Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works [James 2:17–18].

“Faith, if it hath not works, is dead.” The faith is dead? Why? Because living faith, saving faith, produces works. You have to draw that conclusion from James’ illustration. He is talking about the fruit of faith. Paul talks about the root of faith. Those are the separate emphases of each man, but both Paul and James say that faith alone saves. Paul also says that faith is going to produce fruit—“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace …” (Gal. 5:22). The Lord Jesus said, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit …” (John 15:5).
A minister once talked to a man who professed conversion, and he asked, “Have you united with the church?” “No, I haven’t,” the man replied. “The dying thief never united with the church, and he went to heaven.” The minister asked, “Have you ever sat at the Lord’s table?” “No, the dying thief never did, and he was accepted” was the answer. The minister asked, “Have you been baptized?” “No,” he said, “the dying thief was never baptized, and he went to heaven.” “Have you given to missions?” “No, the dying thief did not give to missions, and he was not judged for it” was the reply. Then this disgusted minister said to the man, “Well, my friend, the difference between you two seems to be that he was a dying thief and you are a living thief.”
My friend, we often sing, “O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise,” but we do not even use the one tongue we have. And we sing, “Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small,” and then we give nothing at all to Him. James says it is faith that saves, but saving faith produces something.


McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Epistles (James) (electronic ed., Vol. 53, pp. 67–68). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.