“…and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?”
and one of you says to them,
The phrase “one of you” indicates that James is challenging Christians in their callousness toward the poor. The challenge is to a faith that talks a good line but produces no real action.
“Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,”
James here depicts a heartless Christian who utterly discounts the welfare of fellow Christians by greeting them with a cavalier and supercilious attitude. The quotation “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled” points to a contemptuous attitude that puts the onus entirely on the person in need: “What is wrong with you? Why don’t you go out and get a job?”
Mere kind and religious words do not help the poor. Christianity operates not only in the spiritual world but in the concrete world of helping people in financial need. Nice words are not enough in some situations. If people are starving, they do not listen to the message.
but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body,
The word “needed” means the necessities of life; the things that the body needs. This was a real situation in Jerusalem because of the persecution of Christians (Ro 15:25-31; 1 Co 16:3).
what does it profit?
James repeats this phrase for emphasis (Jas 2:14). This question, “What does it profit?” indicates that the comment “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled” is an utterly hollow answer. This faith has no “profit” or advantage to the financially poor. An abstract faith cannot clothe or feed anyone.
True faith invigorates the Christian to take concrete action. Dead faith is passive and without production in the Christian life. The best way to determine the genuineness of our faith as Christians is to look at our works.
PRINCIPLE:
Faith is an operative principle that always puts what it knows into experience.
APPLICATION:
A passive faith ultimately hardens the heart. A person with a hardened heart is a purveyor of words. A person starving cannot eat words. Words do not clothe the body. Lovely sentiments without actions are utterly unfruitful. The person with a dead faith is a supplier of words, not action.
I have had some contacts in the Philippines and visited twice there. Even though my original contacts were romantic at first, God, through others and his word, let the poorness of the people and children, but the rich spirit convict me, of all I have here, and how content the people there were, without much. They do have strong faith in the ROP , but when I saw and realized and heard the needs that went beyond any romantic state, I realized that James, 2-14-20 was speaking directly to me , when at first I said to them, go find some work, don’t you have relatives or friends, etc etc. I realized that the answer was , they are as poor as me, so I couldn’t escape the fact of the gross phoniness in my words and when I read it through study, I had to step in and give, and let God deal with the rest as my faith was just a sounding gong or worse. I’m stuggling with a friend that is a Christian, and also a woman, who only see’s my contact with these people and some woman, as threatening. I hope she can see that I have to give in light of God’s word, not for any other reason now. Trying to understand it all. Thanks
Bill, it seems to me you have hit the heart of this passage.