The Importance of Faith and Works

James 2:22

Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?

Faith and works are critical before and after salvation. Now to be clear, there are no human works in salvation. The only work needed for salvation is the work of Christ at Calvary when He gave His life to pay for our sin. The only way the work of Calvary will pay for our sin is that we must have faith in Christ’s work at Calvary and accept that work so that we can be saved. In other words, the work of Christ at Calvary was made perfect when we exercised our faith to trust Christ’s payment alone to be saved.

Faith is not perfect without the work of Christ at Calvary. Without the works of Christ at Calvary, our faith will be placed in our abilities, which will fail. There is no work any person can do to get themselves to Heaven. You must put your faith in the accomplished work of Calvary by Jesus Christ if you will make it to Heaven.

However, after salvation, works are necessary to show my faith. This is what James is dealing with in this whole book. The outside world cannot see the decision I made in my heart concerning trusting Christ as my personal Saviour. So, the only way that the world can see what Christ did in my life is through my outward works. When the world sees my works, this is when they see that my faith is real.

Let me illustrate. The apostles were saved by putting their trust in Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour. However, the outside world did not believe in Jesus Christ and His power to save the lost. The only way they could show their faith was real was through the works of Christ in their lives after salvation. As they worked for Christ, the world noticed that they had been with Jesus and their faith was made perfect through their works.

There is a keyword in this verse that makes this a reality. God says that faith wrought with works is what makes faith perfect. The word wrought means accomplishments. In other words, faith works with works to make faith perfect. There are a couple thoughts I want to bring to your attention about this important truth.

First, your faith is dead to the world if you have no works for Jesus Christ after salvation. The world will never believe that your faith is real if you have no works for Christ. This is one reason you must be involved in serving the Lord because it shows the world that your faith is worthy. You show me the person who is saved but does nothing for God and I will show you the person who has no testimony for Jesus Christ. However, you show me the person that has faith works, and I will show you a person who has a great testimony to the lost world. Faith and works work together to make your faith perfect.

Second, your faith will not mature without works. You need to work for Christ to grow your faith. No person has ever grown in the Lord without working for Christ. God allows your faith to grow as you serve Him. There is no need for your faith to grow if you are not doing any works for Christ. Therefore, your faith is made perfect or complete by the works that you do for Jesus Christ. The more works that you do for Christ, the more your faith will grow and will make an impact on those who see your life. Let me challenge you to get busy serving the Lord, and you will find your faith will grow.