Home

Weekly Devotional

September 17, 2012

God’s Peace be with you all.

James 2:14-18   ¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you?  ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food,  ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?  ¹⁷ So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.  ¹⁸ But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith.

            We are at the point in our lectionary cycle that we have been hearing a lot out of the Epistle of James in the New Testament.  For Lutherans, this epistle presents many issues, mainly the text above.  We proclaim that we are saved by God’s grace through our faith.  Yet James states that faith cannot stand alone, but that works must be a part of it.  The problem with this is that it does not fit into the five solas, i.e. sola fida (Latin for by faith alone) and sola gratia (by grace alone).

            So what are we to make of it?  James is a book that is heavy on the law (as is the Old Testament) and less about grace (like the New Testament).  While it is a valuable book that does indeed give us guidance, for Lutherans, it is a wrestling match.  Martin Luther is famous for quoting:  "I think highly of the epistle of James, and regard it as valuable although it was rejected in early days. It does not expound human doctrines, but lays much emphasis on God’s law. …I do not hold it to be of apostolic authorship."  This gets more into our daily struggle of law vs. grace.  My homiletics professor at seminary was known to ask the question “Where was the grace?” after we finished a practice sermon.  For him, preaching was simply about grace.  But I think we all know that just because we are followers of the New Testament does not mean we leave the Old Testament behind.

            Law vs. Gospel is something that we have to struggle with.  We proclaim that Christ came to fulfill the law (mainly because as sinners we cannot).  But that doesn’t make God’s law invalid.  God has given us (and all those before us and even those after us) the law so that we might live peacefully with one another.  The law helps us in our relationship with one another and with God, and therefore it is still important.  James’ letter gives us a chance to see how it still fits in with the grace brought forth by the death and resurrection of Christ.  And so, even though Luther was not fond of the book and wanted to get rid of it, it still can indeed provide us with valuable information and insight about our relationship with God. 

In our prayers this week: Jim A., Ann, Bobby, Gere, Jerry V., and Mike C.

God’s Peace,