Faith and Works: The Meaning of James 2:26

"It's not about works." Many of us have been taught that trying to 'earn' our salvation by what we do is an insult to the Messiah's blood. Since he paid the price for us we are free to do, well, almost anything we want so long as we are trying to serve him and mean well. We can set aside the commandments of the Creator if they aren't convenient to our lifestyle today. All we have to do is believe, any expectation on ourselves to live a certain way is an affront to the Messiah himself.

Is this what Scripture teaches? James 2:26 says that faith without works is dead. This passage makes it clear that our actions and deeds are significant to YHWH. James makes it clear that faith and works go together. Works alone aren't enough, but just having faith shows there is a conspicuous lack in our lives. This used to be a confusing concept to me (and no doubt to those who tried to remove this passage of Scripture from the Bible), I would hear it and then remember Galatians 2:16, that we are declared righteous by faith in the Messiah and not by works of the law. How do these fit together?

Let's take a step back to see that a better rendering of this passage from Galatians would be, "We are declared righteous by faith in the Messiah, and not by the works of the Aaronic priesthood." Scripture is not teaching that the commandments given to  the priests are wrong or bad, but they were only a temporary covering of sins until the Messiah came. We are not made righteous by the sacrifice of animals. It is not saying that the choices we make have no consequence before YHWH or in our lives. 

Like with the animal sacrifices, our actions alone are not going to make us righteous. You could keep every Sabbath of your life and never covet your neighbor's possessions, but without the Messiah it is not enough. However, once we have faith in the Messiah our works should reflect that! He himself said that if someone loves him they keep his commands (John 14:23), so don't think for a minute that your actions don't matter to him.

The Messiah wants us to love him, and therefore he wants us to be obedient to the commandments in Scripture. Not that our salvation depends on being able to perfectly walk that out every day. Like a loving husband, he offers grace and mercy when his bride is not perfect. Not to worry, your salvation doesn't depend on you. But you showing love to the Messiah? You get to do that by keeping his commands.