I love the Epistle of James, but this isn’t what it says.
It says works are evidence of faith, not of salvation. BIG difference.
You’ve slipped a Pauline “faith alone” curveball into James’ theology in order to fit the Once Saved Always Saved Protestant meme that works are irrelevant to salvation.
The historical James was a fastidious, Temple-worshipping Jew whose actual conflicts with Paul are minimized and sanitized in the Gospels and Acts. James, who was the unquestioned leader of early Christianity (“the bishop of all bishops,” according to Euesbius), becomes little more than a bit player in the Gospels and Acts.
It’s a virtual certainty that James believed that perseverance in faith, as evidenced by works, is how salvation is achieved.
This is basically what the Eastern Orthodox and Catholics believe today. Salvation is not “earned” by works, but rather perseverance in faith as evidenced by works is how salvation is achieved. The critical distinction is whether faith is determined at a moment in time or at the end of a lifetime.
Many scholars believe James misunderstood what Paul was teaching. They think he misunderstood Paul as teaching what you’re suggesting here: salvation by faith alone.
These scholars don’t believe this is what Paul was actually teaching. Paul was distinguishing between following the Jewish law (not necessary, at least for Gentiles) and good works (necessary for everyone). These scholars believe Paul would have agreed with James that persevering in faith, as evidenced by good works, is necessary to salvation. This is how I read Paul as well when I dived into the Once Saved Always Saved debate.
If you want an interesting side project, spend a week studying some of the books and other materials about James. Far from a bit player, he is perhaps THE major figure of early Christianity. There are scholars who believe the entire Jewish revolt of 66-70 AD, which resulted in the destruction of the Temple, was caused by the murder of James as the last straw. After 70 AD, the Jerusalem community ceased to exist and he was more or less scrubbed from the Gospels and Acts.
No one here is going to care what the Gospel of Thomas says, but this will give you the idea of the esteem in which James was held: “The disciples said to Jesus: ‘We know that you will depart from us; who is it who will be great over us?’ Jesus said to them: ‘Wherever you have come, you will go to James the Just, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being.’” (Gospel of Thomas, #12).
I’ll have to admit, this is one subject about which I know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! I don’t think I’ve ever even seen it mentioned on a forum before. You’ve caused me to do a bit of research and I now realize that following the Jewish calendar does make sense and is very important to some denominations. I’m very sympathetic to the entire Hebrew Roots movement. In my opinion, the more “Jewish” one’s Christianity is, the closer it is to the historical Jesus and his message.
Wow, that’s about as esoteric as it gets! This must have quite an impact on your life. I actually understood it a little better after looking at Devorah’s Facebook page and this site, which references Devorah: Biblical Calendar / Q&A
The passage is better understood as meaning that a person should not be selfish. The usual misunderstanding is that if a person doesn’t do something physically then s/he has no faith. But what about people who, for one reason or another, can’t perform “works”? Is that person’s faith dead? If someone is, for example, confined to a wheelchair because of a physical disability, is that person’s faith dead? Obviously not. That person can privately pray for others and achieve something in God’s eyes without doing “works”.
Another example is Paul’s behavior when he was confined to prison. Clearly, he was unable to perform “works” as the section of James’ epistle implies, yet he sent messages which have been retained in the Bible.
The implication is that, unless someone is actively demonstrating their faith by their physical behavior, his/her faith is dead. That is clearly false.
Ephesians 2:8-9, " For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so that no one can boast." NET with my emphasis