The Evidence of True Faith - Abraham
James 2:20-26
Returning to our text, James decides to use two examples from the Old Testament in demonstrating the truth of how God intended faith and deeds to work together. Remember James’ congregation is made up of Jewish converts to Christianity. People who have been grounded in the knowledge of the Old Testament...especially in their understanding of the founding father Abraham.
James says, “...do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?” This is a familiar story to most people but let us review for a moment. In Genesis, chapter 15, God makes a promise to Abraham that he will have a son. At this time he and Sarah were childless and they were getting up in years. The important part of the story is found in verse 6 where it says, “Abraham believed the Lord, and He (God) credited it to him as righteousness.” You may be saying, “What does that mean...he credited it to him as righteousness?”
Have you ever wondered how people in the Old Testament, how people who lived before Christ, got saved? Jesus had not gone to the cross and died for their sins yet so how can they accept him? The secret lies in this short statement by God about Abraham here in Genesis 15:6. Abraham believed God, and this would be what we are calling a heartfelt belief not a head knowledge, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
The word credited here is a bank term. It actually means God made a deposit for Abraham’s sake. What kind of deposit you may ask? A deposit of righteousness to be held in his account in heaven until Jesus finished his work on the cross. Do you remember where Abraham went after he died? We see in Luke 16 the teaching of Jesus as he tells the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus. In the story Abraham's presence is revealed to us and we can deduce this is where he has been since his death. The term "Abraham's bosom" referred to a place of contentment, peace, and rest.
So here we have Abraham in a place many Bible scholars have called “paradise” which is the same place Jesus promised the thief on the cross would be after his own death (Luke 24:43). Paradise has been said to be a place similar to the garden of Eden but it was not heaven. Revelation 21:27 tells us that no sin can enter heaven and the presence of God, therefore Abraham could not enter heaven until Jesus died and shed his blood for the remission of man’s sins. So Abraham had to go to what I call a “holding station” until Jesus completed his redemptive work. This is the place described in Luke 16.
Now, back to Abraham’s deposit. Because he believed God a deposit, in heaven, was made to Abraham’s account. The deposit was not in the form of money, but in the form of righteousness. This righteousness did not come from Abraham because we have seen in Scripture “there is none righteous, no not one” (Romans 3:10). Righteousness can only come from God and it was God’s decision based on the future events of Jesus going to the cross that He chose to put a deposit of righteousness in Abraham’s account.
The word “righteous” (and righteousness) used in verses 21, 23, and 25 are actually the same word as the word “justified” used in verse 24. Just as English words can have different variations of definitions based on how the word is used in a sentence so it is with the Greek language. The Greek word used here in James means “righteous” and “justified” based on the context of its use in the sentence. I bring this up because the words are important to understand in the context of how faith and actions “work together” as James declares here in the text.
The word righteous and righteousness simply mean to “be right with God”. It means you are in a right relationship with God, as I said earlier...not on your own merit, but because you have been “justified” by God through the work of salvation by Jesus Christ. To be justified means you have been declared “innocent”...pronounced “not guilty” by God. In the text we are studying James makes the point that Abraham was declared “righteous” by God and the proof of his righteous state...his righteous relationship with God was demonstrated by his actions. Abraham believed God….so God put a deposit into Abraham’s account declaring him innocent (justified), based on Jesus shed blood for Abraham’s sins, and Abraham responds to his righteous relationship with God by demonstrating good works.
How is your faith? Would you consider yourself as being "right with God"?
