What does Faith Without Works Mean? (James 2:14)

Posted on June 4, 2026 by Paul Ellis // 0 Comments

The most controversial verse in the most controversial book in the Bible is probably this one:

Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. (James 2:17)

What did James mean? Was he contradicting Paul, who said we are justified by faith alone and not works (Gal. 2:16, Eph. 2:8–9)?

There are three ways to read this verse. First, there are those who say James was confused about the gospel of grace and therefore we shouldn’t listen to him. His letter was included in the Bible to show us how some people misunderstand grace.

This view comes from Martin Luther, who famously took a dim view of the letter from James. In the 1522 edition of his German New Testament, Luther wrote:

St. James’s epistle is really an epistle of straw, compared to these others, for it has nothing of the nature of the gospel about it.

In other words, don’t take James too seriously, said Luther. His half-baked revelation is more Jewish than Christian.

Then there are those who, like Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, say James complements the message of Paul. John Calvin famously said that faith alone justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is never alone. In other words, faith in Christ will lead to good works, and those works prove that one has faith in Christ.

The problem is that James is not talking about “good works” as many understand them. (Calvin was thinking of self-denial, patience, prayer, devotion, etc.) James is talking about salvation (Jas. 2:14), justification (Jas. 2:21, 24–25), and being made right with God (Jas 2:23). If your faith lacks works, says James, you won’t be saved, justified, or made right with God.

What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? (James 2:14)

What are the works that accompany faith?

To answer this question, we need to remember that James was writing to Jews who believed in God. “You believe that God is one” (Jas. 2:19). The religious Jews were God-fearing, but for the most part they did not believe in the Son God sent. Their faith in God was dead and useless because it was unaccompanied by the work of God, which is this:

This is the work of God – that you believe in him whom he has sent. (John 6:29)

James encourages us to be doers and not merely hearers of the word (Jas. 1:22). To be a doer of the word is to receive, with humility, the word of truth (the gospel) that can save our souls (Jas. 1:21). It’s receiving, accepting and believing the promises of God regarding our salvation.

If faith is a noun – the state of being persuaded that God saves you by grace alone – then believing is the verb or activity that flows from that persuasion. We do not believe in order to create faith. Rather, believing is the action that reveals our faith.

Having the same spirit of faith… we also believe. (2 Corinthians 4:13)

James does not leave us guessing when it comes to works of faith. He says we need to submit and draw near to God (Jas. 4:7–8). We need to humble ourselves and receive his grace (Jas. 4:6, 10). We need to hold onto the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ (Jas. 2:1).

To back up his exhortation to believe, James points his Jewish readers to a familiar example: “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness” (Jas. 2:23). Which is the same thing Paul said on more than one occasion (e.g., Rom. 4:3). James and Paul were very much on the same page when it came to the works of faith.

For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. (James 2:26)

In the same way, the spirit gives life to our bodies, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ imparts life to our faith. Faith comes to life when we believe the life-giving gospel. As we allow the word to take root in our hearts, we receive the life of Christ and are born again into new and everlasting life.

James wrote to a religious audience who thought they could impress God with their deeds. James called them out on it before challenging them to be doers and not just hearers of the word.

His message remains just as relevant today. If you are a religious sort of person who believes in God and does good works, but you don’t accept that Jesus is the Risen Lord, your faith in God is dead and useless. It is not a saving faith.

As Keith Green famously said, “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to McDonalds makes you a hamburger.” You have to be a doer of the word and be born again. You have to put your faith in God to work and believe in the Savior he sent.

Despite what Luther and others thought, James had much to say about grace and all of it was good.

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