We are currently the society with the least need to be patient about many things. Imagine going back to life without cell phones and computers. In that scenario, if you are home late in the evening and desperately need a piece of information, but you don’t have the books or reference material in the house to get the answer, there was a time when you would need to get to the library or wait until the morning. Now we can just get the answer in a matter of seconds at any time of the day and in most any place.

Though we may have certain concerns about the execution of full justice in America, we do live in a time and place where the gravest of injustices are not allowed to stand and perpetuate. Certainly not like the scattered Jewish believers to whom James wrote in the first century. Most of them were poor, being taken advantage by the rich. They were abused because of their faith, by both their own Jewish brethren who saw them as traitors and by the Romans in the secular Greek culture. They had to endure much, and thus James encourages them to be patient …

James 5:7 – Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. 9 Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!

James 5:10 – Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

He gives three illustrations of patience…

1. The farmer – Here is a guy who plants his seed and waits a long time for it to bring about a crop to sell. Much can go wrong all along the way. The early season and late season rains (the situation in Palestine) may not come, or may be too copious. Much can go awry before the crop is harvested, but he remains patient and hopeful.
2. The prophets – So many of the well-known prophets of the Old Testament suffered terribly while simply serving as a mouthpiece for God. It was very unjust. For example, Jeremiah was put in stocks, thrown into prison and lowered into a dungeon, but demonstrated persistent faithfulness. These prophets were a model to follow. The Greek work for “example” is actually the first word in the sentence in this instance (word order in Greek is not as strict as in English, and a way of emphasizing something was to make that word first in a phrase). The term pictures a representative figure of something or someone, particularly to be imitated – a “poster child,” we might say. This same Greek word is used in John 13:15 in the account of Jesus having washed the disciples’ feet, saying, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
3. Job – Though we have the common phrase “the patience of Job,” he was not actually a great example of that. But he was a wonderful example of endurance, and he gained back twice of all he lost.

So, fine, there are some exemplary models, but still, why should we wait patiently for justice in unfair circumstances? The answer in the text would point to the soon coming of the perfect Judge. He will set all matters straight. And the picture presented by James is that He is standing at the door!  Imagine the judge about to come out of his chambers, with his hand on the doorknob – that is what we should remember when treated wrongly. That is who we should primarily look to.

We may have a chance to live out these truths more and more. Christians are becoming increasingly the target of hate groups, both around the world and even in our own country. Reviled by the popular culture, devout Christians are even mocked at the very moment when 26 of them are gunned down in a church, because they were praying at the time – obviously stupid to be trusting in God when their prayers were in the process of being ignored.

More difficult times may indeed be just ahead, but remember that the Judge is at the door. “Here come da judge!”  (If you’re too young and don’t know what that last line means, Google it with the name “Flip Wilson.”  I don’t have the patience now to explain it!)

My parents who adopted me as an infant (who actually were my grandparents) were scarred for life by the Great Depression. They had been married for about seven weeks when it happened, and they pretty much lost what little bit they had accumulated in life to that point. For the rest of their days, they were fiscal conservatives in every way, spending money only when necessary, diligently sticking to budgets, ever with a sense that what happened once could happen again.

Even so, they were diligently generous toward God, the church, and varied Christian causes – giving a minimum of 10%, even in the darkest days of the Depression. My folks trusted that God would take care of them, and surely He did with more than sufficient supply.

Being rich is not evil. But hoarding riches as your security in life is wrong. James wrote to such a crowd as this, chastising them for their self-centered approach to life, while warning them of the pending doom for not trusting in God alone …

James 5:1 – Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. 2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

You’ve probably looked around at TSF and noticed that we don’t have any particularly wealthy people. We do have lots of people who are more than sufficiently blessed, especially by standards of the majority of folks around the world and of the material condition of mankind over the years. We can afford some generosity, even as what abundance we have is not massive nor guaranteed from being totally lost in some downturn. But even in that event, we can trust God to meet our needs.

Over the years you have probably heard or read some of my comments about the little slice of life that I had during my Dallas Seminary years of living among the rich and serving as a staff pastor for an extraordinarily wealthy congregation. There I encountered two types of wealthy folks: those who held onto it lightly, and those who firmly grasped it in fear of loss (during a time that was an economic downturn). The latter of these rich people were not a lot of fun to be with; they were worried all the time and oppressed by having to guard their wealth. The former type were great fun to be with! They were generous and joyful – knowing that it was only because of God’s blessing that they had what they enjoyed; and even when several of them lost most everything in their businesses, their disposition and character never changed. They believed God could prosper them again, and if not, they were fine with that. And this is the attitude to have.

We all remember where we were on September 11^th of 2001. I was at a Free Church pastors event in Lebanon, PA. There were pastors gathering there that morning from Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. We had plans for a two-day event, and some were just arriving as the news broke. One of the men received a phone call from his wife about what was going on, and he shared with the group that an airplane had flown into the Trade Centers. We all imagined it as the mishap of a small plane.

Soon after, another call said that a second airliner had hit the buildings, as well as a crash in Washington. Clearly this was something more significant. Several pastors from the New York City area made comments about congregants whom they knew worked in the Trade Centers. Little did we know at that time that one of the fellows – a classmate of mine from Dallas Seminary with whom I attended church there – would have one of his church members as a pilot of one of the hijacked aircraft.

After a quick round of intense prayer, we broke up and went our own separate ways. While driving home to Maryland I listened to the radio news, stopping in Carlisle for a quick visit with my son at Dickinson College. He already had heard that two girls in the school were informed of deceased fathers. His girlfriend at the time had called in a panic since her brother worked in the Pentagon (he was not harmed, as it turned out).

Clearly, all of life had changed. Some events can do that. A bad doctor’s visit may have some news that changes everything. The phone may ring late at night, or the police may come to the door with news of a relative’s tragic accident. A frayed wire behind the wall in an isolated bedroom might cause an inferno in which all is lost.

This life has no guarantees. We should not act like it does, banking on the future with any certainties.

James wrote to some business people in particular who lived in such a way as to bank on the future without respect to having God in the equation …

James 4:13 – Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

But isn’t prudent planning a good thing? For example, didn’t Jesus use the illustration of a foolish builder in Luke 14:28-30 … “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’”

Yes, being wise in planning is a good thing. But it is not a good thing if God is left out of the equation. When that happens, a person is essentially declaring their self-sufficient independence from divine providence. God wants us to trust in Him, to depend upon Him in all things. So plan away, but do so with the concomitant thought that God’s blessing and gracious, providential hand is needed all along the way for success to happen. This prayerful dependence is appropriate and is the opposite of arrogant self-sufficiency.

I can’t believe this idiocy! My word program on my computer is telling me right now that the title word of this devotional – judgmentalism – is not correct. It is underlined in read … ugh … just did it again in this sentence! Don’t tell me this is not a legitimate word, I know that it is!  It can be found in multiple dictionaries. I’ll bet it was some computer geek idiot who is living in his parents’ basement, who as a technology sub-contractor, failed to get this correct in the program. Stupid! Here I am, just a simple pastor of an average church in Western Maryland, and I know more than this ignorant computer knows!

OK, let’s try to forget this and go to our passage for today …

James 4:11 – Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

Oh dear. Maybe I was a bit harsh up above. But I did feel good for a moment by setting myself up to be smarter than the computer.

It is easy to criticize others and allow the imperfections of others to annoy us, while at the same time somehow overlooking our own flaws. And apparently James’ readers excelled in this regard. As with the warning in chapter 2 about them not favoring the wealthy over the poor, this statement is likewise worded in the original Greek language in such a way as to indicate that it was an ongoing problem. It is not just a warning about something they should avoid developing in their midst.

The person who is quick to find fault in others is often a person who thereby feeds within themselves a better comparative feeling about themselves.

Where I have seen this over the years in a church context is something like this: There is a person who is genuinely very serious about their faith and living it out appropriately. They are working very hard at it. They spend a lot of time thinking about rules and obligations, laboring diligently to be holy and disciplined. Certain benefits of righteous living do accrue in their lives. And they can see that they are indeed working harder than most other folks. After a while, they grow a sense that many others are not laboring as intensely and are a bit too flippant about spiritual disciplines and sanctified living. And this sense leads to a feeling that they have a higher ground of vision and understanding about others around them, eventually leading to critical and condescending statements.

But aren’t we supposed to be faithful to confront sin or failure in the lives of fellow believers? Doesn’t the Bible say that we should speak the truth in love? And is there not a godly service done when one confronts and brings a brother back into line? Yes, that is true; and the passage that most affirms this is in the next chapter – “My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth, and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:19-20).

But if you just go and run over another person with a judgmental condescension, you violate the law again – that “royal law” reference earlier of loving others as you love yourself. Beyond that, you put yourself in God’s shoes as the judge.

The Apostle Paul wrote of an appropriate balance: “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.” (Galatians 6:1).

We all have feet of clay. “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:12)

I have never had sheep, though I’ve raised other animals. Like other creatures, I suppose that there are times when the sheep in a flock get to fighting with each other over something stupid, like who gets to graze in a particular spot or which one gets the best place to drink out of the stream. This must drive a shepherd crazy!

I know of another type of sheep who sometimes gets to fighting with each other over stupid things. And it is so irritating to this other category of shepherd. Why can’t they just get along? Why do two people in the same family allow simple bumps and bruises to thwart the larger relationship with one another? This same sort of thing would drive me nuts as a father. One boy would trip and bump another – that other one wrongly believing the contact was aggressive, thereby clubbing the first one, who would utter a blood-curdling scream and retaliation.

The irritation of James is evident in this portion of his letter. At other points he addresses his readers with language like “my brothers.”  But here in chapter 4 he comes right after them with aggressive rhetoric, even calling them adulterous people at one point.

James’ opening question is to ponder what causes fights and quarrels amongst God’s family. The answer comes quickly – it is because his readers were covetous and self-centered. They were interested in their desires being filled, too often trusting in the world for personal satisfaction rather than in God’s provision.

The remedy is to not depend upon satisfaction from the devil’s world; rather, the believer should humbly look to God for His provision for their needs in His timing and in His way.

In the previous passage, there were two types of wisdom: from above or from below. Here there are two opposing ways of seeking life satisfaction: from the things of this world or from submission to God.

Clearly, the one who does not insist upon his own rights and comforts, but who rather depends upon God, will ultimately find God’s blessing and be a person who avoids conflicts with other Christians.

The challenge is to do this, of course. It seems better to take charge of life and circumstances in the material world, fighting for your own rights and fulfillment. This appears to be the straight-line path to personal satisfaction. But it does not work. God’s true “lifting up” of an individual comes only after a time of trust and endurance, but it is true satisfaction.

James 4:1 – What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” [Proverbs 3:34]

7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

I know of and have dealings with a family that has a number of siblings who are all successful adults. Each is blessed with an abundance of talent and abilities. But one of them excels beyond the others and is the natural leader of the family. He is not the oldest, nor absolutely the most successful. And he is certainly not the most aggressive and bombastic. In fact, he is likely the quietest and most sedate. Yet this is not because he is weak in mind or conviction, quite the opposite. He is the epitome of strength under control; and when he at last speaks within the group, all the others listen and follow.

It is such a person who is pictured by James in our section of his letter today. He writes …

James 3:13 – Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.

The wise sort of person that James introduces here is a seasoned individual who is truly deep in “understanding” – an interesting word that in the original language was defined as one who is “intelligent, experienced, one having the knowledge of an expert.”  We all want to be this sort of person and demonstrate that in the way we live. James says this ability comes from the “humility” that is the byproduct of wisdom. Here is another interesting word that is used 11 times in the New Testament – always translated as either “humility” or “gentleness.”  But that doesn’t give the full flavor of the term, as we don’t have a single English word to translate this. It pictures something very different than a merely soft-spoken meek individual. Rather it is a bottled-up strength that is completely controlled and bridled – in fact this word was used to speak of a horse whose strength was fully broken and under the control of a bridle.

So how do we become such a powerfully gentle individual? It relates to what wisdom we choose to deploy – the wisdom of this world, or the wisdom that comes from above. The former is spoken of in verses 14-16 …

James 3:14 – But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

James says to watch out for a “winning at all costs” sort of attitude and action. The picture is of a zealot who is contending for a cause, and that is the way of the world. Get to the top and don’t worry about those stepped-upon; it was their own fault that they didn’t get out of the way. We might even draw to remembrance the situation between Cain and Abel, as these attitudes had an early start in the human condition.

When we think of zealously contending for a cause, our minds rather quickly go to the wrangling we see politically in our culture these days, so often evidenced by harsh verbiage in social media or on network news. So it is actually humorous to discover that the word in verse 16 for “disorder” would be used by Greeks to describe anarchy and political turmoil – Luke doing exactly that in Luke 21:9. So that’s where human wisdom of watching out for #1 will take you.

But there is another type of wisdom. Here then is the sort of wisdom that gives a genuine, quiet strength …

James 3:17 – But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

This heavenly wisdom is free from any wrongful agenda and is clean and sincere. If you want to harvest anything, that crop will have to grow in the correct environment and conditions. This is true for an outcome of righteousness. You reap what you sow. Success comes from a healthy process. To grow a garden, you can’t be trampling on the crop all summer and hope to have a harvest in the fall.

There is an interesting story of an African-American man named Daryl Davis who has spent the past three decades befriending white supremacists and Klansmen. He goes to where they live. Meets them at their rallies. Dines with them in their homes. He gets to know them because, in his words, “How can you hate me when you don’t even know me? Look at me and tell me to my face why you should lynch me.”

He says, “It’s a wonderful thing when you see a light bulb pop on in their heads or they call you and tell you they are quitting. I never set out to convert anyone in the Klan. I just set out to get an answer to my question: ‘How can you hate me when you don’t even know me?’ I simply gave them a chance to get to know me and treat them the way I want to be treated. They come to their own conclusion that this ideology is no longer for them.”

Overcoming evil with good. Using the wisdom that comes from above. It can make you an expert in living life.

With this sermon series, our friend Chris Wiles has resourced all the churches involved by making study notes available – involving both the text of Scripture and illustrative materials as well. So today’s devotional draws directly from his writing.

It’s easy to say that “sticks and stones may break our bones, but words can never hurt us,” but our experience tells another story altogether. In fact, we can easily see that much of our social division stems from the way we speak to—and about—one another. According to political scientist Thomas U. Berger, “we live in an age of apology and recrimination,” and this is verifiably true even if we only look at our social media accounts (!). Words have power. Positive words offer encouragement, but negative words can impact and shape our futures—as well as the world around us.

James tells us three things about the power of speech:

1. Words have power (3:1-5)

James 3:1 – Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.

James 3:3 – When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.

So important is speech, according to James, that not everyone should aspire to being “teachers”—and yes, the word here refers to Christian leaders and pastors (verse 1). James cautions that people in such positions “will be judged with greater strictness,” a teaching common in ancient literature and affirmed by Jesus Himself (Mark 12:38-40). In verse 2 James continues this same thought. The phrase “we all stumble in many ways” echoed similar sentiments in Greco-Roman literature, which also encouraged teachers to remain silent to avoid the possibility of wrongdoing.

James then offers three distinct illustrations that emphasize how something so small as the tongue could have powerful, large-scale effects:

• A bit in a horse’s mouth (verse 3)
• A rudder on a large ship (verse 4)
• A small fire that sets ablaze a forest (verse 5)

James will expand on this final metaphor in the next section. His larger point here is that words have tremendous power, and the impact of our words cannot be underestimated.

2. Words can hurt (3:6-8)

James 3:6 – The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

Secondly, James observes that speech can have a destructive effect. Jewish readers would have been greatly familiar with the image connecting tongues to fire (verse 6), for similar imagery is found in Jewish literature both inside and outside the Bible.

The destructive nature of human words is made worse by the fact that—unlike everything else in creation—no one can hope to control the tongue (verses 7-8). James is emphasizing that human speech is wild and destructive, and controlling it is preferable to the effects of seeing it “burn” out of control.

3. Words reveal a lack of integrity (3:9-12)

James 3:9 – With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Finally, James reveals man’s divided character. We cannot use words to “bless” God and then “curse” men (verse 9). Why not? James emphasizes that because human beings are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26), to curse men is to disrespect the character of God. In verse 10, James states his central point: that God’s people should not have the kind of divided character that would produce blessing and cursing from the same mouth.

James then offers three word pictures to emphasize the point—all posed as questions to which James expects an emphatic “no:”

• “Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?” (verse 11)
• “Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives…?” (verse 12a)
• “[Can] a grapevine produce figs?” (verse 12b)

James answers his own initial question in verse 12c—No, such things are impossible. James’ point is clear: just as it is unnatural for a fresh spring to produce two kinds of water, or for plants to produce different kinds of fruit, so it is unnatural for Christ’s followers to produce both blessing and curses.

So let us be introspectively thoughtful about our lives and our communication. There are enough fires out there already, we don’t need to be adding to them.

Most of you know how much I love baseball over other sports, and for most of my life I have been a follower of the Baltimore Orioles. Imagine if I had this following conversation with another person who claimed to be a fan of the O’s …

Fan: I like your orange shirt; I’m a fan of the Orioles also.

Me: Really? How many years have you been following them?

Fan: I don’t know, I think I was kind of born a fan.

Me: Do you get to go to many games?

Fan: Yes, I go once every four or five years.

Me: So you watch them on television quite a bit?

Fan: The Orioles have their own network?

Me: Who is your favorite player on the Orioles?

Fan: I really like Boog Powell and Brooks Robinson.

Me: You do know that those guys are in their 70s now, right?

Fan: Really? It only seems like a couple years ago that I saw them in Memorial Stadium.

Me: That’s where you would have seen them. That place has been torn down and the Orioles have played now at Camden Yards for the past 25 years.

Fan: In New Jersey?

That’s not much of a fan, is it? But a lot of people are like that about their faith. They say they love God and serve him, though they’ve forgotten how to get to church or how to live in a way that demonstrates a values system consistent with their profession.

This is essentially what James in getting at in today’s passage. At first glance, one can see why Martin Luther struggled mightily to believe that James was a legitimate part of the Scriptures. It sounds like he is asserting that salvation is based upon works and good deeds – the very opposite of the of the primary teaching of the Reformation and the Protestant Church. But James is just so strongly stating the necessity of works as the genuine proof and outcome of salvation, not as the means of gaining salvation.

Merely believing in God isn’t enough. As James will say, that doesn’t make you any better than Satan’s servants – who know that God is real.

And James will go to the great Jewish father of faith – Abraham. Yes, it was faith in God’s promises that gave the crediting of righteousness to Abraham, but that wouldn’t have been worth anything if he did not act upon that faith with obedience – to the extent of offering his only son Isaac on the altar.

On the other end of the spectrum, James illustrates the combination of faith and works with reference to the prostitute Rahab. She didn’t just say she believed, she acted upon her faith in helping the spies from Israel.

As a pastor, I do worry about people who claim to know and follow Christ, but who seldom make it to church. I worry about people who do attend but who seldom get involved in anything and give nothing of themselves. I don’t want to say they don’t have faith, but the absence of works of service raises the question of the genuine nature of their belief.

Faith and works are like the two sides of a dollar bill, you can’t have the genuine article with just one side.

James 2:14 – What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.