¹⁹You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. ²⁰But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?

As if the point had not already been adequately and convincingly made, James continues his reasoning. He stresses the importance of genuine faith by the amount of space he gives to this issue. Just as Paul spent considerable ink teaching and defending the doctrine of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, James gives a good percentage of his book to teaching that justifying faith is not alone! These are not opposing theologies; they are complementary. The kind of faith that Paul preaches as necessary and sufficient for salvation is the kind of faith seen in a person’s changed behavior toward a propensity to do good works. The good works do not save, but they show the genuineness of the faith that saves.

So James, continuing the rhetorical debate, goes on to address an insufficient faith. Saving faith is more than just adopting theism, that is, a belief in the existence of God. That’s certainly better then atheism, the belief that there is no deity, much less a creator God of the universe. James’ response? That is no big deal! We can grant demons at least that much—they believe in God, in that sense—but it is not enough. All their belief does for them is cause them to “shudder,” or “tremble in terror,” as the NLT puts it. If a person’s faith goes only so far as to believe God exists, that belief should force him to his knees in humble, abject fear of God. Such a faith, if it were as real as the demons’ faith, would be greater than the so-called faith of people who say they believe in Christ yet have nothing to show for it, and furthermore defend that “belief” as saving faith.

James calls such thinking foolish. Yes, the starting point of saving faith is believing in the existence of God. That is necessary, but it is not sufficient. If there are no works of righteousness, then there is no evidence of genuine faith, and a person is no better off than a demon for it. At least in the case of demons, there is a reaction of terror. James pulls no punches. Such faith is useless, and the person who holds on to such a vacuous belief is a fool.

James does not delve into what degree of works must be seen, nor does he slip into a works-based salvation. Given time and opportunity, a person’s faith will be seen in his actions; the evidence will be there. Let us not be fooled with arguments about how much evidence is needed.

Lord, it is only because You have changed me that I have a desire to live for You, and love others as You have loved me. Thank You!