Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?
— James 2:22

You may have asked yourself questions like these: “The Word of God says that by Jesus’ stripes I am healed, so why does it hurt?” or “It is written that God has already blessed me with every blessing of heaven, so why don’t I have enough money?” or “Scripture says that as He is, so are we in this world, so why do people say I’m unbearable? Is Christ unbearable?” and so on. As I wrote earlier, there is the truth, the invisible spiritual reality recorded in the Word of God, and there is also the visible, physical world. Such questions arise when the visible does not match the invisible. Why is that?

Scripture has a concept called perfecting. For example, in Ephesians chapter 4 we read that the Lord gave gifts in the church for the perfecting of the saints. A believer, for example, does not know how to pray for others so that they are healed at once, even though the Power that raised Christ from the dead lives in him. What does he need? Perfecting. John writes: “But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” [1 Jhn.4:18] If a believer is afraid, what does he need? Perfecting. How does this perfecting happen? The same verse says that perfect love casts out fear. Not a person by their own efforts, but God’s love.

Often, when we see some imperfection in ourselves, thoughts come into our head: “I must do something. At least pray.” Some may say: “Jesus has already done everything on the cross, so we don’t need to do anything.” Wrong! So we do need to do something after all? Wrong! “I do” and “I do nothing” are two extremes, and the problem here is not in the doing but in the “I”. Because of this, believers find contradictions like “Paul said the opposite of James, and vice versa.” Everything written in the Bible is truth, and there are no contradictions in the truth; contradictions arise when the “I” is at the centre instead of Christ. So how do we solve the problem? “By looking to Christ, of course.” Wrong! Because the “I” is there: “I need to look to Christ”.

When we read the epistle of James, we immediately think that works are needed. Yes, works, or perfecting, are necessary, but the only question is how the works are done. James writes: “And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ And he was called the friend of God.” [Jas.2:23] We know very well from the book of Genesis that God accounted Abraham’s faith to him for righteousness many years before he offered Isaac as a sacrifice. [Gen.15:6] This is exactly what Paul writes about to the Romans in chapter 4. So what is James writing about? The problem is that we tear faith and works apart, but faith needs works just as the body needs the spirit to live. [Jas.2:26] Just as the invisible needs the visible in order to be manifested. “So what should we do now?” Read the third paragraph again. James writes about how Abraham offered Isaac: “And the Scripture was fulfilled.” Who fulfilled, or accomplished, the word of Scripture? The Holy Spirit. How? Through Abraham. What did Abraham do? He offered Isaac as a sacrifice. Why? God [the Spirit] told him to. Why did he obey? Because he believed. [Heb.11:17-19] This is how faith [the Word] worked through Abraham by means of works [the Spirit].