One of the great themes of the Bible is the concept of faith. We are told that ‘It is impossible to please God apart from faith (Heb. 11:6). When the disciples were struggling and unable to deliver a young boy from a demonic attack, Jesus told them it was because they had so little faith. Then he told the disciples that if they had faith as small as a mustard seed, they would have prevailed. Jesus called it mountain-moving faith (Matt. 17:20). We know from Scripture that salvation from sin and death is a gift acquired by faith (Eph. 2:8-10). So, what is biblical faith, and how do we know when we have it?

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

If we continued to read Hebrews 11, we would discover that faith produced specific outcomes, and it is to this reality about faith that James is addressing in the first two chapters.

There was a social tension that invaded even the church world in the 1st Century that James addresses. When we consider that slaves made up between 10-20 percent of the population in the Roman Empire, many of whom came to faith in Christ, there was economic disparity or inequality in that society. We see from James 1 and the beginning of James 2 that there is a tension between the rich and poor in the church. It is within this context that we need to read how genuine believers act when they find fellow believers in need. James now attaches this issue to 2:14-26 with the nature of faith.

So, how does biblical faith express itself in life? Biblical or genuine faith that is more than simply a mere confession of belief, but a faith that transforms the behaviour of the person who possesses it. James begins by raising the question: Can a faith that has no outward evidence in life be a biblical, saving faith? James now gives us his answer and describes three things that are understood as faith, but only one of them is genuine. The tragedy is that the other two expressions leave a person living in a state of self-deception and have eternal consequences.

A few weeks ago, Patty and I viewed a documentary on Ed Sullivan, the host of the Sunday Evening Hour, which was a variety show that he oversaw for 27 years. One of the things that Ed Sullivan was noted for was helping to integrate into his program African American entertainers during a time of deep segregation and prejudice, particularly in the deep south of the U. S. One of the reasons for his commitment to this concern came from his family background as they were Irish immigrants to the U.S. He knew firsthand the pain of discrimination and favoritism.

In James 2, James is deeply concerned about the believer’s actions as they reveal what a person believes. For James, the way we treat people reveals the true condition of the heart and the work of grace or lack within it. How do we see and treat people? The greater question is how God treat people. When we view the life of Christ, we know the pattern or the model for how we should treat others. Jesus reached out to the marginalized and social and racial outcasts and brought them into his kingdom. What needs to happen in our lives for us to treat others like Jesus?

James was not only impacted by the example of Jesus but also knew the Old Testament texts in considering the nature of God’s dealings with people, particularly the vulnerable.

Leviticus 19:15

‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favouritism to the great but judge your neighbour fairly.

T. scholar, Douglas Moo, explains what James is challenging us with. “In his typically practical manner, James, in this paragraph, gives voice to an important Christian value: the equal worth of all people in the sight of God. Worldly culture is marked by distinctions: between one ethnic group and another, men and women, rich and poor, and so on. These distinctions are not erased in the church, but they are relativized in light of the revelation of God’s radical grace to all humans in Christ. ‘There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus’ (Gal. 3:28).” There is an equality of personhood we discover from Scripture. Every human being is created in God’s image and should be treated with respect. Here in James 2, we find three aspects of this issue of favouritism or discrimination. He begins with an exhortation, gives an example, and then explains the ramifications.