The General Epistle of James
The General Epistle of James
By Richard St.James
Bible 1611.Com / Old Paths Baptist Mission © 2024
Chapter two:
Verse one:
“My brethren, have not the
faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of
glory, with respect of persons.”
The LORD is very even
handed in all His treatment of men.
That is, God is fair in all His dealings with
mankind, and further, God is just in all His
judgments.
In is in the book of the
Acts of the Apostles where the Apostle Peter
came to this very same conclusion: that God is no
respecter of persons. That salvation was
to both, to the Jew, and to the Gentile:
Acts 10:34: “Then
Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth
I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:”
The middle wall,
which served as a partition, was now removed
between the Jew and the Gentile:
Ephesians 2:14: “For
he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath
broken down the middle wall of partition between
us;” and this event occurred through the
faith of Jesus Christ. Amen!
Verse two:
“For if there come unto
your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly
apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile
raiment;”
Get ready for what is
coming. The poor of this world are
coming into view. The Spirit of God is
saying: Pull the stops! Jesus Christ
has come to this earth so that the poor might
have the gospel preached to them!
Matthew
11:5: “The blind receive their sight, and the
lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf
hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the
gospel preached to them.”
All four gospels
show this truth:
1.
Jesus Christ hath
dispersed abroad!
2.
Jesus Christ hath given to
the poor!
2 Corinthians 9:9:
“(As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he
hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth
for ever.”
We all need to have this
same mind [as Christ]! Amen!
Verse three:
“And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay
clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good
place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit
here under my footstool:”
Now, the LORD takes a
very special interest in the poor of the
world. In the Gospel according to Luke, in the
beatitudes, Jesus looked upon His disciples
with compassion. They were of the
poor of the earth as they were lowly
fishermen:
Luke 6:20: “And he
lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said,
Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom
of God.”
This all hearkens back to
what was prophesied hundreds of years earlier
concerning Jesus Christ in the book of Isaiah:
Isaiah 29:19: “The
meek also shall increase their joy in the
LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the
Holy One of Israel.”
Isaiah 41:17: “When
the poor and needy seek water, and there is
none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I
the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel
will not forsake them.”
What can we learn
here?
Summation:
We ought to line out with the LORD in HIS thoughts,
and in HIS desires! You will
then become impartial both to the rich, and to
the poor.
Thus, a true
believer in Jesus Christ will search out the soul
of a person, and not the mere outward
appearance of a person.
Further than that, we are
told to exercise a righteous judgment
concerning our relationships with others:
Remember, Jesus said;
“Judge not according to the appearance, but judge
righteous judgment” in John 7:24.
It is on the inside of
us all [as men] to lock in
so-to-speak on a person’s appearance rather than on
the person that is inside. That was the
problem at the church of Corinth and the
Apostle Paul called them out on this
partiality:
2 Corinthians 10:7:
“Do ye look on things after the outward appearance?
If any man trust to himself that he is Christ's, let
him of himself think this again, that, as he is
Christ's, even so are we Christ's.”
Verse four:
“Are ye not then partial
in yourselves, and are become judges of evil
thoughts?”
Watch here: Our
partiality will cloud our thoughts, and
this cloudiness will only lead to evil
thoughts which thoughts will produce
evil fruit:
“For from within, out
of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts,
adulteries, fornications, murders,
Thefts, covetousness,
wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye,
blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
All these evil things
come from within, and defile the man.”
[Mark 7:21-23]
An advisement is
in order. We need to arrest or to
dispel those thoughts dead in their tracks,
and treat the poor as if he were rich.
Verse five:
“Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God
chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and
heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them
that love him?”
The brash, the
mighty and the worldly wise, all push
against God. So, as a result, the LORD is
drawn to the underdog of this world.
Now, the Scripture
says as much:
1 Corinthians 1:27-29:
“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world
to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are
mighty;
And base things of the
world, and things which are despised, hath God
chosen, yea, and things which are not, to
bring to nought things that are:
That no flesh should
glory in his presence.”
So, what does the rich man do to the poor man? The answer is in verse six.
Verse six:
“But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men
oppress you, and draw you before the judgment
seats?”
Human nature
is such, that when a man is elevated, it will tend
to fuel or build his conceit:
Proverbs 18:11: “The
rich man's wealth is his strong city, and as
an high wall in his own conceit.”
But watch out ole rich
man! This self-flattering opinion of
one’s self is only vanity.
Warning: This vain
conception of one’s own self can be your downfall!
Consider this!
Proverbs 26:12: “Seest
thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is
more hope of a fool than of him.”
Here is a warning
to those that are rich:
Psalm 12:5: “For the
oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the
needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set
him in safety from him that puffeth at
him.”
And here is one more
thing that is so sadly true! The rich
of this world are less likely to come to
Jesus Christ. And why? It is because of
their riches! The riches become a
trap, an impediment to getting saved:
Matthew 19:23: “Then
said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto
you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the
kingdom of heaven.”
The pride of the rich
tends to draw him towards a bad end.
“But ye have despised
the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you
before the judgment seats?”
Verse seven:
“Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the
which ye are called?”
To blaspheme God
is to blame God. To blame God is
to scorn that worthy name.
Rich men have this propensity to curse
that worthy name. The rich of this
world often become haughty, and
arrogate, and mean, and are prone to
violence. The prophet Micah in the book of
Micah put his finger directly on the
problem through the Spirit of God:
Micah 6:12: “For the
rich men thereof are full of violence, and the
inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their
tongue is deceitful in their mouth.”
Observation:
Rich men often fall prey to being
unthankful when they receive the goodness
of God.
Pride
is the problem:
Proverbs 21:24: “Proud
and haughty scorner is his name, who
dealeth in proud wrath.”
Verse eight:
“If ye fulfil the royal law according to the
scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,
ye do well:”
The royal law was
given by THE KING:
“And he hath on his
vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF
KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
[Revelation 19:16]
The royal law was
summed up this way by Jesus Christ when HE
was here on this earth during the first
advent in the Gospel according to Matthew:
Matthew 22:37-39:
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind.
This is the first and
great commandment.
And the second is
like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself.”
Verse nine:
“But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit
sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.”
This verse hearkens
back to what was already said, in verse one. The
LAW of God is very clear there! There is
NO PARTIALITY! Every person is on an even
playing field!
In the fifth book of
Moses called Deuteronomy in chapter one,
verse seventeen it is written:
“Ye shall not respect
persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the
small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid
of the face of man; for the judgment is
God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring
it unto me, and I will hear it.”
[Deuteronomy 1:17]
Now, skip over
to chapter sixteen, and read verse nineteen:
“Thou shalt not wrest
judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither
take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the
wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.”
[Deuteronomy 16:19]
We should exercise
fair judgment! And WHY?
Romans 2:11: “For
there is no respect of persons with God.”
Verse ten:
“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet
offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”
Bottom-line: You will
die, if you disobey even once!
Proverbs 7:2: “Keep my
commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of
thine eye.”
One offense, and
then, friend, you have struck out! You are
done!
Verse eleven:
“For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said
also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery,
yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of
the law.”
Under the Law of God,
there is to be no picking and choosing which
command you will obey in order to live.
You must obey all!
Verse twelve:
“So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be
judged by the law of liberty.”
Question:
What is liberty?
Liberty is abiding within the
Lord’s precepts:
Psalm 119:45: “And I
will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.”
An old idiom is to
be applied here: “What's good for
the goose is good for the gander.”
Brethren: It is meant to
be an even playing field.
Verse thirteen:
“For he shall have judgment without mercy, that
hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against
judgment.”
Do you want mercy?
Then, be merciful to others in all your
judgments.
Next, we will need to
consider something that is called the common
faith and the common salvation:
There is a common faith and a common
salvation.
Titus 1:4: “To Titus,
mine own son after the common faith: Grace,
mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.”
The epistle
written by the Apostle Paul to Titus gives a
witness to a common faith. This
common faith is based in Jesus Christ.
Further, this common
faith speaks more than just a faith that
is in common between Paul and Titus, but is
something that is common to all the saved.
It also, speaks to a
common faith in Jesus Christ: to Jesus Christ
being God come in the flesh.
This then, also involves
a common faith in the shed blood of the Lamb
of God as being the propitiation for the
sins of the whole world:
1 John 2:2: “And he is
the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours
only, but also for the sins of the whole
world.”
Next, we have this
reference to a common salvation in the
epistle of Jude:
Jude 1:3: “Beloved,
when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the
common salvation, it was needful for me to write
unto you, and exhort you that ye should
earnestly contend for the faith which was once
delivered unto the saints.”
The common faith,
and the common salvation, is in a common
gospel precisely as shown in the first
epistle to the church of Corinth: 1
Corinthians 15:1-4:
“Moreover, brethren, I
declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto
you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye
stand;
By which also ye are
saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto
you, unless ye have believed in vain.
For I delivered unto
you first of all that which I also received, how
that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures;
And that he was
buried, and that he rose again the third day
according to the scriptures:”
We will now pause
here with our commentary, and consider a persistent
and an ongoing controversy.
The Controversy of the
Age
Faith and works!
Question: Can eighteen
so called Christian church denominations be all
so wrong, concerning salvation in this
present age?
We must take note that
all these churches believe you
can lose your salvation in Jesus Christ.
Coincidently, these
same churches adhere to the necessity of
a “faith and works” salvation. They are
as follows:
- The Methodist
Church
- The Orthodox,
[Greek, Coptic, Ukrainian] Church
- The Episcopal
Church
- The Anglican
Church
- The Catholic
Church
- The Church of God
- The Assemblies of
God Church
- The Pentecostal
Church
- The Vineyard
Church
- The Christian
Church
- The Church of
Christ
- The
Congregational Church
- The Church of the
Nazarene
- The Mennonite
Church
- The Seventh Day
Adventist Church
- The Quaker
Church
- The Wesleyan
Church
- The Amish
Church
Our Basic
Assumption:
The English Bible
of 1611, or any edition, thereof, is the
absolute inspired word of God in the English
language.
To find out what
God says in the Bible you need to:
- Pray for the LORD to
open your heart.
- Believe
that God wrote the BIBLE through
holy men of God as they were moved by the
Holy Ghost.
- Understand that the
Bible is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness.
- Abandon all the
pre-conceived notions, which are made by
men. These notions only form hurtful
baggage.
- Approach
the BOOK by faith [not with the reasoning
common to men].
- Believe
every word that is contained therein,
as being God’s word.
- Study
the word of God!
- Rightly divide
the word of God.
- Leave
every word where it is found in the
context.
The apparent
contradiction in Bible salvation.
For nearly two thousand
years men have argued back and forth over an
apparent contradiction found in the Bible.
This seeming contradiction is concerning
Bible salvation.
More exactly, men would
ask: How are men to get saved from the wrath
of God for our sin?
Martin
Luther
Justification by Faith
When Martin Luther [as a
Roman Catholic priest] came to the fifth
chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, the Holy Ghost
opened his heart to an inexplicable
explosion in an illumination that resulted in his
quickening of him.
The word of God
totally changed Martin Luther!
Martin Luther found
justification by faith.
Martin Luther read,
studied, and meditated on these truths, that is
so richly found in the book of Romans chapter five:
Verse one: “Therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ:”
Verse two: “By whom
also we have access by faith into this grace wherein
we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
Glory to God!
Next, in the epistle
to the Ephesians, he found:
Ephesians 2:8-9:
“For by grace are ye
saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:
it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any
man should boast.”
Martin Luther was by the
grace of God:
1. Justified by
faith alone.
2. Justified by
faith without works.
Then next, Martin was
stopped dead in his tracks when he found
another gospel in the General Epistle of
James, chapter two:
James 2:20-22:
“But wilt thou know, O
vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Was not Abraham our
father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac
his son upon the altar?
Seest thou how faith
wrought with his works, and by works was faith made
perfect?”
The Faith and Works Salvation:
The Apostle James, by the
Holy Ghost, emphatically stated:
1.
Faith without works is dead!
2.
Faith with works saves.
Salvation is by justification by faith [alone].
versus
Salvation is by justification by faith and works.
Warning:
These two statements are completely
opposed. One statement by Paul the
Apostle, and the other statement by James the
Apostle.
Reconciling, or
harmonizing them cannot be done without considerable
twisting of the Scriptures. That is the approach
found in most commentaries, articles, and sermons.
For most religious professionals, theology is dearer
than Scripture, and they refuse to allow the text to
stand as written.
Thus, this forms an
apparent
contradiction.
These two statements seemingly cannot be
reconciled. Yet both are true!
Because of this
apparent contradiction, Martin Luther famously
called the General Epistle of James an “epistle
of straw.”
We now quote from
Martin Luther for the following:
“In a word St. John’s
Gospel and his first epistle, St. Paul’s epistles,
especially Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians, and St.
Peter’s first epistle are the books that show you
Christ and teach you all that is necessary and
salvatory for you to know, even if you were never to
see or hear any other book or doctrine. Therefore
St. James’ epistle is really an epistle of straw,
compared to these others, for it has nothing of the
nature of the gospel about it.” 4
4
Luther, Word, and Sacrament I, 362 (emphasis added).
The Two Gospels!
There is more than one
gospel. The Apostle Paul himself in
his epistle to the Galatians identified
these two gospels:
Galatians 2:7: “But
contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the
uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the
gospel of the circumcision was unto
Peter;”
Do you see them?
There is:
1. The gospel of
the circumcision
2. The gospel of
the uncircumcision
Two different
things are not the same.
They are not equal!
These two gospels are not
the same gospel. And Martin
Luther knew that!
Now, who is the
uncircumcision?
And who is the
circumcision?
The uncircumcision
are the Gentiles [the nations of this world].
And the circumcision
are the Hebrews, the Jewish nation [Israel].
Peter was the apostle
to the circumcision, and Paul was the
apostle to the uncircumcision.
Peter preached the gospel
of the circumcision, and Paul preached
the gospel of the uncircumcision.
Salvation in the
Old Testament was for all men:
- To fear God,
- To trust in
God - FAITH,
- To keep God’s
covenant,
- Remember God’s
commands,
- To do God’s
commandments.
Faith, fear, trust,
keep, and do!
Psalm one-hundred and
three epitomizes what salvation was all
about from Adam to John the Baptist.
Psalm 103:17-18: “But
the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to
everlasting upon them that fear him, and his
righteousness unto children's children;
To such as keep his
covenant, and to those that remember his
commandments to do them.”
Faith, fear, trust,
keep, and do!
Old Testament
Salvation:
Everyone who has been
saved from Abraham to John the Baptist
were saved by a faith and works salvation.
Proselytes
Every Gentile who has
been saved during this same time period
became proselytes to the Jewish religion.
This will be self-evident
after reading the Acts of the Apostles in chapter
two, verse ten:
“Phrygia, and
Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about
Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,”
The Transition:
Having said all this, we
will now continue in chapter thirteen, verse
forty-three:
”Now when the
congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and
religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas:
who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in
the grace of God.” [Acts 13:43]
Next, see the Gospel
according to Matthew:
Matthew 23:15: “Woe
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye
compass sea and land to make one
proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him
twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.”
Now, let us go back to
the book of the Acts of the Apostles:
Acts 6:5: “And the
saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose
Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,
and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon,
and Parmenas, and Nicolas a
proselyte of Antioch:”
Verse fourteen:
“What doth it profit, my brethren, though
a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can
faith save him?”
This is a very clear
question. It is not obscure in its meaning.
Further, this is the
question that has been asked continuously
for the last twenty centuries in the expanse of
time.
Yet the answer is going
to be apparent to us after we personally
believe the revelation of the
mysteries of the Spirit of God as it was
revealed to the Apostle Paul. We have
earlier outlined them for this purpose, and they are
listed as follows:
a)
The present
blindness of Israel, as
revealed in the Epistle to the Romans, chapter
nine through chapter eleven.
b)
The mystery of iniquity:
as revealed in the Second Epistle to the
Thessalonians chapter two, verse seven, and in the
Revelation of Jesus Christ, chapter seventeen,
verses five, and seven.
c)
The mystery of Christ:
as revealed in the following epistles:
Romans, chapter 16:25, 1 Corinthians 2:7, Ephesians
1:9, 3:3, 4, 9, 5:32, Colossians 2:2, 4:3, 1 Timothy
3:9, Revelation 10:7.
d)
The mystery of the
translation of the church:
as revealed in the First Epistle to the
Corinthians in chapter fifteen, verse fifty-one.
e)
The mystery of Christ
in you: as revealed in
the Epistle to the Colossians, chapter one, verse
twenty-six and twenty-seven.
The eleven
apostles: Peter, John, Andrew,
Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son
of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the
brother of James received
the mysteries, and the interpretations
of these mysteries by the Holy Ghost
through the Apostle Paul as of one born out
of due time. [Note: James was already
martyred.]
1 Corinthians 15:8:
“And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one
born out of due time.”
James asks:
If a man hath faith, and yet he has not works,
can faith alone save him?
James answers: No!
Yet: All men today are
saved by faith without works [in this present
dispensation]!
BY FAITH – NOT OF
WORKS!
Ephesians 2:8-9:
“For by grace are ye
saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:
it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any
man should boast.”
Question: Is this a
contradiction?
Answer: No!
There is no contradiction
here, that is, if one sees through the
eyes of faith, the different
dispensations, administrations, and operations
in the Bible:
Fact:
1)
There are different
dispensations.
2)
There are different
administrations.
3)
There are different
operations:
1 Corinthians 12:5:
“And there are differences of administrations, but
the same Lord.”
1 Corinthians 12:6:
“And there are diversities of operations, but it is
the same God which worketh all in all”
Ephesians 1:10: “That
in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might
gather together in one all things in Christ, both
which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even
in him:”
Now, James,
a servant of God, and of the
Lord Jesus Christ, was martyred in the
year circa 37 A.D., and before the mysteries
were revealed by the Apostle Paul.
Now, Peter, and John, and
all the other apostles received these
revelations through Paul’s ministry to the
Gentiles via the Gospel of the Uncircumcision,
and they all ceased to preach the Gospel of the
Circumcision.
What Peter preached in
Acts, chapter two, verse thirty-eight is not what he
preached after the Apostle Paul came on the scene.
This is factually
seen in the Second Epistle of Peter, chapter three,
verse fifteen:
“And account that
the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation;
even as our beloved brother Paul also according to
the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;”
Verse fifteen:
“If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute
of daily food,”
Here is where the test
question is being set up. Are you ready?
Verse sixteen:
“And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace,
be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye
give them not those things which are needful to the
body; what doth it profit?”
What doth it profit
to talk the talk when there is an absence
of the deed? The talk is all empty
without the action. The inward presence
of Jesus Christ in the believer propels the
outward action to relieve the need of his
brother, or his sister in Christ.
The word of God in
the First Epistle of John gives us light as
to what it is saying here in the book of James:
1 John 3:17-18: “But
whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother
have need, and shutteth up his bowels of
compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of
God in him?
My little children,
let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in
deed and in truth.”
Summation: The
veracity of our words is proven by what we do.
Verse seventeen:
“Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead,
being alone.”
Fake Faith!
What
James has said here [in verse seventeen] is
not obscure, nor is it unclear. For
it cannot be made clearer!
The Holy Ghost moved
James to say: If your faith is alone
[that is: It is without works] then your
faith is dead.
Faith without works is fake! It is dead!
Verse eighteen:
“Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have
works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I
will shew thee my faith by my works.”
The Apostle James is
speaking to the twelve tribes which were
scattered at that time throughout the world,
which included Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia,
and Bithynia:
You say:
I have faith.
I say:
But I have works.
Go ahead my friend, and
show me your faith without your works.
[There is silence for the space of one-half
hour, just crickets!]
Then, I will show you
my faith by my works.
·
Without the feet
responding, there is no true faith.
·
Without the obedience,
faith is not real.
Hebrews 11:8: “By
faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a
place which he should after receive for an
inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing
whither he went.”
Abraham’s faith
depended on his obedience.
In obedience, he
went out.
His work: his
going to the land of Canaan showed his faith.
Now, from the
perspective of a Hebrew: Faith is connected
to works. Faith + Works!
This reveals that the
salvation of the circumcision is by
faith and works.
This contrasts with the
salvation of the Uncircumcision; the
Uncircumcision are the Gentiles.
From the perspective
of a Gentile [after Cornelia’s salvation]:
Faith alone saves, which is
called: justification by faith.
Both perspectives
are true, but not at the same time.
One is for the Jew and
for the Gentiles [as proselytes] till
Cornelius’s salvation.
The other is for the
Gentile’s, starting with Cornelius’s
salvation.
Verse nineteen:
“Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest
well: the devils also believe, and tremble.”
The devils
believe that there is one God, but this
believing does not save them from the judgment of
God, and from Hell’s fire, because by their
works, they deny Him.
Verse twenty:
“But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith
without works is dead?”
This is a super clear
statement made by God through His apostle James.
Any attempts to merge, or to harmonize
by an amalgamation as to what James is saying
here with that what the Apostle Paul has stated in
the Epistle to the Ephesians in chapter two, and
with the Epistle to the Romans in chapter four, and
five, is corrupting the plain, the
literal, and the normative meaning of the
word of God intended by the Spirit of God.
Warning: We must not
corrupt God’s word to produce some
desired preconceived notion of a doctrine.
It is better to believe God’s words, and
leave God’s words, where they are, and as
they are found in the Bible.
2 Corinthians 2:17
“For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of
God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the
sight of God speak we in Christ.”
Faith without works is dead!
So, faith alone
cannot justify a man. There must be
accompanying works, or this faith is not
real. This faith is dead!
Earlier we listed
eighteen so called Christian church
denominations.
·
All these churches believe
you can lose your salvation.
·
All these churches believe
in the necessity of a “faith and works”
salvation.
·
All these churches will
come here to the Epistle General of James to
find the gospel of the circumcision, which
they misapply to the church, which
is the body of Christ in this present
age.
·
What then is misapplied,
then becomes heresy.
·
Then, this heresy
produces its children: called false brethren.
The Apostle Paul strongly
contended with these false brethren as it is
recorded in the Epistle to the Galatians.
Galatians 2:4: “And
that because of false brethren unawares brought in,
who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we
have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into
bondage:”
Verse twenty-one:
“Was not Abraham our father justified by works,
when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?”
It cannot be made any
clearer. James is saying Abraham was
justified by works!
God’s words are
perfect and gloriously true! Amen!
This is why the
Church of Christ so adamantly believes what
Peter preached in the Acts of the Apostles, in
chapter two, verse thirty-seven through forty-one:
“Now when they heard
this, they were pricked in their heart, and
said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men
and brethren, what shall we do?
Then Peter said unto
them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in
the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
For the promise is
unto you, and to your children, and to all that are
afar off, even as many as the Lord our God
shall call.
And with many other
words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save
yourselves from this untoward generation.
Then they that gladly
received his word were baptized: and the same day
there were added unto them about three
thousand souls.”
Peter preached here the
Gospel of the Circumcision. Every one
that was added to the church at that time
were of the Circumcision. They were every
one of them … Jews! They were
justified by faith and works.
They
were saved when they received [by
believing] the word of God by faith
and by being baptized in the water.
The Church of Christ
believes that the remission of sins occurs in
baptism [which is a work].
Without this baptism, your sins are not
remitted.
Thus, they believe in a
baptismal regeneration.
The Dispensational Time Warp:
The Church of Christ
is trying to live in a different
dispensation. This situation is
very much similar to what is seen concerning those
certain disciples [the twelve disciples of
John the Baptist] in the book of the Acts of the
Apostles in chapter nineteen, which see:
Verse one: “And it
came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth,
Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to
Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,”
Verse two: “He said
unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye
believed? And they said unto him, We have not so
much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.”
Verse three:
“And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye
baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism.”
Verse four: “Then said
Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of
repentance, saying unto the people, that they should
believe on him which should come after him, that is,
on Christ Jesus.”
Verse five: “When they
heard this, they were baptized in the name of
the Lord Jesus.”
These disciples were
still locked, or frozen, in a different
dispensation [the Old Testament], which
involved, through John the Baptist, a baptism of
repentance.
When Paul preached to
them that they needed to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, by faith, they were brought
forward into this present dispensation,
to the salvation which is by grace through
faith.
The Time Warp of Unbelief!
The Church of Christ has
fallen into a pit of unbelief.
They have failed to accept the Gospel of the
Uncircumcision, which has replaced the
Gospel of the Circumcision, which happened
when God turned from Israel as a nation,
and brought the Gentiles [the uncircumcision]
into the body of Christ, which is the
church.
Beware of the False Brethren!
The Church of Christ
are therefore, false brethren.
Galatians 2:4: “And
that because of false brethren unawares brought in,
who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we
have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into
bondage:”
Verse twenty-two:
“Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and
by works was faith made perfect?”
The faith
in the Gospel of the Circumcision has an
inherit requirement to a total dependency upon
the presence of works.
This faith and works
relationship has even existed as far back in time to
when man fell into sin, and was forced to
forever leave the Garden of Eden.
From that point in time
God notices when a man is doing right, rather
than doing wrong [wickedness]. Whenever
the LORD saw a man doing righteousness, it
pleased the LORD.
Righteousness is obtained by faith in
the doing of works.
Hebrews 11:7:
“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not
seen as yet, moved with
fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by
the which he condemned the world, and became heir of
the righteousness which is by faith.”
What
do we see here? We see two things:
1.
Faith
moves with fear the person: He believes!
2.
Preparing the ark was the
doing, a work of
faith.
Genesis 7:1:
“And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy
house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous
before me in this generation.”
Noah was righteous!
Noah’s righteousness reflected [though
imperfectly] the righteousness of God.
Next, we need to take
this into our thoughts this reality, that men
and women are either righteous, or they are
wicked. These two categories of
men are prominently seen in the history of
the generations of mankind all down through the
annuals of time.
Question: What is the
effect of having the righteous and the
wicked dwelling together on the face of
this earth?
For this, we need to turn
to the book of the Proverbs, and we will see:
Proverbs 28:28: “When
the wicked rise, men hide themselves: but when they
perish, the righteous increase.”
Proverbs 28:18: “Whoso
walketh uprightly shall be saved: but he that is
perverse in his ways shall fall at once.”
“My righteousness” of the Old Testament
Saints:
The person who walks
uprightly [by his works] in the Old Testament is
said to have his own righteousness, which is
called: my righteousness. See the following
passages of the Scripture:
·
Jacob’s righteousness
in: Genesis 30:33:
“So shall my
righteousness answer for me in time to come,
when it shall come for my hire before thy face:
every one that is not speckled and spotted
among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that
shall be counted stolen with me.”
·
Israel’s righteousness:
in Deuteronomy 9:4.
·
David’s righteousness:
in 2 Samuel 22:21, 25.
·
Job’s righteousness:
in Job 6:29, 27:6, 35: 2.
·
David’s righteousness:
in Psalm 4:1, 7:8, 18:20, 24.
However, this
righteousness contrasts with the
righteousness that is of the Gospel of the
Uncircumcision as preached by Paul to the
Gentiles.
The Christian in the
body of Christ, which is the church,
does not have his own righteousness, but
rather has the righteousness of Jesus Christ,
as a gift, that is clothing him.
Remember a
gift is something that is not
earned! There is an absence of
works here!
Notice, this GIFT is
dwelling inside the believer.
Search the Scripture! For this truth,
see the Epistle to the Romans:
Romans 5:17: “For if
by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more
they which receive abundance of grace and of the
gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one,
Jesus Christ.)”
The whole sense of
one having their own righteousness is showing
that their faith is substantiated [or proved]
by the doing of right [by their own works].
Whereas, the Christian
in this present dispensation places his trust
[or faith] in the finished work
that has been done by another, even by Jesus
Christ.
Colossians 2:10: “And
ye are complete in him, which is the head of all
principality and power:”
1 Thessalonians 5:24:
“Faithful is he that calleth you, who also
will do it.”
Jesus Christ does the
works inside of the believer, and
these works will show up on the outside to
others, all to the glory of God!
Philippians 1:6:
“Being confident of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it
until the day of Jesus Christ:”
Philippians 2:13: “For
it is God which worketh in you both to will and to
do of his good pleasure.”
Verse twenty-three:
“And the scripture was fulfilled which saith,
Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him
for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of
God.”
When
a man believes what God says, in his heart,
then this man’s feet will begin to move in
obedience to the things of God.
In the first book
of Moses, called Genesis, God made a
promise to Abraham concerning Isaac:
“For in Isaac shall
thy seed be called.” [Genesis
21:12]
Abraham believed God!
This following narrative
is recorded in the Scripture for us in Genesis,
chapter twenty-two, verse two through eleven:
Verse two: “And he
said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac,
whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of
Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering
upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee
of.”
The Test of Faith!
Verse three: “And
Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled
his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and
Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt
offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of
which God had told him.”
Verse four: “Then on
the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw
the place afar off.”
Verse five: “And
Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with
the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and
worship, and come again to you.”
Fact:
The one who believes God will see his
faith produce knowledge.
Abraham’s faith
had set his face like a flint, which faith
gave him that great confidence to know that
he would not be ashamed:
Isaiah 50:7: “For the
Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be
confounded: therefore have I set my face like a
flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.”
This promise points to
Jesus Christ!
Verse six: “And
Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and
laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the
fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of
them together.”
Where is the Lamb?
Verse seven: “And
Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My
father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And
he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where
is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
Jehovah Jireh!
Verse eight: “And
Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a
lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them
together.”
Verse nine: “And they
came to the place which God had told him of; and
Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in
order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the
altar upon the wood.”
Verse ten: “And
Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife
to slay his son.”
Faith is proved!
Verse eleven: “And the
angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and
said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am
I.”
Righteousness, therefore was imputed to
Abraham!
Verse twenty-four:
“Ye see then how that by works a man is
justified, and not by faith only.”
This is a clear
statement. This is not an obscure
statement! The Apostle James is saying a person is
not justified, or saved, by faith
only, but he is justified by both
faith and works. Faith
and works are therefore, conjoined.
Without works, faith alone, does not
save a person.
Now, according to the
book of the Acts of the Apostles, the early
church was made up of only Jewish and
Samaritan believers. Every
person saved [from Acts, chapter one, through
Acts chapter seven], were saved through the
hearing of the Gospel of the Circumcision,
which is a faith and works salvation.
Fact: The early Jewish
church did not understand the nature of
the body of Christ, which is the church.
Remember, Israel was still a nation.
And as a nation, they were still looking for the
kingdom to be restored to Israel. We
see this truth in the very first chapter of the book
of the Acts of the Apostles:
Acts 1:6: “When they
therefore were come together, they asked of him,
saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again
the kingdom to Israel?”
The Apostle Peter
preached that Christ was to sit on the THRONE of HIS
KINGDOM. The emphasis of this Hebrew
type of salvation, which is faith and
works, was to prepare Israel for the
coming of the Kingdom of Heaven, when Jesus
Christ will reign visibly in Jerusalem over
the nation of Israel, and indeed, over all
the nations of this earth. To see that
this thing is true, we will need to read further in
the book of the Acts of the Apostles, in chapter
two:
Acts 2:30: “Therefore
being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with
an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins,
according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to
sit on his throne;”
The THRONE:
The Gospel of the
Circumcision was a gospel that had in view the
fulfillment of all the Old Testament
prophecies concerning the establishment of the
Kingdom of Heaven, and the physical
coming of their Messiah to reign over the
people of Israel, and over all the nations of the
world to come.
Repent, and be baptized!
Peter preached the Gospel
of the Circumcision. This baptism
in the book of the Acts of the Apostles was an
integral part of this salvation:
Acts 2:38-41: “Then
Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost.
For the promise is
unto you, and to your children, and to all that are
afar off, even as many as the Lord our God
shall call.
And with many other
words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save
yourselves from this untoward generation.
Then they that gladly
received his word were baptized: and the same
day there were added unto them about three
thousand souls.”
When Peter preached:
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, there was
an overwhelming feeling in the air of the
imminence of the times of refreshing was at
hand.
This Gospel of the
Circumcision was preached in this view of the
times of refreshing!
Acts 3:19: “Repent ye
therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be
blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come
from the presence of the Lord;”
Therefore, the times
of refreshing is a reference to the time for
the restitution of all things.
Note: This event in the
restitution of all things involves a literal
fulfillment on this earth of a visible,
and a physical, KINGDOM, which is to be
established on the top of the mountains of Zion of
Israel.
Now, open your
BIBLE, and read from the prophet
Isaiah to see this promised house [The
Temple]:
Isaiah 2:2: “And it
shall come to pass in the last days, that the
mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in
the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above
the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.”
The nation of Israel as a nation
rejected their Messiah!
When Jesus Christ,
through His servant Stephen, was rejected
by the nation of Israel [as it is recorded at the
end of the seventh chapter of the book of the Acts
of the Apostles], then, God turned to the
Uncircumcision. The
Uncircumcision is a reference to the Gentiles.
Acts 7:56: “And said,
Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man
standing on the right hand of God.”
Israel as a nation
had rejected their Messiah for the last time!
Verse twenty-five:
“Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified
by works, when she had received the messengers, and
had sent them out another way?”
It is here, that we
learn, that Rahab was justified [was saved]
by both faith and works, just as all
the other Old Testament saints were saved.
Hebrews 11:31: “By
faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that
believed not, when she had received the spies with
peace.”
Verse twenty-six:
“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so
faith without works is dead also.”
In the Gospel of
the Circumcision, a salvation by faith,
that is without the perseverance of works,
shows that it is a faith that has
died.
The following passages
in the Scripture indicates someone was
saved, and subsequently, has fallen away
[from salvation]. Their faith died!
[Note throughout these
passages, the use of the word “if” shows
salvation is conditional]:
2 Peter 2:20-22:
“For if after they have escaped the pollutions of
the world through the knowledge of the Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled
therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with
them than the beginning.
For it had been
better for them not to have known the way of
righteousness, than, after they have known it,
to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto
them.
But it is happened
unto them according to the true proverb, The dog
is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow
that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.”
Hebrews 3:14: “For
we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the
beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;”
Hebrews 6:4-6: “For
it is impossible for those who were once
enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift,
and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
And have tasted the
good word of God, and the powers of the world to
come,
If they shall fall
away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing
they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh,
and put him to an open shame.”
Hebrews 10:26-30:
“For if we sin wilfully after that we have received
the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more
sacrifice for sins,
But a certain
fearful looking for of judgment and fiery
indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised
Moses' law died without mercy under two or three
witnesses:
Of how much sorer
punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy,
who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath
counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was
sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite
unto the Spirit of grace?
For we know him
that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me,
I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The
Lord shall judge his people.”
Matthew 24:13: “But
he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be
saved.”
The summation of this, is this: The Gospel of the Circumcision is comprised of a faith and works salvation.
Next - James Chapter Three
Friend
If you
know the Bible Is True,
And you
never received
Jesus
Christ as your personal Lord and Savior...
And you
want to come to Him for Salvation now ... Then:
1. Admit
... To God that you are a Sinner...
Deserving Hell Fire...
2. Believe ... that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God...
Who died on the Cross for
You! ...
3. Repent! ... Ask
Him to Forgive You of Your Sin...
4. Receive Him... By
Asking Him to come into Your Heart...
And You
Will Receive the Gift of Eternal Life!
Born of God! You
Are in The Narrow Way ... To HEAVEN!