an item
they wish you had listed. Allow people to step forward and back
based on those additional items. Ask the group to take a moment
to see where they are in the line-up before they return to their
seats. (15 minutes).
Discussion Questions
In the large group, take about 5 minutes to get people's
reactions to the exercise.
- How did it feel to respond to these questions?
- How did it feel to end up where you ended up in the line-up?
- Were you surprised by any of the results?
Study the Text
Break into groups of 3-6 people. Read James 2:1-13 aloud, along
with the commentary provided. Discuss the example James provides
of the person with gold rings and the person with dirty clothes.
Include Tamez commentary on oppression if you like. (30 minutes).
James 2:1-13
James Chapter 2 provides an interesting example of how scriptural
meaning is changed if we read too small a piece at one time. It
is possible to see James 2:1-7 as a message about partiality, and
then to read verses 8-13 as a separate theme: keeping the law is
important. But if verses 1-13 are understood as a single message
we see that James finds the partial treatment in his story/example
as a serious breech of the law. Verse 9 becomes critical in creating
the link; it is clear that offering the poor man a seat on the floor
is as grievous a sin as adultery and murder. For James oppression
of the poor is not simply impolite, partiality breaks the law to
love your neighbor as yourselves.
Scholars debate where this story of partiality takes place. Traditionally
it was understood that the person with fine clothes and the person
with rags were entering a place of worship. In this interpretation
the phrase Judges with evil thoughts in verse 4 is not
a literal image, but rather a metaphor for each of us sitting in
judgment of visitors. More recent scholarship has proposed that
the space may be a judicial session, with judges present, perhaps
for settling a dispute between two members of the community (Moo
99). This would increase the irony of verses 6 and 7, for they are
giving extra respect to the very person who is bringing them to
court.
Whether coming to court or to worship, the poor person in dirty
clothes uses the Greek word for filth; the implication
is of absolute poverty. James 2:15 mentions a naked brother
or sister; James may mean for these two verses to be linked.
For Tamez this is further evidence that the poor are members of
James’ community. The rich either are not part of the community,
or possibly, the community is changing to include more wealthy people,
and James is opposed to this change (Tamez 26).
Another interpretation is that James is referring not only to the
materially poor, but to anyone who is humble or meek, to those who
are poor by the judgment of the world (Moo 107). In the first century
those who lack honor and prestige would be considered poor by the
leaders of the society. James 2:5-7 echoes the blessing of the poor
in the beatitudes—Luke uses blessed are you who are poor,
but Mathew 5:3 uses poor in spirit. Perhaps James 2:5 is
still another interpretation of Jesus’ original preaching:
has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith.
In all three examples the reward for the poor is the kingdom.
The Greek basileia in verse 5 means kingdom and
is closely linked to basilikos in verse 8. The Royal
Law is most certainly the law of the Kingdom of God (Johnson
194). The scripture quoted is Leviticus 19:18. However it is unlikely
that James means to limit the Royal Law to the love commandment.
The term law typically would refer to the whole of law, rather than
to a specific detail. If by royal James means supreme
it is possible that he is elevating this law above others (Moo 111).
James continues by mentioning adultery and murder; these are from
the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:13-14). Note also that Matthew has
Jesus make a similar argument in Matthew 5:21-26. We also find the
law summarized by Jesus in Matthew 22:37-40 as love of God (as in
James 1:12 and 2:5) and love of neighbor (as in James 2:8).
What is certain is that love of neighbor, for James, is
a command to treat the poor with integrity. God has promised the
poor the kingdom and the church can offer them no less.
- In your church today, who are the people with gold rings and
the people with dirty clothes?
- How do we show that we love our neighbor as we love ourselves?
- Does your congregation and/or the church in general do this
well?
- What do we mean today when we talk about the law?
Douglas J. Moo, The Letter of James in The Pillar
New Testament Commentary, DA Carson, general editor. (Grand
Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000).
Elsa Tamez, The Scandalous Message of James: Faith Without
Works Is Dead. John Eagleson, translator. With Study Guide
by Pamela Sparr. (New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 2002).
2. James and Paul
(estimated time: 75 minutes)
Luther argued that James contradicts Paul, but the view of
the church for many years was that they were simply dealing with
different circumstances. The heart of the problem is here in Chapter
2 where James insists in verse 16 and again in 26, that faith without
works is dead. What does James mean? What does Paul mean? What do
we as Christians today do with this message?
Supplies:
Chart Paper and Markers
Bulletins from a recent worship service, one for each person
Pens or Pencils for each person
James and Paul Commentary
James and the Old Testament Commentary
Commentary on James 2:13-26
Hand out of Biblical References
Experiential Activity
Hand out copies of the bulletin from a recent worship service. Ask
each person to label each part of the service as pertaining to faith
or works. Categorize any announcements or other notes in the bulletin
as well. If some items are not faith or works that is ok, but try
to label most things. Once almost everyone is done, have people
pair up to compare their findings. Discuss any differences. (10
minutes.)
In the large group post the words FAITH on one piece of chart paper,
and WORKS on another. Ask the group what these words mean about
Christian faith. Write down all answers without challenging them.
Leave these charts posted for the text study. (5 minutes.)
Study the Text
Before breaking out into small groups to look at the text, take
about 15 minutes to go through the text and provide some background
for the group. Explain that the quote of Deuteronomy 6:4 inferred
in James 2:19 is the opening of the Shema, the basic statement of
faith for Judaism.
Review the story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac as found in Genesis
22:1-19. James 2:23 mentions Abraham’s righteousness with
a quote from much earlier in his life—it is found in Genesis
15:6. The concept of Abraham as a friend of God will be significant
again later when James discusses our friendship with God as opposed
to friendship with the world. The scriptural reference is from 2
Chronicles 20:7 and Isaiah 41:8. Luke Timothy Johnson notes in the
New Interpreter’s Bible commentary on James that friendship
in first century is not simply that of being “buddies”
like today, but rather a very close sharing of material and spiritual
things (198). Abraham’s friendship with God implies not just
“getting along” but that Abraham is of the same mind
as God, living in God’s way, and sharing God’s resources.
Paul also uses the example of Abraham to argue that it is faith,
not works that justifies us. See Romans 4:2-5 and Galatians 3:6.
James includes a reference to Rahab, who saved the Israelite spies
in Joshua 2:1-21. She also is mentioned as one of Jesus’ ancestors
in Matthew 1:5. Both Rahab and Abraham are used throughout the Jewish
tradition as examples of superior hospitality (Johnson 199)—in
contrast to James example of the believer who tells the naked brother
or sister to keep warm in James 2:15.
Discussion:
Break into groups of 3-6 for discussion. Read the James 2:14-26
aloud. If you have several groups, have one group use the Tamez
commentary below, another use the commentary on Paul and James,
while another uses the commentary on James' use of Old Testament
texts. Each group will have the same discussion. After about half
an hour, spend about 15 minutes in the large group comparing your
answers.
- Describe the relationship between faith and works for James.
- What is the relationship of faith and works for me personally?
- What does our worship service say about faith and works?
James 2:14-26
The following Commentary is from chapter 4 “The Angle of Praxis”
in Elsa Tamez, The Scandalous Message of James: Faith Without
Works is Dead, translated by John Eagleson, Study Guide by
Pamela Sparr. (New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 2002).
“After the description of discrimination [in James 2:1-13],
James continues in chapter 2 with his concern for integrity, situating
faith and works together in complementary unity. From a theological
point of view, this is the most polemical part of the letter, for
he seems to be contradicting Paul’s view of justification
by faith alone. In 2:24 James says: “You see now that it is
by doing something good, and not only by believing, that a man is
justified.” This together with the example of Abraham that
he uses, leads us to believe that James knew well the expression
“justification by faith.” Some hold that it had become
a slogan and that what Paul had meant was being distorted15. For
some, justification by faith meant having faith without a commitment
to others, without works. James then, is trying to correct this
idea by introducing works as an important element in justification.
We do not know exactly what James understand by faith, but he does
make very clear what he understands by works. Throughout his letter
he refers to the good works continually spoken of in the Gospels
as the liberating deeds of Jesus; they are deeds that effect justice.
They are the social works that the prophets demand and that are
spoken of in the Sinai tradition. Paul, on the other hand, assails
that law or system that is followed blindly and enslaves. For Paul
the Christian must be guided by grace and faith. At no time does
he place the works of justice in opposition to justification. Rather
he says they are fruits of the spirit that are born of faith16.
There is nevertheless a clear difference in the two approaches;
this difference can perhaps be explained by the two different contexts.
For James, faith cooperated with works, and through works faith
achieves perfection (2:22). Works justify therefore together with
faith (2:24). In Paul the justified is the person who does justice
because he or she is guided by faith and not by the law, system,
or tradition that enslaves. The problem arises when we ignore the
context of the passages. The intention of James, in the first instance,
is not to speak about justification. He mentions this only in passing,
probably because of misunderstandings of the Pauline phrase “justification
by faith.” From our angle of praxis we see that James wanted
to emphasize the unity between faith and works as part of the necessary
consistency in believing, hearing, saying, and doing. So he begins
his reflection with a concrete example linking faith with the practice
of justice [James 2:14-17]” (Tamez 52-54).
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