It is extremely difficult to follow the thought of James in verse 18. He
is usually wonderfully perspicuous, but here we are in doubt as to the
punctuation and the reference in “a man.” Some scholars think that it is
a delicate way that James has of referring to himself, but then James is
emphasizing works, not mere faith.
Is the sentence a question or an assertion? Shall we say “but” or “yea”?
Hort has shown a way out that is partly followed by Moffatt. Take the
“man” as an objector, but let his objection cover only the first
sentence, the point being to challenge the faith of James, since he has
put such accent on works. “Thou, James, hast thou faith? I also (as well
as thou) have works.” The objector thus claims to have both faith and
works but implies that James has only works and no faith.
The rest of the verse is then the reply of James to the objector.[72]
James bursts in with the answer to the challenge and rests his claim to
faith on works as proof. “Show me thy faith apart from thy works, and I
by my works will show thee my faith.” Here James pits over against each
other the two sorts of faith—the true faith which James claims to
possess and which is proved by works and the false faith which is mere
profession and entirely apart from works. The antithesis is complete.
The dispute turns on how one knows that he has faith. James rests his
case on his works and in turn challenges the objector to prove his faith
apart from works.
Now James is ready to drive the point home. He proceeds to show that
such an empty faith as his objector has is mere intellectual assent to
propositions and is not saving trust that bears fruit in the life. “Thou
believest that God is one.” This is one of the statements of the unity
of God. The usual formula occurs in Deuteronomy 6:4 and in Mark 12:29
(“The Lord our God, the Lord is one”). The recitation of this phrase was
not merely the orthodox creed but was supposed to have saving efficacy
(cf. the Moslem repetition of “Allah”). From the time of the exile the
repetition of the _Shema_ (Deut. 6:4 ff.) each morning and evening was
the duty of every pious Israelite. “Whoever reads the _Shema_ upon his
couch is as one that defends himself with a two-edged sword” (Meg.
3_a_). “They cool the flames of Gehinnom for him who reads the _Shema_”
(Ber. 15_b_). Oesterley (_in loco_) adds that “the very parchment on
which the _Shema_ is written is efficacious in keeping demons at a
distance.”
These statements will help us to understand the atmosphere from which
James draws his illustration. And yet James does not ridicule this
mental assent to the oneness of God. “Thou doest well.” Orthodoxy is
better than heresy. Orthodoxy is “thinking straight,” and that is what
we all need to do. Every man is right in his own eyes, and the rest are
a bit “off.” But good as monotheism is, it is not enough (cf.
Mohammedanism again).
What James criticizes is mere intellectual assent with no vital union
with God. “The demons also believe,” as well as you. The demons know
only too well that God is and that he is one. They are monotheists, not
polytheists. They recognized Jesus: “What have we to do with thee, Jesus
of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the
Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24). Compare Matthew 8:29 and Luke 4:41. The
demons are thoroughly orthodox on this point, have intellectual assent
(“faith”), but they are still demons. They even shudder at the fact and
the power of God as they feared Jesus (Mark 1:24; Luke 8:29). The word
means to “bristle,” like the Latin _horreo_, with the hair standing on
end. “Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood
up” (Job 4:15). So Daniel (7:15) says, “My spirit was grieved.” The
argument is as complete as it can be.