Recapitation, 2/20/08

Hello friends! We discussed James 2:14-26 last night. Much of this was similar to the beginning of the chapter, but we pulled out a few main ideas that stood out. This may be a bit rough, but here's the main thoughts:

We observed several key words that were repeated and stood out: faith, deeds, action, foolish, dead, righteousness...and a few key names: Ambraham, Rahab, demons. We though it was interesting that Rahab and Abraham were the two examples used. More on this later.

Next we noted that demons seem to be able to have a theoretical understanding of faith. If we have this theoretical knowledge, but it is not paired with action, we are no better than the demons. Interesting thing to be thinking about if you're sitting in a cubicle at seminary...

We wondered what it means to be "justified" by faith. We are familiar with the idea that only faith in Christ can save us, so where do the works fit in? Faith without works is empty, spirit-less, and James compares it to a dead corpse. To be justified by works gives life, courage, energy, and a path for our faith to follow. It connects us to our fellow believers and also brings us closer to God. We can communicate and demonstrate our faith through our actions.

Juliann mentioned that postmodern thought often focuses on the lack of an objective truth. Therefore, how can we know that we are saved or justified by our faith? Action is one way our faith is made real for ourselves also.

We also touched on what kind of deeds do we need to be doing, and how do we know that they are the right actions guided by God/faith and not by our own logic? James seems to emphasize that our actions should serve the whole person, providing our brothers and sisters with physical needs. Greg brought up a point that if we are keeping our focus and prayers on God, we should have courage to try out our actions and trust God to guide us along the way. It is easy to be wrapped up in a holding pattern of not acting, just worrying about where to step next. Through our faith, and by activily seeking to grow in our faith, we can be bold and step out in action. Checking back in with prayer may help us. I think this points to the freedom in Christ that we are invited to enjoy. Freedom to act-- in Christ. It gives a purpose to our actions.

We considered Rahab and why James included her in this section. We noticed that she already had the knowledge that God is the one true God, and her actions of hiding the spies and risking her life showed that. Faith and deeds.

Amanda gave an example of bringing cookies to the work crew at thier house. She wanted to uplift them, but wasn't sure if they would understand this or even appreciate the gesture she was giving. But she took courage and did it anyway, and I think the workers appreciated them very much.

So we talked about homework a few weeks ago...
Here's our challenge!
Find a way to put your faith into action this week. Be brave. Don't show favoritism. Use prayer. And tell us what happened next week. I already forgot about this until I saw Kim's email, so thanks for the reminder! Enjoy your week!
-Alicia