Doctrine of the Angelic Conflict, part 38 – The essence of God – Justice. Jam 2:14-21; .

Title: Doctrine of the Angelic Conflict, part 38 - The essence of God - Justice. JAM 2:14-21; .

 

The cross, or the gospel is our introduction to justice and now the believer has the opportunity to live in justice.

 

The believer operates in God’s justice when he does in thought, word, deed what divine Righteousness determines.

 

What righteousness demands justice executes and the same is true for the believer. Whatever he knows of God’s righteousness will spur him to action in thought, word, and deed and as such he would be experientially justified before all witnesses in the AC.

 

Positional justification - at the moment of salvation, being justified before God forever based on the work of Christ.

 

Experiential justification - when imputed divine righteousness reveals itself in deeds or fruit (thought, word, action). In this sense the word comes to mean vindication.

 

We can actually use vindication for justification at salvation since faith in Christ vindicates the work of Christ. God can do nothing that is not holy, righteous, and justified, and if faith in Christ opens the grace pipeline for God to impute +R and justify the believer forever, then the work of Christ is vindicated as complete or finished.

 

Post salvation vindication or justification by works has nothing to do with salvation, rather it is the evidence or vindication of the +R of God in the believer functioning by means of grace.

 

Our Biblical example of this is in Jam 2.

 

JAM 2:14 What use is it, my brethren, if a man says he has [has and holds or clings to] faith [quality of faith - faith resting with doctrine ready on the launching pad], but he has no works [thought, word, or deed]? Can that faith save him [deliver him in time]?

 

James is addressing the believers in Jerusalem who have been poor witnesses to those unbelievers who are always around them. They keep telling them they have faith, but there is never any evidence of it. Not in faith rest, a relaxed mental attitude, a kind word, a gracious act, nothing is being produced. And by comparing this epistle with the one written to the Hebrews we can conclude that these born-again Jews have been fooled into receding back into the Mosaic Law. The dog returns to the vomit. Is there any vomit that you have returned to? We all fall for it. That’s why we have such passages in the word of God.

 

JAM 2:15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,

 

JAM 2:16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?

 

Believers are to inhale faith (PM) and exhale faith (A).

 

JAM 2:17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself [no working object].

 

In verse 14 we had the anarthrous construction of the noun pistis stressing the quality of faith or faith resting with doctrine ready to go from the launching pad of the heart. This is a relaxed mental attitude that says, “Whatever comes my way, I’ve got the doctrine to handle it.”

 

Now in verse 17 we have an arthrous construction of the noun pistis (definite article) stressing the object of faith or the identity of the noun, which is the mind of Christ or Bible doctrine.

 

 “faith” h` pi,stij[he pistis - arthrous] - “the faith” or doctrine, that which is the object of faith.

 

That little definite article makes a technical difference in the translation of the passage. You say you have doctrine in your soul, but there is never any fruit produced from it, not even a relaxed mental attitude, in fact you continue to freak out and then get gitty happy, back and forth, back and forth, like any unbeliever you are ruled by your emotions and your circumstances and so we must conclude that you are a corpse. This is not suggesting that I never fail, but what it is suggesting is that I never succeed and those who are frequently around me that are unbelievers never see one bit of production from my doctrine that I claim to hold on to or cling to.

 

 “dead” - nekro,j[nekros] = the dead body or corpse. Spiritual death for the unbeliever; operational or temporal death for the believer, i.e. the branch not abiding in the vine resulting in a dried up spiritual life.

 

Hold your place:

EPH 5:14 For this reason [exposure to the light - wisdom] it says,

"Awake, sleeper,

And arise from the dead,

And Christ will shine on you."

 

EPH 5:15 Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise,

 

EPH 5:16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil.

 

 

JAM 2:17 Even so faith [the doctrine], if it has no works [no production], is dead [corpse], being by itself [no working object].

 

The living dead, which have become very popular lately, is the condition of the believer who has rejected doctrine as the object of his faith so he has put his faith in something else …. Brains!!!

 

 “being by itself” = no working object. For the unbeliever - Christ is the working object. For the believer - doctrine.

 

For the unbeliever faith in Christ escapes spiritual death. For the believer faith in doctrine escapes temporal or operational death. This reveals that the believer always has faith in something, but if his faith is misplaced, not being in the working object of doctrine, then it is faith alone, which is as good as a corpse.

 

So by exhaling doctrine or not the believer can be a spiritual plum vs. a spiritual prune. Prunes are only good for one thing. Even if you have a little doctrine there should be a little application. I don’t mean the mission field or taking on responsibilities in the church, just simply the application of what you know and have metabolized from God’s word.

 

The thing that the devil can’t stand is not some jackass standing on the corner passing out tracts, but when the believer gets Bible doctrine on that launching pad; because this is his kingdom and he can’t stand Bible doctrine. He knows its power, its dynamics and its effectiveness.

 

In no way is it suggested here that I do stuff to be noticed by others. If you have that attitude you are on a works program. What is suggested is that if you really do hold on to and cling to doctrine then there will be fruit, because your faith is in a working object, and the word of God is alive and powerful, therefore the branch abiding in the vine will produce fruit. Those who are playing church, who have learned a certain spiritual vocabulary, but do not really cling to doctrine as that which can deliver them in and out of every situation, are only fooling themselves and likely, no one else.

 

The working object of faith does the work. For salvation it is Christ, for production of fruit after salvation it is the word of God under the FHS.

 

JAM 2:18 But someone may well say, "You have faith, and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works."

 

We are back to an anarthrous construction again, as in verse 14.

 

 “You have faith” [anarthrous] = you have a faith but without the proper object; doctrine.

 

Now here is the call to vindication or justification by works. Show me your faith without the works is impossible since faith is invisible. However, fruit is often visible and can reveal faith in doctrine. That’s why the anarthrous construction is used here, it is not “the faith” or doctrine that the person is clinging to but “a faith” which is faith in something else. For his audience “a faith” refers to the Jewish believers in Jerusalem who have gone back to the Mosaic Law and the temple sacrifices; back to works and deism, faith in one God and loss of the love for Jesus Christ.

 

Now remember that James is instructing a large audience, he’s not challenging some individual believer, for that would be wrong. The works themselves are actually incidental. They are not putting their faith in doctrine but in something else and so they have no fruit.

 

This quickly becomes about the Angelic conflict. If you’re going to be called to the witness stand as an expert witness you must be the producer of something that is quantifiable in the Supreme Court of Heaven. Jesus Christ cannot call up a believer and ask them to show their faith, since faith is invisible and most of all since faith in the wrong object is death. However, He can ask for fruit to be shown, as is the case of Abraham and Rahab that James’ uses as examples.

 

The expert witness in the AC can only reveal fruit or the production of divine good in thought, word, or deed.

 

It is no coincidence that these fruits are what we are evaluated for at the JSOC. Therefore, technically, every believer is going to be called to the witness stand with Christ alone, kind of like an interview of a witness and it will be determined by works whether the believer is a good or poor witness. Salvation for both is secure.

 

Often, divine good works are revealed by what you didn’t do. You didn’t freak out, you didn’t reach for a chemical substance, you didn’t swell up your soul with mental attitude sins.

 

The best way to see the truth of this is to imagine that this letter came in the mail to you personally. If you read, “Show me your faith by your works,” you could ponder for a few moments of some incident in the past few days or weeks where you applied doctrine and the evidence was at least a RMA or something else. Since you could answer the question in your own soul you would conclude that your faith has been placed in the right object, the working object of Bible doctrine. Answering the question in the affirmative you move on, however, if you cannot answer the question and cannot even think of a time when you have applied doctrine lately, then it’s time to rethink what you have been placing your faith in.

 

However, God is going to throwallow some doozies to come your way so that the doctrine you cling to can shine like the glory of God.

 

God has promised to fill you with His very happiness if you advance spiritually and prosper in your soul with His personality, but He never said that there would be no problems.

 

1 Peter 4:12

 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;

 

Now James turns to the Jews in Jerusalem who have left their first love and have gone back to the Mosaic Law, works, Judaism, etc. and so it is as if he’s talking to unbelievers.