Even the demons believe . . .

So how does faith save?

In my last post, I gave a simple argument that we’re saved through faith alone. Briefly, Jesus says that all believers are saved; if all believers are saved, then belief is enough to be saved; so belief is enough to be saved. I’ll come back to that argument over and over again, but for now, I want to turn to a major objection: James 2:14-19 just proves it has to be wrong. Take a moment and review the passage. I’ll wait . . .

Welcome back! I can see at least two arguments from this passage that suggest we’re not, in fact, saved by faith alone. The first is that demons believe and they’re not saved. The second is that since faith without works is dead, then faith without works can’t be a saving faith. Works follow as a consequence of genuine faith. Let’s consider each of these in turn.

Demonic faith

The argument here goes something like this: if it’s true that all believers have eternal life, then since “the demons also believe,” they would have eternal life, too. (This observation isn’t limited to James. Cf., for example, Matt. 8.)

So if the demons believe, then why aren’t they saved? The obvious move is to say that demons may have faith, but it isn’t saving faith. They have a head faith, we may say, but not a heart faith. They haven’t submitted to His Lordship. On this view, if the demons would go on and repent of their sin and make Jesus Lord of their lives, then they would have genuine, saving faith. In just this way, the argument goes, the so-called believers in James 2 didn’t have genuine faith. They had the kind of faith demons have—an intellectual faith that acknowledges who Jesus is without living out that truth. This argument may seem persuasive, but it’s built on two unfounded and incorrect assumptions.

Can demons be saved?

The first assumption is just that demons can be saved. But where does the Bible ever offer demons salvation? Jesus took on a human nature (Phil. 2:5-11) and died for our sins (Gal. 1:4). He rose with a glorified human body so that humans could be glorified and live with Him forever (Dan. 12:1-2; Rom. 8:23). There’s just no reason to think that any of this applies to fallen spirits.

If there is no reason to think that demons can be saved, there is no reason to say that if demons believed (per James 2:19) that they would be saved. Therefore, we can’t use their belief to distinguish between genuine/saving faith and fake/non-saving faith.

Is salvation from hell?

The second assumption is that the salvation in view in James 2 is salvation from hell. Where, though, does this idea come come from? I’ll do a deeper dive on the word “salvation” in its various forms in another post, but let me give two reasons we shouldn’t make this assumption about this passage.

Reason 1: “Salvation” just doesn’t mean “take me to heaven”

Suppose I’m drowning in a pool and I yell to the lifeguard, “Save me!” Am I asking him to take me to heaven? No. Just the opposite. I’m saying I don’t want to die! So we should be able to see that the word “salvation” really only means “to deliver us from some danger.” What the danger is that we’re being saved from is determined by the context, and I want to humbly propose that nothing in James suggests that he has the threat of hell in mind. The epistle is much more concerned about actual death brought about by sin (Jas. 1:14-15). We might assume James has “spiritual death” in mind, but that idea just isn’t in the context. Instead, James worries that if a foolish Christian “deceives his heart, this man’s religion is worthless” (Jas. 1:26). James wants us to be mature and blessed, not foolish and crushed.

Reason 2: James doesn’t use the word “salvation” to refer to salvation from hell

Other verses in which James talks about salvation might give us a clue about how he thinks about it. If salvation from hell is in view in James 2, we should expect it to be in view in other places he talks about it, too, right?

James 5:15 strongly suggests that James does not have salvation from hell in mind. He writes there that if a sick person asks the elders to pray for him then “the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick” (WEB). The word translated “heal” (σῴζω, sozo) is the same word translated “save” in Jas. 2:14. To be fair, there are some interpreters who think that James is describing the Catholic sacrament of holy unction and take this refer to salvation from hell. But I would suggest that the natural reading of the text is that James is concerned with physical healing and so deliverance from physical death. And, yes, James talks about forgiveness of sins in the context. But this doesn’t put hell in view, either. Rather, it ties back into Jas. 1:14-15. When we sin, it can bring about actual death. Take a moment and think about how sins like drunkenness, adultery, and greed can actually destroy your life. Sometimes, God may bring illness into our lives in response to those sins as a matter of discipline. If we repent and confess of those, we can be delivered from that divine chastisement. That’s what James has in mind.

Dead faith

The second argument for why faith isn’t enough to save us relates to the famous Jas. 2:14. The question James asks is straightforward: “What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him?” The answer is no. Such a faith cannot save because, as verse 17 goes on to say, such a faith is “dead.”

But if you followed the argument above, perhaps you can immediately see the problem. There’s no reason (other than tradition) to think that James has in mind salvation from hell. People seem to think that a dead faith is somehow a fake faith. But that’s just false. A dead car is still a car. A dead body is still a body (cf. v. 26). Some people say that if your faith doesn’t produce works, it was never real, but that’s not what James says. He just says it won’t profit you anything. Dead faith isn’t fake faith; it’s an unprofitable faith. You’ll still suffer divine chastisement. Hungry people will still starve. Naked people will still freeze. You’ll never become wise, and ultimately, you won’t be a friend of God. The call is to enliven our faith with works, not to make our faith real by works.

Burning down strawmen

Before I wrap up, there are two arguments I want to make sure that no one is attacking. First, in denying that James is talking about salvation from hell, I’m not saying that people can sin all they want. James says that sin has serious consequences. I’m denying that, at least for the Christian, one of those consequences is eternal hell. Just because I’ve sworn to never disown my own children doesn’t mean that there are no consequences whatsoever if they disobey me!

Second, some in my camp think that if you do say that real faith produces works that you’re committed to a works-based salvation. But that’s false, too. To be sure, I think some people do use Jas. 2:14-19 to defend a works-based salvation. But the claim that real faith produces good works (a view I don’t hold, by the way) doesn’t mean that works are a condition of salvation. If I step in soft, powdery snow, I’ll leave a footprint. No footprint means I never stepped there. But that does not mean that leaving a footprint is a condition for stepping in the snow. Whether or not works necessarily follow true faith is more related to our view of the Holy Spirit promises to do in the Christian than it is about the conditions for salvation. So we need to be careful to distinguish between arguments about necessary results and necessary conditions. I’ll take that up in another post when we talk about assurance of salvation.

This has been my first post on James 2. It will definitely not be my last! There are many more issues in these important verses that we need to understand—and many more arguments to address—if we want to be fruitful, useful Christians. We’ll get there soon. I mean, the text does say we’re justified by works and not by faith alone . . .