Grace and Works

Read this from James 2: 14-17:

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Surely that faith cannot save, can it? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? ¹⁷ So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

So many people, I think, interpret this to mean that our salvation is through our works, rather than God's grace.

In Matthew 25, we have three stories: The Parable of Ten Bridesmaids, the Parable of the Talents, and The Judgement of the Nations (of course, the original writing didn't have these titles - we given them to the passages). The last one is the story of the sheep and the goats. Matthew 25:35-36 says, "I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me."

I may be the last person on earth to notice the parallel between the Matthew passage and the James passage. 

What does it mean that faith without works is dead, and what does it mean that judgement comes from looking at the evidence of what we have done? Here is my attempt to explain it.

I believe that our salvation is a gift of grace. God comes into our lives, before we even know about God, and saves us. That salvation makes a difference in our lives today, our lives tomorrow, and into the eternal future.  We are changed. The grace is a gift, and we have done nothing to earn it. I'm not even sure we can reject it - it is a gift. What we can do is ignore it. We can turn away from God - the gift is there, but we don't "open it." We don't allow it to make any difference.  However, when we have the faith enough (also a gift from God) to believe, the grace can't be contained.  Our lives are changed, and we follow God. We take care of other - we share that love and grace with all.  That is the fruit of our faith; faith is the fruit of the grace.

We don't earn being a sheep by giving someone a drink of water; we are giving people water and food - love and caring - because of the grace.  Works are not our ticket to salvation; salvation (a gift of grace) is our path to good works.