You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.
How do you tell if the light is on or off when the refrigerator door is shut? Answer: You can’t. It is not possible to prove a negative.
How do you prove that there is no green cheese on the moon? Answer? You can’t. Until you look under every single rock on the moon, you cannot prove that there is no cheese there.
We cannot prove a negative. I cannot “prove” that a person who has no deeds cannot be saved by God because such a person does not exist. Everyone does some kind of deed.
Does that invalidate the argument James is making? No.
James flips his argument and uses a positive example to prove his point. Could Abraham have been considered righteous if he had ignored God’s instruction to sacrifice his son?
Application: Just like Abraham, our faith is only as alive as our followthrough.
Food for Thought: How do you define ”proof?”
When I think of proof I think of evidence to establish or corroborate a statement. Thus, deeds provide evidence of our faith. It provides evidence that the Holy Spirit has affected change in our hearts.
Thanks Rich!
I think you have offered “evidence” that “proof” is hard to come by. When we talk of proof, what we are really getting to is something that will convince us that what is being claimed as true is really true. For example, is it really true that 2+2=4? I can explain it to someone, but what I tell them is only considered proof if they agree that the result is true. Hopefully, we all recognize 2+2=4 is true. I also hope that all will recognize that the Bible is God’s word and that Jesus is our Savior!