Faith and Works - Ezekiel 14-15 and James 2
I am fairly confident that the average Israelite of Ezekiel's day would have told us that he had faith in God. The problem with that was his works would not have said the same thing. The elders were worshiping idols at the same time as saying they had faith in God. How is that faith in God? God was so angry that He told Ezekiel and the other prophets to quit giving them counsel. The people were guilty of persistent unfaithfulness, even though they said they had faith in God. Their works showed that there was no real faith.
James tells us the same thing, except it seems that there were those who claimed to have faith, but they did not have any good works. They just gave lip service to having faith, but there were no signs of faith in how they lived. James tells us without reservation that faith without works is dead faith. He is trying to get a great point across. Faith is not static. If we trust God, we will do His will, and we will see the results of His work in our lives in what we do. Therefore, if there are no good works, there is no real faith. Some people think "head knowledge" is faith. They think that just because they know Christ died and rose again, they have faith, and they will be saved from their sins. That is not trust. Satan and his demons have head knowledge of God and all that happened to Jesus. Our righteousness has to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. They knew the truth. They knew that to do, but there was no change in their lives. There was no result of trusting God. That is why James can be so blunt in saying that the works show us the real faith. Jesus said that we know a tree by its fruit. He meant the same thing as James. If a person is a Christian, there will be good fruit produced by God's Spirit.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Ezekiel 16-17 and James 3.
James tells us the same thing, except it seems that there were those who claimed to have faith, but they did not have any good works. They just gave lip service to having faith, but there were no signs of faith in how they lived. James tells us without reservation that faith without works is dead faith. He is trying to get a great point across. Faith is not static. If we trust God, we will do His will, and we will see the results of His work in our lives in what we do. Therefore, if there are no good works, there is no real faith. Some people think "head knowledge" is faith. They think that just because they know Christ died and rose again, they have faith, and they will be saved from their sins. That is not trust. Satan and his demons have head knowledge of God and all that happened to Jesus. Our righteousness has to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. They knew the truth. They knew that to do, but there was no change in their lives. There was no result of trusting God. That is why James can be so blunt in saying that the works show us the real faith. Jesus said that we know a tree by its fruit. He meant the same thing as James. If a person is a Christian, there will be good fruit produced by God's Spirit.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Ezekiel 16-17 and James 3.