Out at the prison, we were discussing the famous passage in James about faith and works. During that conversation, I made an observation that I shared here many years ago. Here's the familiar text: So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
I have never noticed before that James is talking about specific works there… that is helpful in understanding this passage. I think his point is that faith and works necessarily go together… I have more recently begun thinking of faith and obedience as equivalent. We do what Jesus says to do to the extent that we trust that He knows what He’s saying. Thank God for grace.
This reminds me of part of Henri Nouwen’s devotion for the Monday of Holy Week which I read this morning:
“Prayer and action, therefore, can never be seen as contradictory or mutually exclusive. Prayer without action grows into powerless pietism, and action without prayer degenerates into questionable manipulation. If prayer leads us into a deeper unity with the compassionate Christ, it will always give rise to concrete acts of service. And if concrete acts of service do indeed lead us to a deeper solidarity with the poor, the hungry, the sick, the dying, and the oppressed, they will always give rise to prayer. In prayer we meet Christ, and in Him all human suffering. In service we meet people, and in them the suffering Christ.
Action with and for those who suffer is the concrete expression of the compassionate life and the final criterion of being a Christian. Such acts do not stand beside the moments of prayer and worship but are themselves such moments. Jesus Christ, who did not cling to His divinity, but became as we are, can be found where there are hungry, thirsty, alienated, naked, sick, and imprisoned people. Precisely when we live in an ongoing conversation with Christ and allow His Spirit to guide our lives, we will recognize Him in the poor, the oppressed, and the downtrodden, and will hear His cry and respond to it wherever He reveals Himself.
So worship becomes ministry and ministry becomes worship, and all we say or do, ask for or give, becomes a Way to the Life in which God’s compassion can manifest itself.”
I have never noticed before that James is talking about specific works there… that is helpful in understanding this passage. I think his point is that faith and works necessarily go together… I have more recently begun thinking of faith and obedience as equivalent. We do what Jesus says to do to the extent that we trust that He knows what He’s saying. Thank God for grace.
This reminds me of part of Henri Nouwen’s devotion for the Monday of Holy Week which I read this morning:
“Prayer and action, therefore, can never be seen as contradictory or mutually exclusive. Prayer without action grows into powerless pietism, and action without prayer degenerates into questionable manipulation. If prayer leads us into a deeper unity with the compassionate Christ, it will always give rise to concrete acts of service. And if concrete acts of service do indeed lead us to a deeper solidarity with the poor, the hungry, the sick, the dying, and the oppressed, they will always give rise to prayer. In prayer we meet Christ, and in Him all human suffering. In service we meet people, and in them the suffering Christ.
Action with and for those who suffer is the concrete expression of the compassionate life and the final criterion of being a Christian. Such acts do not stand beside the moments of prayer and worship but are themselves such moments. Jesus Christ, who did not cling to His divinity, but became as we are, can be found where there are hungry, thirsty, alienated, naked, sick, and imprisoned people. Precisely when we live in an ongoing conversation with Christ and allow His Spirit to guide our lives, we will recognize Him in the poor, the oppressed, and the downtrodden, and will hear His cry and respond to it wherever He reveals Himself.
So worship becomes ministry and ministry becomes worship, and all we say or do, ask for or give, becomes a Way to the Life in which God’s compassion can manifest itself.”
We all are damned devils then, because who can honestly say that they've never neglected the poor? If we take this verse to the logical extreme, then we'd better be communists, not Christians, and even then we'd not escape the fires of hell, huh? This is why Martin Luther called James an "epistle of straw" and once said, “I almost feel like throwing Jimmy [the book of James] into the stove,” isn't it? https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/the-epistle-of-straw-reflections-on-luther-and-the-epistle-of-james/#Understanding%20%E2%80%9CEpistle%20of%20Straw%E2%80%9D
I would suggest that the "faith of demons" is more akin to a "faith in 'the way things are'", aka the status quo.