Faith and Works (Part 3)

The last two weeks, we have looked at what James says about faith and works. He said in 2:14-17 that a professed "faith" that fails to produce good works is not a saving faith. In the next section (2:18-20), James says that a genuine faith will produce good works. In this final section (2:21-26), James gives two examples of faith producing good works.
His first example of good works produced by saving faith is Abraham. Abraham had put his faith in God back before God had given him his promised son. But God asked Abraham to do a very difficult thing: offer up his son Isaac to God. Abraham didn't understand how Isaac could be the promised son when God wanted him to be offered up, but he was willing to obey. He was willing to follow through to the very end. This action proved that Abraham's faith was a real faith, a genuine saving faith.
Abraham was saved by faith, and James points that out fact by quoting this verse from Genesis: "Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness." Abraham was not saved by a faith that was "alone," or separate from good works; no, Abraham's saving faith demonstrated that it was real by obeying God. Rahab was another person who put her faith in God, and then demonstrated how real that faith was by risking her own life to protect the Israelite spies from the king of Jericho.
James' conclusion is similar to verses 20 and 17: "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." If a person is not breathing, we might presume them to be dead. If somebody claims to be a believer (have faith), and their life does not demonstrate good works, we would presume their faith not to be genuine. A genuine saving faith will produce good works.