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Faith in action

“As the body without the spirit is dead, also faith without actions is dead”
— James 2:26

Putting into Practice

School year has finally come to an end. Commencement exercises are celebrated in various places. Now, students have to face the challenge of putting into practice what they have learned in school. For knowledge without practice is dead. The same is true with faith; faith without action, according to James, is also dead.

Albert Camus, a remarkably sensitive agnostic who fought courageously with the French underground movement during World War II, was once asked to speak to a group of Christians. Taking them to task for their compromising silence or safely ambiguous theological jargon while millions of Jews were slaughtered, he spoke some words relevant to all Christians in all times.

He said that what the world expects of Christians is that they should speak out loud and clear, and that they should voice their condemnation in such a way that never a doubt could rise in the heart of the simplest man. Christians should get away from abstraction and confront the blood-stained face of history. Perhaps, we cannot prevent this world from being a world in which people are tortured. However, we can reduce the number of tortured people. And if Christians don’t help, who else in the world can help do this?

In effect, what Albert Camus, an unbeliever, wants to say is that Christians have to put into practice their faith.

Faith alone

One of the most controversial books in the Bible is the Letter of James addressed not only to a particular Christian community, but also to the various churches in the known world at that time. There are indications in James’ letter that during his time, some Christians grossly misunderstood Apostle Paul’s emphasis on faith. They seemed to assume that Paul’s “faith alone” doctrine (Rom. 3:30), followed up and taught by his disciples (Eph.2:8-9) did not include “good works”. So that in James’ time, there were those who claimed they were good Christians, but did nothing to express in actions their faith in God.

The settled and comfortable life of the Christian communities in James’ time became a fertile ground for such kind of faith. James, therefore, came out with his own formulation, and he emphasized that faith without actions is dead (James 2:20). Faith in James’ time was equated with saying “yes”, to a set of doctrine. This is why James could claim that the “demons also believe”(James 2:19). There was then a gap between saying “yes” to a set of doctrine and putting it into practice.

James had to cite specific instances of the inadequacy of mere mental assent. Such kind of faith according to him is dead because it accomplishes nothing. Good works or actions must make it complete. There can be no genuine Christian faith without actions or good works.

Cheap Grace

It is easy enough for us to agree in theory with this general statement. We know that faith without good works is dead. But in practice, mainline Protestants have so strongly emphasized salvation by grace alone that we are often suspicious of any talk about good works. Some versions of Christian orthodoxy have so strongly and exclusively emphasized right Christian beliefs and pure doctrines that they simply ignore Christian life; all that matter is to believe the right doctrines.

Some forms of pietistic Christianity have been so exclusively concerned with the salvation of souls that in practice, if not in theory, they have acted as if all that matter is leading people to make a confession of faith and join the church. This split between Christian faith and Christian life lies behind many confusions among Christians today. For instance, there is a big debate whether evangelism should emphasize Christ as savior who saves us from our sins or Christ as the Lord who calls us to serve him in every sphere of everyday life. Is the mission of the Church to save souls or to engage in Christian social action that tries to bring the good news of God’s love and justice to bear on life in the world?

Many people really cannot understand why preachers do not stick to the Bible and talk about spiritual things rather than meddling by talking concretely about what it means to live as a Christian in face of the social and political crises of our time.

The result of thinking that we can be saved without obediently living as those who have been forgiven and saved is what a German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, would call as “cheap grace”.

Cheap grace is grace without obedience. It means that we are not really freed from our sins, but that we can settle down with them comfortably, assured that God will forgive, whatever we do – so long as we believe in God’s redeeming grace!

Christian Action

James says in his letter that there is no such thing as Christian faith without Christian action. To be saved is to commit our whole lives to the God who saves us. To know God is to know him as the God who graciously forgives, accepts and loves us as we are, but also claims our whole life. To be called by God is not to be given special privileges. Rather, it is to be called to serve him, here and now. To have faith in him means inevitably to follow him.

To be part of the church is not just to belong to a community of believers who come together only to get something out of a church service, to be fed or to be blessed. It is to belong to a community of people who come together to be renewed so that they can go back into the world to serve God as they serve their fellow human beings. #

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