Question: "Why is faith without works dead?" Answer: In his epistle, James makes the statement “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26). Faith without works is dead faith because the lack of works reveals an unchanged life or a spiritually dead heart. There are many Scriptures that make it very clear that true saving faith will result in a transformed life which is demonstrated by the “works” we do. How we live reveals what we believe and whether the faith we profess to have is a living faith. James 2:14-26 is sometimes taken out of context in an attempt to create a works-based system of righteousness, but that is contrary to many other Scriptures. James is not saying that our works make us righteous before God, but instead he is making it clear that real saving faith is demonstrated by good works. Works are not the cause of salvation; works are the evidence of salvation. The person who claims to be a Christian but lives in willful disobedience to Christ with a life that shows no works has a false or dead faith and is not saved. James is clearly making a contrast between two different types of faith—truth faith that saves and false faith that is dead.
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Question: "What can I do when I am under spiritual attack?" Answer: The first thing to do when we believe we may be under a spiritual attack is to determine, as best we can, whether what we are experiencing is truly a spiritual attack from demonic forces or simply the effects of living in a sin-cursed world. Some people blame every sin, every conflict, and every problem on demons they believe need to be cast out. The apostle Paul instructs Christians to wage war against the sin in themselves (Romans 6) and to wage war against the evil one (Ephesians 6:10-18). But whether we are truly under spiritual attack from demonic forces or just battling the evil in ourselves and that which inhabits the world, the battle plan is the same. The key to the battle plan is found in Ephesians 6:10-18. Paul begins by saying that we must be strong in the Lord and in His power, not in our own power which is no match for the devil and his forces. Paul then exhorts us to put on the armor of God, which is the only way to take a stand against spiritual attacks. In our own strength and power, we have no chance of defeating the “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (v. 12). Only the “full armor of God” will equip us to withstand spiritual attack. We can only be strong in the Lord’s power; it is God’s armor that protects us, and our battle is against spiritual forces of evil in the world. |
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