"Faith is action!" says a young man in my Sunday School class. I resist the urge to drop my face into my hands. What on earth does he mean? Did belief somehow get deleted from the faith equation? Did action suddenly become a virtue of itself? I understand our culture is very doing-oriented, but when did a religious emphasis on action become a replacement for scripture?
Now, I think I can understand why people feel this way. On multiple occasions, church leaders have expressed the idea that faith requires action. However, it behooves us to do some deeper study to understand what is meant by this. The scripture we have ultimately derived this from is James 2:17-18.
17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
If I have belief but no action, according to this scripture my faith is dead, or in other words, it's not faith. In fact, the following verse (James 2:19) is an even more striking insight into this topic, saying "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble." Surely nothing the devil does can be a virtue. Belief itself is not virtue, but it can be helpful when it expresses itself as true faith.
One of the problems with our understanding involves the language. To me, action connotates something somewhat different from works. 'Works' suggests the idea of work, which is actually a better word to describe the process than action. Work includes the thoughts, the passion, the effort and the planning, not just the action. There is such a thing as internal work, or work on the level of thoughts and on the level of changing one's desires. There is no more difficult form of work than to make a mighty change of heart. Sincere prayer and repentance are intense forms of work. That is why I prefer the term work. Faith without works is dead. Technically speaking, however, the term action is correct. To think, to change one's desires and to plan are all actions. However, we don't generally think of action in these terms. So you can say faith without action is dead, but you must move beyond the generally accepted meaning. You must recognize that thoughts and even desires are actions.
The question of 'what is faith?' is probably one of the most debated ideas in history. It should be no surprise that if we feel overwhelmed by the topic, we may simply turn to a quote by a church leader, assume we understand it's meaning, and repeat it. We should never assume though. We should study and pray for deeper understanding. We need to learn to accept how little we really understand. Perhaps it is only when we are pure in heart and have the Holy Spirit with us that we can really perceive the true meaning of faith.
What is faith? I can give you my best language to describe what I understand of it, but language limps and so do people's understandings. One thing I know though is that faith is not the same as action, even action that may be considered positive. Imagine if someone were to really live by the idea that faith and action are the same. They may become obsessed with service, which may extend more out of a sense of obligatory obedience than actually out of love. They may discredit their own righteous desires, believing they are not faith. No, we cannot think this way. I am not denying the statements of the church leaders or the scriptures. I am actually defending it. They never said, "Faith is an action". They said that faith includes action, or works.
I am no general authority of the church, and I understand that we want a reliable source for our ideas. So I won't give you an article on what I think faith is. However, I am going to risk telling you what faith isn't, so that you can challenge your own notions of faith. I want you to study faith out for yourself, to make it a matter of deep contemplation, scripture study, and prayer. What is more essential to living the Gospel of Jesus Christ than living by faith? Faith in Jesus Christ is the first and foundational principle of everything we believe. The only way to truly understand spiritual things is by revelation from God. I don't want you to trust me. I want you trust Him.
