Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
Genuine faith works together with obedient deeds and is brought to maturity and completion through them. Faith without works is dead, and mere profession or belief without obedience is not saving faith. Neither faith alone nor works alone saves, but a person is justified by a faith that expresses itself in practical godliness and not by faith alone. Abraham's willingness to offer Isaac proved his living belief, so his belief was counted for righteousness and he was justified by a faith that works obedience. True faith relies wholly on Christ and is shown by obedience to all of God's commandments, working by love to purify the soul and produce righteousness.
Meaning of Perfected Faith
Genuine faith works together with obedient deeds and is brought to maturity, completion and perfection through them. Abraham's willingness to offer Isaac showed that faith in action, making belief visible in obedience and testifying to the character of faith. Good works are the fruit and evidence of faith, proving that life matches profession, and they do not replace faith but show it to be real, solid and valuable, expressed in continual surrender, obedience and practical service.
Faith without works is dead and cannot remain merely professed, merely believed, or merely claimed. A claim to God's favor, holiness and salvation while refusing obedience to His law and all His requirements is not genuine saving faith. Faith alone cannot save, and knowing and defending truth without growing spiritually and conforming life to God's will does not bring faith to maturity.
Neither faith alone nor works alone saves, for the two must be united. Trusting to faith alone is trusting to a rope of sand, and saying what people believe is of no consequence so long as works are good is wrong. Good works without faith in Christ do not complete righteousness, works do not replace faith or make belief unimportant, and faith is strengthened and made perfect only by works. Faith and righteousness cannot be complete without knowledge of Christ, so those who fear God and live righteously according to light already received must still advance as God sends more light and accept further truth for the development of righteous character.
Works strengthen, sustain and bring faith to maturity, and daily conduct makes possessed faith visible. Living faith acts on God's word and promise rather than waiting for promised help, bodily feeling or changed circumstances before acting. It lives out prayer by using God-given powers and working in harmony with faith even when circumstances are inconvenient or feelings resist, since Christ supplies divine power to combine with human effort and do what people cannot do themselves.
Perfected faith is faith that works by love and purifies the soul, producing righteousness, obedience and light to the world. Abraham's works proved and corresponded to living belief, so his belief was counted for righteousness and he was called God's friend, and believers who continually exercise faith and love shine as lights. Mere profession of faith in Christ or of keeping the commandments has no value apart from love shown by works, however small the deeds done from love may seem, and those who dwell on obedience while failing to work righteousness and walking against the law refuse the warnings God sends through messengers to turn them to righteousness. This complete faith requires full surrender to God with all affections and desires in worship, cleansing of the soul temple by the Holy Spirit, putting away old passions, Christ living in the heart, oneness among believers as Christ is one with the Father, shutting out dissension, talking faith, hope and courage, and living it out in steady service that grows stronger as it is spoken and acted upon.
True faith claims God's promises and brings forth fruit in obedience, trusting His love, obeying His commands, complying with the conditions on which mercy is granted, and resting on the promises and provisions of Scripture. Faith that claims God's favor without meeting the conditions of mercy is presumption, not faith founded on Scripture. Presumption is the counterfeit of faith; it also claims the promises but uses them to excuse transgression, as the first parents did when they disobeyed God's law believing His great love would save them from the consequences of sin. Faith is not feeling and not a cheap superficial claim; claiming to believe in Christ without doing His works is shown to be false by a life without self-denial, surrender to God and service that honors Him.
Bible Examples of Faith
James 2:22 is seen in Abraham's willingness to offer Isaac, where trust acted together with obedient deeds and was brought to maturity through them. His readiness to obey made invisible faith visible in action, showing implicit trust, complete surrender to the divine will, and confidence even when the requirement was painful. Mere profession, mere belief, or a claim to divine favor while refusing obedience is not genuine saving faith, for faith without works is dead, and works do not replace faith but prove it real and give solid, valuable experience. His example teaches that nothing is too precious to give to God and teaches children submission to parents. His obedient works proved and corresponded to living belief, so his belief was counted for righteousness, he was called the friend of God, and he was justified by a faith that works obedience.
That same union of faith and works in Abraham, the father of the faithful, is the pattern for the father as head and house-band of the home to bind the family circle together and be faithful to his God-given trust over his family as his heritage. Noah's faith was perfected in the same way when he believed the divine warning about an unseen future event and proved it by beginning to build the ark as directed. He obeyed despite the world's unbelief and ridicule, and his obedient work made his faith a living reality and gave the world an example of trusting God. Paul's living faith after conversion shows the same working character rather than dead formalism or mere profession, for he continued to keep the Ten Commandments. At the same time he recognized that circumcision and the ceremonial rites and sacrifices that pointed to Christ as types had been fulfilled in His death, were no longer binding, and were not required of Gentile converts for salvation.
Justification Salvation and Judgment
A person is justified by works and not by faith alone, for Abraham's offering of Isaac shows faith acting together with works and brought to maturity through them. Genuine faith works together with obedience and is brought to maturity through good works, which are its fruit and the evidence that life matches profession, and faith that produces no good works does not justify. Such a life is one of continual surrender and obedience, not works as a substitute for faith, and salvation involves faith in Jesus Christ expressed in practical godliness, alongside Christ's justifying grace and the Holy Spirit's work of sanctifying and renewing the soul in holiness and making faith evident in character.
God joins salvation and eternal life with the works of living faith, which are the fruit of the Holy Spirit and help carry the light of truth to all peoples. Faith in Christ is made perfect and complete through works, for believers who live by faith desire to know and do God's will, act, obey God's commands, and follow Christ. God uses those works to provide for the spread of truth to all peoples, and honest giving of tithes and offerings is one such work, while withholding them violates God's command and deprives the giver of the promised blessing.
Profession of faith alone has no value, for love shown in action makes faith genuine, and deeds done from love are accepted and rewarded by God however small they may seem. In the judgment the use of abilities, time, resources, influence, and received truth is examined, including what has been done for those in need. True faith is active faith in the Word of God including His will, and God calls for such works, not words, pretense, or semblance alone, so that future happiness depends on this active faith. In the day of final judgment every person is judged according to the deeds done in the body, when only character and the law of God remain and all are seen as either righteous or unrighteous.
The faith that justifies must be in the head, in the heart, and in the life, running like a thread of gold through all that is said and done. It is practical, living, working faith that works by love and purifies the soul, believed with heart and mind and soul and brought into exercise in everything undertaken, inseparable from repentance, transformation of character, and the fruits of the Spirit, not merely a claim but shown in a changed life. Salvation comes through practical godliness and faith in Jesus Christ, with Christ as the living center who joins truth link after link into one complete whole rather than separate, detached, disconnected doctrines. Through education, discipline, and training every current of the soul is brought into helpful, active service to benefit and bless others, which is consecrated service, for religion has no value unless it is active, self-denying, and earnest in endeavor. Living faith gives assurance by perfect obedience, and it is in doing His will that whether doctrine is of God is known, with faith made perfect through works and evidenced in the character.
Faith is made perfect by works when faith in Christ clothes the believer in Christ's righteousness, the wedding garment, and produces a changed character in obedience to God's law. No one is complete without Christ's righteousness, for faith in Christ's righteousness is not a claim that leaves character unchanged, but true repentance and faith lead to a changed life. Those who claim to be Christians yet make no change in character, who think themselves good and virtuous enough in themselves, who rest on their own merits without faith in Christ and without true repentance for sin, do not have perfected faith, violate God's law, lack the wedding garment, and will lose their souls. They have no right to the tree of life and no entrance through the gates of the holy city when Christ examines the guests.
Living faith acts in obedience and is strengthened by persevering integrity and patient continuance in well-doing, and must be more than belief alone. It is tested by whether a person stands on the side of God's law when circumstances and human laws pressure disobedience. Such a faith prepares people to endure the final test and meet Christ.
Obedience Proves Living Faith
True faith relies wholly on Christ and is shown by obedience to all of God's requirements and commandments, and Abraham's willingness to offer Isaac made such faith visible in obedience rather than leaving him free from obedience to God's law. Genuine faith acts in obedience and is brought to maturity and completion through deeds, while faith without obedient works is dead. A claim to holiness has no foundation when a person knowingly breaks God's requirements, because disobedience conflicts with knowing God and keeping His word. The inward working of the Holy Spirit joins with the outward demonstration of practical godliness in daily practice, the proof of heart-love is obedience to God's commandments, and loyalty and truth to the Sabbath through obedience makes a person true to every principle in the Decalogue. Knowing and defending biblical truth is not enough, for faith is not perfected when people fail to grow spiritually, conform their lives to God's will, or practice genuine godliness, but all who love God study His words, eat His flesh and drink His blood, and live and act in constant submission to His will.
A person's daily conduct makes the faith possessed visible, and saying "I believe" while living contrary to that belief leaves faith unjustified and the person spiritually dead, while good works make faith visible and show that it is genuine. That saving connection with Christ is shown by conformity to God's will in words, conduct, and character, and by doing His commandments, so profession of faith alone does not prove it and will not save any soul. True repentance produces good works, and true conversion requires obeying God at whatever cost, walking in His way, and overcoming all selfishness, with profession accompanied by practical Christian work. Religion must rest on real, deep, heartfelt faith that is made complete by works, leaving no room for self-pleasing after the pattern of the life of Christ in this world, who lived not to please Himself. Claiming to believe in Christ without doing His works is a superficial, cheap faith, whereas genuine faith is shown in a life of self-denial, surrender to God, and service that honors Him, as when the church puts God's cause first including building a house of worship and giving generously.
When love of earthly treasure and other influences keep a person from obeying God's will, that person's faith is not made perfect by works. Mere profession of great love for the truth in words, with an interest in seeing the truth advanced but doing nothing for its advancement, is dead faith because it is not made perfect by works of charity and benevolence. Benevolence stands beside faith, love, and Christian diligence, and no one can be a good Christian while closing ears and heart to God's calls for liberality. True conversion does not leave a soul under the power of covetousness but overcomes selfishness and covetousness at whatever cost.
True faith works by love and purifies the soul, producing righteousness and obedience to God's law. Merely professing to keep God's commandments and dwelling on the importance of obeying the law is not that working faith when a person fails to work righteousness and walks against the law. Those without this working faith refuse to heed the warnings God sends by messengers to turn them to the paths of righteousness.
Faith Advances With Light
Faith is not made complete by works alone, and good works done according to light already received do not make belief unimportant. Faith must unite with works, for works strengthen faith and bring it to maturity and completion, and to trust in faith alone is to trust in a rope of sand that cannot save. Faith and righteousness cannot be perfect and complete without knowledge of Christ, so those who fear God and work righteousness must advance as God sends more light and accept and follow further truth when it is supported by His word for the further development of righteous character.
Cornelius feared God and lived righteously according to the light he had, and his sincere faith was accompanied by righteous conduct that was accepted in keeping with that light. Yet his faith and righteousness were not complete without knowing Christ and needed further knowledge of Him to develop fully and come to maturity. Therefore God sent him that further light through the truth about Christ, which he needed to receive, accept, and advance in.
There is great danger at the present time of taking false positions on this union of faith and works, because skeptical caviling confuses souls and leaves them walking in darkness. Complete faith is faith that acts through love, with love for Jesus Christ as personal Saviour and the heart aglow for Him, leading to doing the work of God. This requires full surrender to God with all affections and desires in worship, the putting away of old passions, the cleansing of the soul temple by the Holy Spirit, and Christ living in the heart, through whom all things become possible. Where this faith works, dissension is shut out and believers are one as Christ is one with His Father, resisting efforts to bring dissension and weaken faith.
Faith Completed in Practice
Asking God for protection from sickness is incomplete faith when health laws are neglected and violated, for faith is made complete only through works of obedience to the laws of life. People must do what they can to preserve health and prevent disease by reasonable care and practical effort, and then ask God in faith to bless those efforts and expect good results to follow. Prayer for keeping from sickness without regarding those laws is imperfect faith that cannot be answered.
God answers such prayer for blessing on responsible effort when His name can be glorified thereby. But He will not work miraculously to preserve health or restore soul, body, and spirit for those who by careless inattention take a sure course to make themselves sick and expect Him to supply their neglect and cooperate for them what He has left them to do. Everyone has something to do on his own part, and to expect healing while continuing what brings disease makes God altogether such a one as themselves.
Faith in God's power to heal infirmities is dead unless the diseased person improves the light given by bringing habits into harmony with right principles. The sick must be educated to lay aside every wrong practice, cease to indulge perverted appetite, deny appetite, and stop unhealthful eating, drinking, and dressing. They must use the provisions God has given, including simple remedies, pure air, sunshine in every room, and pure water to drink, for the grace of God is always reformatory and every person must learn to give up hurtful practices and do what he can for himself.
God's health principles are His prescription and practical instruction in righteousness for daily life, His great remedy for diseases of body and soul to be brought into daily life and followed day by day. Lived out they let Christ exercise grace in large measure, bring heaven near and happiness of spirit, cause a person to see the salvation of God, build character, make a person a tower of strength, make the workplace a place where angels delight to come, bring prosperity, and lead to triumph at last with the overcomers. Faith and good works go hand in hand in caring for the sick, with prayer joined to treatment and healthful habits to help the afflicted both recover and live to glorify God and be prepared and saved when Christ comes.
Gratitude ending only in words has no value, and profession of faith without works is worthless. Faith is made perfect by works of charity and benevolence standing beside faith, love, and Christian diligence, for no one can be a good Christian while closing ears and heart to God's calls for liberality. Mere profession of great love for the truth with interest in seeing it advanced but doing nothing for its advancement is dead faith not made perfect by works, and true conversion does not leave a soul under the power of covetousness.
The works that perfect faith include rendering back to God tithes, gifts, and offerings as tokens of loyalty, dependence, and sense of obligation, which lasts as long as dependence on God's bounty lasts. Because God is continually giving and the human agent continually receiving, when people become weary of returning to the Lord His own His blessing is withheld, while honest giving provides for the spread of truth to all peoples as fruit of the Spirit expressing desire to know and do God's will. Withholding tithes and offerings violates God's command and deprives the giver of promised blessing. Every church member, old and young, parents and children, must prove belief by tangible deeds, with even poorer members doing their little through self-denial and self-sacrifice, especially in offerings to lift debt from the house of God, showing spirituality and true appreciation of truth instead of letting the world come between God and the soul.
Faith is completed when believers walk in the light and do the work God calls them to do, and their actions can enlighten, convict, and help others. Faith is called into exercise by doing good, and courage and hope are in keeping with a working faith, while those who do nothing have no bright and living experience because they do nothing by which to gain it. Personal effort and direct appeals to bring friends and relatives to Christ, instead of leaving all work to the minister and selfishly enjoying grace, increase faith and advance the divine life, sharing largely of divine grace here and the reward of earnest labor hereafter. Earnest untiring energy in medical missionary work and in educating students for service, living out God's Word to draw people to receive Christ, testifies that a person truly believes and walks in light shone across the pathway in strong steady rays doing the very work specified for these last days, to which God will give His Spirit and favor. Seeking the Lord humbly and cooperating with God through devoted zealous work shows the harmony of faith joined with practical effort, while churches whose practice is not proportionate to light and who carelessly neglect to walk in it as bidden leave their work for others and set no right example.
No one is at liberty to fold the hands and do nothing, for it is utterly impossible to be saved in indolence and inactivity. Perfected faith works with action amid living realities, not in dreamland, with a great work to be done and manifestations of Satan's power on every side, uniting human effort with Christ as Advocate, drawing strength from God as Source of all strength, and pressing forward in power that will not let go. Those who win eternal life face constant conflict unto triumph. Such faith means talking faith, hope, and courage and living it out in steady service, working by love and purifying the soul, shining with light Christ imparts, and growing stronger as it is spoken and acted upon to give rich experience even when others show no such faith.
The verse condemns faith without obedient deeds and rebukes acting as critics who increase discouragement, hinder instead of help the appointed work in Nashville and the South, and withhold and turn aside means that ought to go to that field. That withholding is robbery that God will judge and with which He is displeased. It calls for reformation, for reading the Word to purpose and acting out its instruction, and for doing without delay the work needed for oneself instead of tearing to pieces the work given to brethren. The schools' relief through combined efforts of faith and work illustrates faith working together with deeds and brought to maturity through them.
For those who claim present truth, repentance and faith are the conditions of salvation, calling the student to trust not in own merits but in the merits of Christ's righteousness, as shown in Abraham justified by a faith that works obedience. This means being doers of the word, willingly, freely, thoroughly forgiving an erring brother. Cherishing the spirit of forgiveness is indispensable to receiving forgiveness from God.
Genuine faith works together with obedient deeds and is brought to maturity and completion through them. Faith without works is dead, and mere profession or belief without obedience is not saving faith. Neither faith alone nor works alone saves, but a person is justified by a faith that expresses itself in practical godliness and not by faith alone. Abraham's willingness to offer Isaac proved his living belief, so his belief was counted for righteousness and he was justified by a faith that works obedience. True faith relies wholly on Christ and is shown by obedience to all of God's commandments, working by love to purify the soul and produce righteousness.
Meaning of Perfected Faith
Genuine faith works together with obedient deeds and is brought to maturity, completion and perfection through them. Abraham's willingness to offer Isaac showed that faith in action, making belief visible in obedience and testifying to the character of faith. Good works are the fruit and evidence of faith, proving that life matches profession, and they do not replace faith but show it to be real, solid and valuable, expressed in continual surrender, obedience and practical service.
Faith without works is dead and cannot remain merely professed, merely believed, or merely claimed. A claim to God's favor, holiness and salvation while refusing obedience to His law and all His requirements is not genuine saving faith. Faith alone cannot save, and knowing and defending truth without growing spiritually and conforming life to God's will does not bring faith to maturity.
Neither faith alone nor works alone saves, for the two must be united. Trusting to faith alone is trusting to a rope of sand, and saying what people believe is of no consequence so long as works are good is wrong. Good works without faith in Christ do not complete righteousness, works do not replace faith or make belief unimportant, and faith is strengthened and made perfect only by works. Faith and righteousness cannot be complete without knowledge of Christ, so those who fear God and live righteously according to light already received must still advance as God sends more light and accept further truth for the development of righteous character.
Works strengthen, sustain and bring faith to maturity, and daily conduct makes possessed faith visible. Living faith acts on God's word and promise rather than waiting for promised help, bodily feeling or changed circumstances before acting. It lives out prayer by using God-given powers and working in harmony with faith even when circumstances are inconvenient or feelings resist, since Christ supplies divine power to combine with human effort and do what people cannot do themselves.
Perfected faith is faith that works by love and purifies the soul, producing righteousness, obedience and light to the world. Abraham's works proved and corresponded to living belief, so his belief was counted for righteousness and he was called God's friend, and believers who continually exercise faith and love shine as lights. Mere profession of faith in Christ or of keeping the commandments has no value apart from love shown by works, however small the deeds done from love may seem, and those who dwell on obedience while failing to work righteousness and walking against the law refuse the warnings God sends through messengers to turn them to righteousness. This complete faith requires full surrender to God with all affections and desires in worship, cleansing of the soul temple by the Holy Spirit, putting away old passions, Christ living in the heart, oneness among believers as Christ is one with the Father, shutting out dissension, talking faith, hope and courage, and living it out in steady service that grows stronger as it is spoken and acted upon.
True faith claims God's promises and brings forth fruit in obedience, trusting His love, obeying His commands, complying with the conditions on which mercy is granted, and resting on the promises and provisions of Scripture. Faith that claims God's favor without meeting the conditions of mercy is presumption, not faith founded on Scripture. Presumption is the counterfeit of faith; it also claims the promises but uses them to excuse transgression, as the first parents did when they disobeyed God's law believing His great love would save them from the consequences of sin. Faith is not feeling and not a cheap superficial claim; claiming to believe in Christ without doing His works is shown to be false by a life without self-denial, surrender to God and service that honors Him.
Bible Examples of Faith
James 2:22 is seen in Abraham's willingness to offer Isaac, where trust acted together with obedient deeds and was brought to maturity through them. His readiness to obey made invisible faith visible in action, showing implicit trust, complete surrender to the divine will, and confidence even when the requirement was painful. Mere profession, mere belief, or a claim to divine favor while refusing obedience is not genuine saving faith, for faith without works is dead, and works do not replace faith but prove it real and give solid, valuable experience. His example teaches that nothing is too precious to give to God and teaches children submission to parents. His obedient works proved and corresponded to living belief, so his belief was counted for righteousness, he was called the friend of God, and he was justified by a faith that works obedience.
That same union of faith and works in Abraham, the father of the faithful, is the pattern for the father as head and house-band of the home to bind the family circle together and be faithful to his God-given trust over his family as his heritage. Noah's faith was perfected in the same way when he believed the divine warning about an unseen future event and proved it by beginning to build the ark as directed. He obeyed despite the world's unbelief and ridicule, and his obedient work made his faith a living reality and gave the world an example of trusting God. Paul's living faith after conversion shows the same working character rather than dead formalism or mere profession, for he continued to keep the Ten Commandments. At the same time he recognized that circumcision and the ceremonial rites and sacrifices that pointed to Christ as types had been fulfilled in His death, were no longer binding, and were not required of Gentile converts for salvation.
Justification Salvation and Judgment
A person is justified by works and not by faith alone, for Abraham's offering of Isaac shows faith acting together with works and brought to maturity through them. Genuine faith works together with obedience and is brought to maturity through good works, which are its fruit and the evidence that life matches profession, and faith that produces no good works does not justify. Such a life is one of continual surrender and obedience, not works as a substitute for faith, and salvation involves faith in Jesus Christ expressed in practical godliness, alongside Christ's justifying grace and the Holy Spirit's work of sanctifying and renewing the soul in holiness and making faith evident in character.
God joins salvation and eternal life with the works of living faith, which are the fruit of the Holy Spirit and help carry the light of truth to all peoples. Faith in Christ is made perfect and complete through works, for believers who live by faith desire to know and do God's will, act, obey God's commands, and follow Christ. God uses those works to provide for the spread of truth to all peoples, and honest giving of tithes and offerings is one such work, while withholding them violates God's command and deprives the giver of the promised blessing.
Profession of faith alone has no value, for love shown in action makes faith genuine, and deeds done from love are accepted and rewarded by God however small they may seem. In the judgment the use of abilities, time, resources, influence, and received truth is examined, including what has been done for those in need. True faith is active faith in the Word of God including His will, and God calls for such works, not words, pretense, or semblance alone, so that future happiness depends on this active faith. In the day of final judgment every person is judged according to the deeds done in the body, when only character and the law of God remain and all are seen as either righteous or unrighteous.
The faith that justifies must be in the head, in the heart, and in the life, running like a thread of gold through all that is said and done. It is practical, living, working faith that works by love and purifies the soul, believed with heart and mind and soul and brought into exercise in everything undertaken, inseparable from repentance, transformation of character, and the fruits of the Spirit, not merely a claim but shown in a changed life. Salvation comes through practical godliness and faith in Jesus Christ, with Christ as the living center who joins truth link after link into one complete whole rather than separate, detached, disconnected doctrines. Through education, discipline, and training every current of the soul is brought into helpful, active service to benefit and bless others, which is consecrated service, for religion has no value unless it is active, self-denying, and earnest in endeavor. Living faith gives assurance by perfect obedience, and it is in doing His will that whether doctrine is of God is known, with faith made perfect through works and evidenced in the character.
Faith is made perfect by works when faith in Christ clothes the believer in Christ's righteousness, the wedding garment, and produces a changed character in obedience to God's law. No one is complete without Christ's righteousness, for faith in Christ's righteousness is not a claim that leaves character unchanged, but true repentance and faith lead to a changed life. Those who claim to be Christians yet make no change in character, who think themselves good and virtuous enough in themselves, who rest on their own merits without faith in Christ and without true repentance for sin, do not have perfected faith, violate God's law, lack the wedding garment, and will lose their souls. They have no right to the tree of life and no entrance through the gates of the holy city when Christ examines the guests.
Living faith acts in obedience and is strengthened by persevering integrity and patient continuance in well-doing, and must be more than belief alone. It is tested by whether a person stands on the side of God's law when circumstances and human laws pressure disobedience. Such a faith prepares people to endure the final test and meet Christ.
Obedience Proves Living Faith
True faith relies wholly on Christ and is shown by obedience to all of God's requirements and commandments, and Abraham's willingness to offer Isaac made such faith visible in obedience rather than leaving him free from obedience to God's law. Genuine faith acts in obedience and is brought to maturity and completion through deeds, while faith without obedient works is dead. A claim to holiness has no foundation when a person knowingly breaks God's requirements, because disobedience conflicts with knowing God and keeping His word. The inward working of the Holy Spirit joins with the outward demonstration of practical godliness in daily practice, the proof of heart-love is obedience to God's commandments, and loyalty and truth to the Sabbath through obedience makes a person true to every principle in the Decalogue. Knowing and defending biblical truth is not enough, for faith is not perfected when people fail to grow spiritually, conform their lives to God's will, or practice genuine godliness, but all who love God study His words, eat His flesh and drink His blood, and live and act in constant submission to His will.
A person's daily conduct makes the faith possessed visible, and saying "I believe" while living contrary to that belief leaves faith unjustified and the person spiritually dead, while good works make faith visible and show that it is genuine. That saving connection with Christ is shown by conformity to God's will in words, conduct, and character, and by doing His commandments, so profession of faith alone does not prove it and will not save any soul. True repentance produces good works, and true conversion requires obeying God at whatever cost, walking in His way, and overcoming all selfishness, with profession accompanied by practical Christian work. Religion must rest on real, deep, heartfelt faith that is made complete by works, leaving no room for self-pleasing after the pattern of the life of Christ in this world, who lived not to please Himself. Claiming to believe in Christ without doing His works is a superficial, cheap faith, whereas genuine faith is shown in a life of self-denial, surrender to God, and service that honors Him, as when the church puts God's cause first including building a house of worship and giving generously.
When love of earthly treasure and other influences keep a person from obeying God's will, that person's faith is not made perfect by works. Mere profession of great love for the truth in words, with an interest in seeing the truth advanced but doing nothing for its advancement, is dead faith because it is not made perfect by works of charity and benevolence. Benevolence stands beside faith, love, and Christian diligence, and no one can be a good Christian while closing ears and heart to God's calls for liberality. True conversion does not leave a soul under the power of covetousness but overcomes selfishness and covetousness at whatever cost.
True faith works by love and purifies the soul, producing righteousness and obedience to God's law. Merely professing to keep God's commandments and dwelling on the importance of obeying the law is not that working faith when a person fails to work righteousness and walks against the law. Those without this working faith refuse to heed the warnings God sends by messengers to turn them to the paths of righteousness.
Faith Advances With Light
Faith is not made complete by works alone, and good works done according to light already received do not make belief unimportant. Faith must unite with works, for works strengthen faith and bring it to maturity and completion, and to trust in faith alone is to trust in a rope of sand that cannot save. Faith and righteousness cannot be perfect and complete without knowledge of Christ, so those who fear God and work righteousness must advance as God sends more light and accept and follow further truth when it is supported by His word for the further development of righteous character.
Cornelius feared God and lived righteously according to the light he had, and his sincere faith was accompanied by righteous conduct that was accepted in keeping with that light. Yet his faith and righteousness were not complete without knowing Christ and needed further knowledge of Him to develop fully and come to maturity. Therefore God sent him that further light through the truth about Christ, which he needed to receive, accept, and advance in.
There is great danger at the present time of taking false positions on this union of faith and works, because skeptical caviling confuses souls and leaves them walking in darkness. Complete faith is faith that acts through love, with love for Jesus Christ as personal Saviour and the heart aglow for Him, leading to doing the work of God. This requires full surrender to God with all affections and desires in worship, the putting away of old passions, the cleansing of the soul temple by the Holy Spirit, and Christ living in the heart, through whom all things become possible. Where this faith works, dissension is shut out and believers are one as Christ is one with His Father, resisting efforts to bring dissension and weaken faith.
Faith Completed in Practice
Asking God for protection from sickness is incomplete faith when health laws are neglected and violated, for faith is made complete only through works of obedience to the laws of life. People must do what they can to preserve health and prevent disease by reasonable care and practical effort, and then ask God in faith to bless those efforts and expect good results to follow. Prayer for keeping from sickness without regarding those laws is imperfect faith that cannot be answered.
God answers such prayer for blessing on responsible effort when His name can be glorified thereby. But He will not work miraculously to preserve health or restore soul, body, and spirit for those who by careless inattention take a sure course to make themselves sick and expect Him to supply their neglect and cooperate for them what He has left them to do. Everyone has something to do on his own part, and to expect healing while continuing what brings disease makes God altogether such a one as themselves.
Faith in God's power to heal infirmities is dead unless the diseased person improves the light given by bringing habits into harmony with right principles. The sick must be educated to lay aside every wrong practice, cease to indulge perverted appetite, deny appetite, and stop unhealthful eating, drinking, and dressing. They must use the provisions God has given, including simple remedies, pure air, sunshine in every room, and pure water to drink, for the grace of God is always reformatory and every person must learn to give up hurtful practices and do what he can for himself.
God's health principles are His prescription and practical instruction in righteousness for daily life, His great remedy for diseases of body and soul to be brought into daily life and followed day by day. Lived out they let Christ exercise grace in large measure, bring heaven near and happiness of spirit, cause a person to see the salvation of God, build character, make a person a tower of strength, make the workplace a place where angels delight to come, bring prosperity, and lead to triumph at last with the overcomers. Faith and good works go hand in hand in caring for the sick, with prayer joined to treatment and healthful habits to help the afflicted both recover and live to glorify God and be prepared and saved when Christ comes.
Gratitude ending only in words has no value, and profession of faith without works is worthless. Faith is made perfect by works of charity and benevolence standing beside faith, love, and Christian diligence, for no one can be a good Christian while closing ears and heart to God's calls for liberality. Mere profession of great love for the truth with interest in seeing it advanced but doing nothing for its advancement is dead faith not made perfect by works, and true conversion does not leave a soul under the power of covetousness.
The works that perfect faith include rendering back to God tithes, gifts, and offerings as tokens of loyalty, dependence, and sense of obligation, which lasts as long as dependence on God's bounty lasts. Because God is continually giving and the human agent continually receiving, when people become weary of returning to the Lord His own His blessing is withheld, while honest giving provides for the spread of truth to all peoples as fruit of the Spirit expressing desire to know and do God's will. Withholding tithes and offerings violates God's command and deprives the giver of promised blessing. Every church member, old and young, parents and children, must prove belief by tangible deeds, with even poorer members doing their little through self-denial and self-sacrifice, especially in offerings to lift debt from the house of God, showing spirituality and true appreciation of truth instead of letting the world come between God and the soul.
Faith is completed when believers walk in the light and do the work God calls them to do, and their actions can enlighten, convict, and help others. Faith is called into exercise by doing good, and courage and hope are in keeping with a working faith, while those who do nothing have no bright and living experience because they do nothing by which to gain it. Personal effort and direct appeals to bring friends and relatives to Christ, instead of leaving all work to the minister and selfishly enjoying grace, increase faith and advance the divine life, sharing largely of divine grace here and the reward of earnest labor hereafter. Earnest untiring energy in medical missionary work and in educating students for service, living out God's Word to draw people to receive Christ, testifies that a person truly believes and walks in light shone across the pathway in strong steady rays doing the very work specified for these last days, to which God will give His Spirit and favor. Seeking the Lord humbly and cooperating with God through devoted zealous work shows the harmony of faith joined with practical effort, while churches whose practice is not proportionate to light and who carelessly neglect to walk in it as bidden leave their work for others and set no right example.
No one is at liberty to fold the hands and do nothing, for it is utterly impossible to be saved in indolence and inactivity. Perfected faith works with action amid living realities, not in dreamland, with a great work to be done and manifestations of Satan's power on every side, uniting human effort with Christ as Advocate, drawing strength from God as Source of all strength, and pressing forward in power that will not let go. Those who win eternal life face constant conflict unto triumph. Such faith means talking faith, hope, and courage and living it out in steady service, working by love and purifying the soul, shining with light Christ imparts, and growing stronger as it is spoken and acted upon to give rich experience even when others show no such faith.
The verse condemns faith without obedient deeds and rebukes acting as critics who increase discouragement, hinder instead of help the appointed work in Nashville and the South, and withhold and turn aside means that ought to go to that field. That withholding is robbery that God will judge and with which He is displeased. It calls for reformation, for reading the Word to purpose and acting out its instruction, and for doing without delay the work needed for oneself instead of tearing to pieces the work given to brethren. The schools' relief through combined efforts of faith and work illustrates faith working together with deeds and brought to maturity through them.
For those who claim present truth, repentance and faith are the conditions of salvation, calling the student to trust not in own merits but in the merits of Christ's righteousness, as shown in Abraham justified by a faith that works obedience. This means being doers of the word, willingly, freely, thoroughly forgiving an erring brother. Cherishing the spirit of forgiveness is indispensable to receiving forgiveness from God.