Special Study Outline

THE LIFESTYLE OF FAITH
Many Bible scholars and commentators have noted the similarities between the content of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) and the Epistle of James. There are indeed several interesting and informative parallels which can be observed with great profit. Both the sermon and the epistle have as one of their chief objectives the practical living out of the high calling of God in daily matters. I find at least nine or ten parallels. “But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” (James 1:4). This statement from James is reminiscent of that of our Lord in Matthew 5:48: “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” In context, Jesus was not talking about sinless perfection, but perfection in the sense of “completeness” or “consistency.” The previous verses bear this out as Jesus was talking about love for enemies. He uses God the Father as the model, He who makes His rain fall “on the just and the unjust” and His sun shine on the same. Perfection, or completeness, in love is what the Savior is talking about. James perhaps provides an inspired commentary on this matter in chapter 1 and verse 4. The perfection that James considers is that which results from “patience” and causes one to be “perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” The overall point in both texts is that we are to be mature and to be in constant growth toward completeness. James says, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials.” (James 1:2) Jesus had already said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matt. 5:10-12). An interesting point is made, namely that we are blessed by being persecuted. Jesus gives us the eternal reason, that we have a great reward in heaven. But there is also a “here-and-now” reason that James goes on to enunciate: “Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” (James 1:3). Our character is built by opposition. “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:22-25). One of the points that James makes consistently through his epistle is that it is not enough to listen to the word of God or claim faith, but what we claim must be demonstrated by our lifestyle. James says the “forgetful hearer” is like a man who looks in the mirror for no good purpose, as he virtually ignores what he finds. Jesus stated, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. Now everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” (Matt. 7:21-27, NKJV). So just as James compares the one who fails to do God’s bidding to a man looking at himself in the mirror, so Jesus compares him to a foolish man who built his house on sand. It is evident that the “forgetful hearer” James writes about and the “foolish man” that Jesus spoke of is the same type of person. We see an interesting parallel concerning the intent of God’s law in James 2 and Matthew 5. James 2:11, “For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.” (NKJV) It is not enough to obey one law and ignore another, James said. Jesus ordered, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder,’ and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you are thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny. You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matt. 5:21-28). There would always be those who would see loopholes in the law of God in order to find justification for what they want to do. Both Jesus and James clearly teach that one cannot honor the letter of the law by scorning the spirit thereof. So that we would know that God’s law is not a cafeteria where we pick and choose, keeping the commandments we like, such as the less important things, while ignoring the “weightier matters” (cf. Matt. 23:23), James says, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” (James 2:10). Similarly, Jesus advised the religious leaders in Matthew 5:18-19, “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Regarding the way we treat others, especially the less fortunate, James writes, “For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” (James 2:13) That we will be judged with the same attitude and disposition that we manifest toward others is evident from the Sermon on the Mount as well. Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” (Matt. 7:1-2). And we also have the words that it might appear James reworded in his epistle: “But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt 6:15), and, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” (Matt 5:7) James also asks a question in chapter 2 that has become quite famous and controversial: “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?” (Jas. 2:14). But the point that James makes is both consistently biblical and clearly logical. What you really believe in your heart will of necessity come out in your life (cf. Prov. 4:23) and alter your behavior (Rom. 12:2). There is nothing in this concept which denies the validity of salvation by faith. Jesus said this in the Sermon on the Mount: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” (Matt 7:21) It makes no sense to call Him “Lord” if you don’t do what He says (cf. Luke 6:46), for the title denotes authority over one’s life. James 3:18 says, “Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” The context is bitterness and conflict among brethren. This statement is simply another way of stating one of Jesus’ Beattitudes: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. (Matt. 5:9). Again, James 4:2-3 gives one of the reasons that God’s people do not receive what they ask for from God: “You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” This is the wrong way to ask God for anything. But Jesus gives us the right way: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matt. 7:7-8) When we ask for the right reason, and we ask with patient perseverance, then we receive what is accordance with His will. Some very practical advice from James is in 4:13-15: “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’” In principle, this is what the Lord advised in Matthew 6:34: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Both contexts are about undue concern and preoccupation with the future, and both admonitions result in the same perspective. And then finally we have the words of James in 5:12: “But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your ‘Yes,’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No,’ lest you fall into judgment.” Jesus had said virtually the same thing in Matthew 5:33-37: “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.” A Christian’s word should be his bond, and both Jesus and James demonstrate that this is a serious matter with God. Now, what is the significance of these parallels? Probably simply that they deal with the same natural outgrowth of faith in God. The teaching of James focuses on the heart of faith, and the love which emanates from it. There is a difference between mental assent to God’s revelation, and what the Bible speaks of when it talks about “faith.” James has had an inconsistent time of it as far as the canon is concerned, largely due to the criticisms of Martin Luther who said “James is not among the right proper books of the New Testament” and that it is “a right strawy epistle” which “has no gospel character” and does not show Christ. Luther’s influence had a tremendous impact on how James was viewed for years, especially in comparison to Paul. But Luther was wrong. The book of James does not contradict the gospel—and a comparison of its content with the words of Jesus will demonstrate this. The overall lifestyle described in the book of James is the same one described in the Sermon on the Mount. It is also the lifestyle of all who follow Jesus Christ. Bryan Dunaway

Many Bible scholars and commentators have noted the similarities between the content of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) and the Epistle of James. There are indeed several interesting and informative parallels which can be observed with great profit. Both the sermon and the epistle have as one of their chief objectives the practical living out of the high calling of God in daily matters. I find at least nine or ten parallels.

“But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” (James 1:4). This statement from James is reminiscent of that of our Lord in Matthew 5:48: “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” In context, Jesus was not talking about sinless perfection, but perfection in the sense of “completeness” or “consistency.” The previous verses bear this out as Jesus was talking about love for enemies. He uses God the Father as the model, He who makes His rain fall “on the just and the unjust” and His sun shine on the same. Perfection, or completeness, in love is what the Savior is talking about. James perhaps provides an inspired commentary on this matter in chapter 1 and verse 4. The perfection that James considers is that which results from “patience” and causes one to be “perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” The overall point in both texts is that we are to be mature and to be in constant growth toward completeness.

James says, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials.” (James 1:2) Jesus had already said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matt. 5:10-12). An interesting point is made, namely that we are blessed by being persecuted. Jesus gives us the eternal reason, that we have a great reward in heaven. But there is also a “here-and-now” reason that James goes on to enunciate: “Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” (James 1:3). Our character is built by opposition.

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:22-25). One of the points that James makes consistently through his epistle is that it is not enough to listen to the word of God or claim faith, but what we claim must be demonstrated by our lifestyle. James says the “forgetful hearer” is like a man who looks in the mirror for no good purpose, as he virtually ignores what he finds. Jesus stated, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. Now everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” (Matt. 7:21-27, NKJV). So just as James compares the one who fails to do God’s bidding to a man looking at himself in the mirror, so Jesus compares him to a foolish man who built his house on sand. It is evident that the “forgetful hearer” James writes about and the “foolish man” that Jesus spoke of is the same type of person.

We see an interesting parallel concerning the intent of God’s law in James 2 and Matthew 5. James 2:11, “For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.” (NKJV) It is not enough to obey one law and ignore another, James said. Jesus ordered, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder,’ and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you are thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny. You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matt. 5:21-28). There would always be those who would see loopholes in the law of God in order to find justification for what they want to do. Both Jesus and James clearly teach that one cannot honor the letter of the law by scorning the spirit thereof.

So that we would know that God’s law is not a cafeteria where we pick and choose, keeping the commandments we like, such as the less important things, while ignoring the “weightier matters” (cf. Matt. 23:23), James says, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” (James 2:10). Similarly, Jesus advised the religious leaders in Matthew 5:18-19, “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

Regarding the way we treat others, especially the less fortunate, James writes, “For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” (James 2:13) That we will be judged with the same attitude and disposition that we manifest toward others is evident from the Sermon on the Mount as well. Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” (Matt. 7:1-2). And we also have the words that it might appear James reworded in his epistle: “But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt 6:15), and, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” (Matt 5:7)

James also asks a question in chapter 2 that has become quite famous and controversial: “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?” (Jas. 2:14). But the point that James makes is both consistently biblical and clearly logical. What you really believe in your heart will of necessity come out in your life (cf. Prov. 4:23) and alter your behavior (Rom. 12:2). There is nothing in this concept which denies the validity of salvation by faith. Jesus said this in the Sermon on the Mount: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” (Matt 7:21) It makes no sense to call Him “Lord” if you don’t do what He says (cf. Luke 6:46), for the title denotes authority over one’s life.

James 3:18 says, “Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” The context is bitterness and conflict among brethren. This statement is simply another way of stating one of Jesus’ Beattitudes: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. (Matt. 5:9). Again, James 4:2-3 gives one of the reasons that God’s people do not receive what they ask for from God: “You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” This is the wrong way to ask God for anything. But Jesus gives us the right way: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matt. 7:7-8) When we ask for the right reason, and we ask with patient perseverance, then we receive what is accordance with His will.

Some very practical advice from James is in 4:13-15: “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’” In principle, this is what the Lord advised in Matthew 6:34: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Both contexts are about undue concern and preoccupation with the future, and both admonitions result in the same perspective.

And then finally we have the words of James in 5:12: “But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your ‘Yes,’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No,’ lest you fall into judgment.” Jesus had said virtually the same thing in Matthew 5:33-37: “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.” A Christian’s word should be his bond, and both Jesus and James demonstrate that this is a serious matter with God.

Now, what is the significance of these parallels? Probably simply that they deal with the same natural outgrowth of faith in God. The teaching of James focuses on the heart of faith, and the love which emanates from it. There is a difference between mental assent to God’s revelation, and what the Bible speaks of when it talks about “faith.”

James has had an inconsistent time of it as far as the canon is concerned, largely due to the criticisms of Martin Luther who said “James is not among the right proper books of the New Testament” and that it is “a right strawy epistle” which “has no gospel character” and does not show Christ. Luther’s influence had a tremendous impact on how James was viewed for years, especially in comparison to Paul. But Luther was wrong. The book of James does not contradict the gospel—and a comparison of its content with the words of Jesus will demonstrate this. The overall lifestyle described in the book of James is the same one described in the Sermon on the Mount. It is also the lifestyle of all who follow Jesus Christ.

Bryan Dunaway