The following are my thoughts for a study I was given:
James 2:1-14, 14-26 and Ephesians 2:8-9
Verses from James:
“My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[d]? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”
God doesn’t play favorites so we should not either. I’d like to think I don’t play favorites but I know there are times I do. However, in situations where there is a rich and poor person, my personality is such where I would give more attention to the poor person. I know the reason is due to struggles I have with a poor self image. I tend to think the rich person would not want me around. Outwardly, it would appear I am doing the “right” thing but if I give more attention to the poor than the rich am I not still playing favorites?
Therefore, for me anyway, I have to be willing to whatever God wants me to do. Maybe it is to be with the poor, maybe with the rich. I know in my heart there are also times I would want to shun the poor. There is a point to where I feel uncomfortable around the poor. I met such people in
This brings me to another issue I have. In times past, I had (or still have) a messiah complex. I want to save the world. Therefore, while I fully agree that faith without works is dead, in my past, I used works as a spiritual ladder to get acceptance from God. This is a huge subject for me but in the interest of brevity, let me simply say that I prefer to do less works so I don’t overdo it.
Verses from Ephesians:
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Finally, for the verses from Ephesians, I can say this: It is a contrast to what is mentioned in James. However, works are not the means to the end. It is the evidence of salvation. Jesus talked about people who were forgiven their debts and asked who was the most grateful. The answer was the one who had the greatest debt forgiven. Partially due to my dealing with my messiah complex, I have come to have a greater understanding of what God did for us when He sent His Son to die for us. Not only that, God continually works to make us His sons and daughters. When you view where we were and compare it to where we stand once you accept His gift of salvation, can you actually boast about anything you have done?
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