James tells us if we do not put our faith into action in the trials, tests, and temptations, our faith will not do us or anyone else any good. To understand how James connects faith to works, you need to understand that James uses keywords differently from Paul. When James talks about “works,” he does not mean “the works of the law” that the Jewish people thought would merit their salvation. He means “works of love and mercy” that are expressions of our faith.

Many of us have exercise equipment or home gyms or gym memberships that we, at least at some time, considered to be very important. But it’s also true that many of us don’t use those exercise “tools” as much as we should, right? I think we would all agree that buying exercise equipment and gym memberships but seldom using them doesn’t do us any good. In the same way, James makes the same point about faith. He says that faith—if it’s going to do us or anyone else any good—has to be “exercised,” expressed—it has to be put into action to make a difference in our lives. Faith, separated from application—is useless, worthless, dead—it won’t help you one bit.

Read James 2:4-26

Think about this. Abraham was justified/declared righteous before God when he believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. But how do we know he was a man of faith? Wasn’t he also justified by his works—didn’t he demonstrate his faith in the promises of God—when he offered up his only son Isaac on the altar? Do you see how his faith was active in his works—in what he did—and it was because of that act of faith that Abraham received the great blessing of being called “a friend of God.”

Unapplied faith is as dead and useless as a lifeless body without a spirit.