Dead faith begins with a false confession. James 2.14 says— “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?”
The Bible teaches that real salvation is by grace through faith alone. “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.” (Ephesians 2.8-9)
Grace means there is no work or effort you can do to be saved, or to keep your salvation. To be saved by God’s grace means: He gives it to us because we couldn’t earn it and don’t deserve it.
Faith means God gives you spiritual understanding of what you have done against Him, and what He has done for you. Additionally, according to Romans 10 faith comes by the Word of God. Salvation must be by faith in what Jesus did for you, alone, in accordance to the scriptures.
Do you believe that? Take some time and look at some personal examples to prove that your belief in Him is legitimate. His work for you was and is His final work for you, and therefore essential for salvation, plus nor minus anything (John 3.15-18; Acts 8.34-37; Acts 17.2-4,12).
This is not an outrageous thing to question. In fact, Paul called upon the people in the church at Corinth to: “examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith” (2 Corinthians 13.5). Peter also wrote that you should: “make your calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1.10). This is serious stuff, serious enough to focus on, read about, search, and make sure!
Here In the second half of chapter 2, James gives the distinguishing features between dead and living faith. Salvation faith is revealed by works. Dead faith is as fruitless as a dead tree. Some teach that you can believe the gospel without ever obeying God’s Word, without a transformed life, and without any outward evidence of inward salvation. This is not real faith. According to James, it is dead faith.
James questions the person who ‘says’ he has faith but has “no works”. Faith is salvation; works are the fruit of salvation. If someone says they’re saved, and yet show no change, they have a dead faith. There must be some manifestation of God working in you. Let me be clear here… IN you. You can change you dress, stop drinking and go to church; but that doesn’t mean it came from the heart. So many have done these things, elevating themselves in their mind to ‘good christian’ status, but do they still judge and justify their hate? Are they unforgiving, bitter, and know it? Are they not planning on changing that either? The inside is corrupt still, much like the Pharisees of old. Jesus warned them in Luke 11.39-40— “And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also?” Ouch! The inside matters people!
I have faked it, I’ve seen others fake it, and I am sure you have too. Was there change that was impossible without God? Were and are you able to bust barriers of ‘self’, and be enabled from within, to accomplish what God wants? Is there an unnatural ability to obey when you don’t want to? If your faith is genuine then there is a supernatural being inside of you called the Holy Spirit, also known as the Spirit of Christ. He is making it possible for you to obey Him. This is only available to those who have received Jesus as their Savior.
All of this opens up a can of worms doesn’t it? Not everyone who says they are a believer is a real Christian. The Book of Acts gives us a man who professed faith in Christ, was baptized, but was not saved (Acts 8.13-23). Read those 10 verses and notice how paralleled it is to some in churches today. Say all the right things and yet never really saved. How sad and how confused. Even Jesus said in Matthew 7.21— “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” Jesus indicated then, that not everyone who claims faith is actually a person of faith. We know that every genuinely saved person is a new creation. We also know that the Holy Spirit is producing proof in their Christlike character and behavior (John 15; Galatians 5). So the evidence in our lives demands a verdict. Which way is going for you?
Look carefully at the product of your life. What you see on the outside indicates what’s happening on the inside. What is on the inside cannot help but manifest itself on the outside eventually.
An empty confession, a claim of the lips, without any evidence in the life, indicates dead faith.