When I was a small boy, I would sometimes travel with my dad who was an electrical engineer working for the local power company. He would go to the two power plants located in the panhandle, and also to electrical sub-stations. I did not really know what he was doing, but later understood that his job was to identify and correct problems. He would first go into a room and look through piles of diagrams, and then go here and there reading meters and making adjustments. The complex facilities handled massive volumes of electricity that provided beneficial results to all the communities for hundreds of miles. The electricity had to be understood and managed correctly. Mishandling electricity would bring no benefit and also could be catastrophic. 

Wisdom is the ability to take information that God presents in His Word, handle it correctly, and follow a useful course of action.  I think of this when matters of faith and good works are discussed. Just like electricity does no good unless it is managed correctly, and distributed in a manner to be made useful, similarly faith if it is never active is useless. Many Christians, even theologians, feud over matters of faith and works. Some who are antinomian (against law) make the claim that works have no place in the Christian life. They are bold to declare that if a person seeks to please God by good works the person is a legalist.  They overlook, reject, or redefine the many places in Scripture showing a direct relationship between faith and works.

During our Lord’s ministry on earth, he was surrounded by people who believed they could make themselves right with God by keeping laws. Christ exposed their hearts and revealed their lost condition. We know that no person can earn their salvation by anything they can do.  Some take this reality and force it into every text dealing with works. They take the position that faith and works never mix. We know from Scripture that true saving faith, in like manner as electricity when handled in wisdom, takes the right course of action and produces the works of God. This is called fruit by our Lord (Matt. 7:16). The Scripture tells us that the person with true faith in God will produce fruit in their life so that their faith is seen in what they do. Fruit is a different word in Scripture than works, but both are referring to what a person produces.

The epistle of James deals with this subject. James 2:17 states, “Faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.” James is stating that good works will be seen in the person claiming faith. He goes further in James 2:22, speaking about Abraham and his faith that his, “Faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected.” The word working used in the Greek is “sunergeo” of which we derive our word synergy. This explains that Abraham’s faith and his works were acting in a union. The word “perfected” is “teleioo,” which means to bring to a completion. It is another way of saying that Abraham’s faith would not have been complete without the testing of his works. Throughout the Bible we have admonitions directed at our faithfulness in seeking the will of God. A good example of this is 1 Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” This admonition comes after much instruction from Paul and is in synergy with their faith. It is a command not only for the accomplishment of their faith but is also for the expression of their faith.

James 2:23 goes on to state, “And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘and Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to Him as righteousness,’ and he was called the friend of God.” This is reflecting on the obedience of Abraham at the command of God. Because Abraham obeyed God it showed that his faith was real. We know that our faith is a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). Faith is given to us by grace, and then it is seen by our compliance to God, or a life conformed to God’s will. James is expressing that Abraham’s faith was real because it was seen by his reactions to what God commanded of him. In the same context of faith being a gift from God, we are told that faith has the purpose of producing good works (Ephesians 2:10). The two, faith and works, always go together. Because Abraham’s faith was displayed by his obedience the text says, “He was called the friend of God.”

Christ stated to His disciples in John 15:14, “You are My friends if you do what I command you.” These truths and commands present salvation as a work of God changing a person’s heart. It is seen in Romans 6 as a transfer of a person enslaved to sin, to becoming a slave to righteousness (Rom. 6:17-18). James ends his teaching on faith and works by saying, “For just as the body without the Spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). We know from Romans 8:9 that if we do not have the Spirit of God dwelling in us, then we do not belong to Him. James is summarizing and stating that if our life does not produce the evidence of works that are pleasing to God, we do not reflect the presence of God within us.  If our personal testimony is not a life seeking to please God (2 Cor. 5:9), we are in need of evaluating the quality of the faith we profess.

Having saving faith in Christ the Lord is by far the most important possession anyone can own. I hope all of us recognize that the Scripture’s definition of saving faith is different than what many are proclaiming today. This is yet another matter of the shallowness that characterizes much of Christianity in our day. It explains the, “Many are called but few are chosen,” stated by Christ (Matt. 22:14). I pray that none of us fall prey to a relationship with God that does not flow from a changed heart. Persons with saving faith do not arrive at perfection until glory, but as Paul states, “He is pressing toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14).  The Christian life of faith followed by works is the most purposeful life among mankind. It is a unique blessing, not free from the challenges of life, but is able to overcome circumstances by faith because it is a life resting in God. It displays faith because it lives out faithfulness. We gather again on Sunday to worship Him who gives us the strength to live the Christian life.