Dead Faith

The following proposes a new perspective on the concerns that James was addressing in his letter. Take a look at chapter 3, verses 14-18 as follows.

14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

We relate this passage to our time saying it is like when someone tells us of problem that they have. The common response in the Church is to say “I will pray for you”. Although prayer is good, the typical pastor will say, you should do more for them than that. You should actually take steps to help the one who has the problem. But I propose this is not what James had in mind when writing those verses.

The readers of the letter of James would have seen or heard of or even experienced occasions such as the one mentioned in Acts:

1One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. 2Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!" 5So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
6Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." 7Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. 8He jumped to his feet and began to walk.

Here is an occasion where a person is in need, in want of any hand out but in particular money. But Peter and John don’t blame others for not taking care of his needs, they don’t start a shelter for the homeless, and they don’t even give him any money. But by faith the man walks. Paul is involved in another incident as well:

8In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. 9He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10and called out, "Stand up on your feet!" At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.

I believe the readers of James had been attempting the same as Peter and Paul. By speaking to the one in need saying “keep warm and well fed” they believed they were like Paul saying, “Stand up on your feet”. They would then claim that they had done something to help them and they had done it by faith. The difference between their account and the accounts in Acts is that nothing happened when they spoke and this is the point that James highlights in saying that “with out works, you faith is dead”.