General Epistles

I loved reading James and seeing the differences and similarities to 1 Corinthians. James was broader and was speaking to the church in general and not just one specific church. James also spoke more about works in salvation and faith rather than just believing. James describes the relationship between faith and works. He teaches that a person of faith without works demonstrates useless faith. What good is a person’s faith if they don’t present it to the world? A believer’s good works are evidence of their faith in Jesus Christ. He also teaches that everyone is a sinner and that if one of the 10 Commandments are broken, then that person is guilty of breaking every one of them, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all” (2:10). Although I agree there should be actions and works, I also think there should be a full belief in Jesus and actions. But that’s how it is at my church we focus on both works and faith, we have a ministry at my church called Love Works which works through Hope’s Ministry of Care and Compassion that serves the local communities in tangible ways: one person, one family, one community at a time.  And we have things called Super Saturdays that are held most second Saturdays of the month where we meet the needs of people in our surrounding communities and through nonprofit organizations. I think this is kind of what James was talking about although he is saying that it should be all about works and I disagree on that part of it.