Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | James 2:14 ¶ What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | James 2:14 ¶ What is the benefit, my fellow believers, if someone claims to have faith but has no [good] works [as evidence]? Can that [kind of] faith save him? [No, a mere claim of faith is not sufficient--genuine faith produces good works.] |
Subject: Zana Hodges study of James 2:14-26 |
Bible Note: DJ: It is people like Zane Hodges and his horrific, antinomian views which make me so glad that I am no longer identified with the theological bent that he has. This "exegesis" is nothing but drivel from a man who twists Scripture to try and show that faith is nothing more than an intellectual nod of the head about the most minimal bit of doctrine. His views fly in the face of God's holy standard, reducing the works that come from faith as merely a nice addition to the Christian life, but by no means essential at all. According to Hodges, the most reprobate person could pray a prayer, live the rest of his/her life in complete disregard of God, and go to Heaven. Apostasy to Hodges is completely impossible. More specifically, here in his terrible treatment of James, he does damage to the word in several ways. First, he takes a very obvious, rhetorical question from the verse cited above and says that indeed a dead faith can save eternally. He rips the passage from the previous context of God's judgment upon human beings and says that the saving here regards our mortal lives, not our immortal souls. What nonsense! He goes on to say, "[T]he presence of a dead faith shows that this faith was once alive." Again, nonsense! "Dead" simply means "lifeless." If we carry Hodges' argument to its logical conclusion, then when Paul says in Ephesians 2 that we were once dead in our tresspasses and sins, then at some point previous to that we were spiritually alive. Goodbye, original sin and a sin nature! Hodges says that the saving here is in reference to our own lives, but all of the illustrations he uses from James chapter 2 talks about the effects of our "works-less faith" on OTHERS! Finally, he re-interprets James 2:19 from the Greek in such a way that changes its entire meaning from how every major Bible translation has rendered the verse (by translating the phrase most often rendered "faith WITHOUT the works" as "faith FROM works"). Therefore, his argument becomes as absurd as the tone in which he alleges that James is adopting here. This is exactly what happens when someone takes a couple of verses and uses it to re-interpret the entirety of Scripture (in this case Ephesians 2:8-9) rather than letting the rest of Scripture give context to the couple of verses. James does not write that works save. We are saved by grace through faith. But a "faith" that does not manifest itself in a changed life (read: works) is not a real faith at all; and as James 2:14 implies, it IS dead and CANNOT save anyone. Take a read through the New Testament. Look at the words of Jesus. Read the letters of Paul. Then read James and Hebrews and 1 and 2 Peter and 1 John, and then come back and try to tell us that works have no necessary place in the life of a believer. No works? Then there is no faith. And that is the point of James 2 (and the rest of the NT). Be very, VERY careful of what Hodges writes. It is theology like his which give millions of sinners a false assurance of salvation. The road to eternal life is a narrow one, and Hodges has dedicated himself to making it seem as wide as he can. How wide, you ask? Would you believe that he has recently written that someone can be saved without knowing ANYTHING about the cross of Christ? He did, and here is a quote: 'Let me put it to you this way. The Gospel of John is the only book in our New Testament canon that explicitly declares its purpose to be evangelistic. Of course, I am thinking of the famous theme statement found in John 20:30-31, where we read: “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” 'This statement does not affirm the necessity of believing in our Lord’s substitutionary atonement. If by the time of the writing of John’s Gospel, it was actually necessary to believe this, then it would have been not only simple, but essential, to say so."' He actually wrote this in an article in the Autumn, 2000, issue of the Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society, denying the necessity of knowing that Jesus dies for our sins in order to be saved! The URL is http://www.faithalone.org/journal/2000ii/Hodges.htm if anyone else wishes to see the entire article in its context. No wonder R.C. Sproul has called this teaching "pernicious." Imagine how many people have bought into this lie and are happily living as so-called "carnal Christians" with Jesus as "their Savior but not their Lord." Nothing short of heresy that flies squarely in the face of historical Christian doctrine. If you sense that Zane Hodges makes my Bible-loving blood boil, then I have made my point well. --Joe! |