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James 2: 19 You believe that there is one God. Good!
Even the demons believe that – and shudder. (NIV)
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Belief in the one God does not mean salvation.* |
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Recently,
someone told me that she believes in God but she doesn’t believe in Jesus. She
is one of those “we’re all going to the same place just taking different paths”
people. Wouldn’t it be nice if believing in God was all we had to do to be
saved? Well, maybe not so nice for heaven because that means the devil and his
minions will be there. And not so nice for Jesus because that would mean that
he suffered and died for nothing.
James’
little display of sarcasm is directed at his readers who believed that faith
alone meets the requirements for salvation. In this passage and the verses
surrounding it, he makes two points: we aren’t saved by faith and we aren’t
saved by works. If faith was enough, we would be sharing heaven with those
shuddering demons. If good deeds could save us, any altruistic, hardworking
heathen has a chance at eternal life.
But
the equation still doesn’t add up. Faith plus good works doesn’t equal
salvation. We are saved by the grace of God. We can’t work our way to heaven;
no amount of faith merits eternal life. It is only through the sacrifice of
God’s Son that we are saved from hell. Obedience to God’s plan is how we acquire grace, not how we earn it.
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Salvation was free to us, but expensive to God.* |
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