Even the Demons Believe: James 2:17-26
So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is barren? Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works. Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness," and he was called the friend of God.
The Letter from James is kind of famous for its saying “Faith without Works is Dead.” And I feel like this author would text that to you in all caps. It is the sticking point of this letter filled with ethical teachings, peppering us with rhetorical questions and reminding us to try harder.
The Letter, typically attributed to a beloved leader of the Jerusalem church and Jesus’ brother, James, became a hot topic in the Protestant Reformation. While Martin Luther is busy trying to survive the Papal bull that condemns him to death he is also going ahead with his strategic plan; bringing his 95 thesis to life because they aren't just hammered to the door because the calligraphy is so good. In the fall of 1517, Luther nailed 95 ideas to the door. Before you consider getting a hammer and making a list of doors; it was pretty normal to nail your thoughts to the University Church Door. It’s kind of a community bulletin board for the university folks in Wittenberg. Now of course that doesn't mean that Luther’s ideas were not a risk…they were.
The Western Church needed reform. Luther wasn’t the first to think that and he wasn’t the last. Among his presenting arguments was the church’s sale of indulgences. An indulgence would help you or a loved one get out of the hell of purgatory just a little bit faster. And this had become something you could conveniently purchase. Priceless as Mastercard might say.
It incensed Luther that Rome was peddling fear of damnation as an easy fundraising strategy. Luther could have easily died, like all the other dissenters but he is saved by the political leader of his region. Germans are tired of sending money to Rome. In this printing press era; pamphlets and wood cut drawings circulated, frequently with the images of the Roman Church milking the German Cow.
Fast-forward a few years, Luther is hiding out, throwing ink jars at the devil and working on one of his many objections to the Roman Catholic Church by translating the Bible. The Bible belonged, for Luther and so many others, in a language people could understand, explore and think about. So he set to work translating the texts into German.
Which gets us to my point on this little rabbit hole, Luther calls James “a right strawy epistle…for it has no gospel character to it.” Luther might be a little weary of James because the notion of works righteousness. The notion that you can earn or need to earn your connection with God, that one must work to be saved…or at least pay for it…with an indulgence. Over time this letter becomes known as one of the Catholic Epistles.
The thing is Luther will preach on James, even as he, like most scholars past and present, have lingering questions about its authorship. And he can still see the kernels of value that might have led Third Century Church fathers like Origin to value the text and advocate for its inclusion in the canon.
The thing that Origin and Luther and others pick up in this text is the debate contained within the words. There is a discernment about what it means to follow Jesus. And this is because the early church, without even being a church yet and having a brand identity, is growing. They are not even called Christians but much more frequently referred to as followers of the way.
Paul’s mission to the gentile world is succeeding and that means the early followers of Jesus are challenged to consider what that really means to follow the way. Which raises the question of how Jewish do you have to be to follow Jesus? What do you do with the law, with dietary restrictions and most important at least to the men, does everyone have to be circumcised?
So the very early followers of Jesus begin this conversation and you can see it in the early writings.
Where James never mentions Jesus’ crucifixion Paul does.
Where James asks you to work, Paul asks you to believe.
And just like disagreements today, they both cite the same source material, Abraham’s faith. Was he saved by belief or by work?
After James says FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD. He invites further study of Abraham:
“You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is barren? Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works. Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness," and he was called the friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.”
In Galatians you find this this gem, like an early Mediterranean Twitter war:
“You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified! The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? Did you experience so much for nothing?—if it really was for nothing. Well then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? Just as Abraham "believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness," so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you." For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed.”
That’s right Paul’s camp will say you don’t have to earn it, you don’t have to work for it, you are worthy and beloved, just believe in God. And James will clap back, even the ‘demons can believe’…believing something isn’t hard. This isn’t just about thinking of God’s love you got to live it.
Both of them are probably not so far apart, in reality. Paul is most frequently writing to his churches because while they may believe in this way of love they are not practicing it quite right. They are not sharing the table, they are not waiting for the poor, they are not centering the vulnerable.
James is writing in this wisdom tradition, inviting a faithful life, lived in the footsteps of Jesus. And I think Paul is too.
The medieval church deploys Paul’s writing on the cross and on belief to benefit the powerful. Which means you can think the right thing while you oppress the poor, lead armies in violent crusades and torture people for a thought crime called heresy.
None of this, I believe, was the intention of Jesus let alone Paul in his debate with James. And James surly did not intend for the church to create a philanthropy industrial complex to sell indulgences, demand penance and oppress the poor in the name of Jesus.
They are both taken in the worst possible directions. Again and again we, the people get distracted from what is essential and beautiful and powerful.
When Paul argues for belief over works he is arguing for inclusion, not against action. He is seeking a way into faith that does not require the practice of Jewish dietary restrictions and circumcision.
When James says work matters, he is not suggesting you and I are unlovable until we earn it or work for it. He is saying faith and belief and love do not just live in your brain. You don’t get to follow Jesus by thinking about him or reading about him or even memorizing verses about him. It’s more than thoughts and prayers.
Jesus’ life reminds us they are both right, faith and works. And he might even say it’s not even about him. It’s about loving so much that you live differently. And that isn’t just a life differently by taking self-care breaks or shutting down the news of pain or meditating all day long on Jesus feeding people. Jesus meditated and he prayed and he took breaks. But being really good at meditation doesn’t get you crucified. It’s not self help because it is centering so you can love others.
The message of our faith is hard, whether you get it from Paul or this letter from James.
James 2:5-10
Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you? You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
The message of our faith is hard because we are asked a hundred different ways to change everything about how we live. We are asked through story and reminded through rhetorical questions and invited in song and poetry that everyone is sacred, everyone is valued and we better start acting like that is true. James reminds us even the demons believe, even the worst of us believe and think about Jesus.
We don’t have to look far to see Christians cutting resources for the poor in our country and around the world and granting breaks to the rich. Christians detaining and deporting and sending people into notorious prison camps.
And James says, “Even the demons believe.”
We don’t have to look far to see ‘Christians’ waging war and toting guns, even posing with them in a Christmas card. We see Christians wanting to give schools commandments rather than crayons or even lunch.
And James says, “Even the demons believe—and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is barren?”
We are surrounded by "Christians" proposing legislation that pulls funding from education and invests in prisons for children as young as 11. There are Christians proposing that empathy is a sin and compassion is weakness.
And James says, “Even the demons believe—and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is barren….For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.”
We are surrounded by the death of our faith. So let’s bring it back to life. Let’s breathe life into what is possible every moment. Let’s offer our thoughts and our prayers with action and money and policy. Faith without works is dead, but we are a resurrection faith, an Easter People. So let’s breathe life and love and light into the world. May we have the courage. May it be so. Amen.