This Faith Kills: James 2

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James finally says it out loud.

After circling the issue for a chapter and a half, he looks it in the eye and asks the question many of us would rather avoid: Can that kind of faith save you? Not “Does faith save?” — but what kind of faith actually does?

In this episode, we slow down over James 2:14–26 and wrestle with one of the most unsettling passages in the New Testament. James isn’t debating Paul. He’s not pitting works against grace. He’s exposing a misunderstanding about the nature of faith itself. There is a version of faith that is all words and no action. A version that affirms the right truths but produces nothing in real life. James calls that faith useless. He even calls it dead.

Using examples like caring for the poor, the shocking comparison to demons who “believe,” and the stories of Abraham and Rahab, James presses a single point: real faith always shows up. It moves. It changes direction. It pushes back against sin. It grows over time.

But this episode is not about perfection. It’s about direction. We talk honestly about sensitive consciences, ongoing struggles, and what it means for a “new owner” to move into the house of your life. Faith isn’t proven by flawless obedience, but by increasing conviction, growing affection for Christ, and a life that slowly begins to look different.

If James feels intense here, it’s because he loves his readers enough to warn them. There is a kind of faith that cannot save. And there is a kind that is alive.

Stay tuned as we take on the verse everyone wants to talk about — James 2:24 — and dive even deeper.