eternal life Archives - Redeeming God

How to Share the Gospel in a Simple Way

Start with the Invitation Itself

The simplest way to share the gospel is to begin where Jesus begins. He invites people to believe in Him for eternal life. That invitation has three elements: we believe, in a person, for a promise. The person is Jesus. The promise is eternal life. The response is faith.

I have explained this more fully in The Clear Gospel Invitation: Believe in Jesus for Eternal Life. The point here is that you do not need a better word than the one Scripture already uses. The New Testament almost universally describes this response as believing, or as faith. When we replace that word with others we think are clearer, such as trust, commit, repent, or surrender, we often add conditions Jesus did not include, and we risk turning faith into a work.

This is also why you do not need to follow a fixed set of “laws” in order to share the gospel. Those outlines can be useful in some settings, but they are not the biblical invitation. Jesus and Paul are already clear. Texts such as John 3:16, John 5:24, John 6:47, John 11:25-27, and Romans 4:4-5 tell a person what to believe, in whom to believe, and what is promised. If you stay close to that wording, you will not go far wrong.

Think of a Target, Not a Script

One image I have found helpful is a target, or a bull’s-eye. At the center is the invitation itself: believe in Jesus for eternal life. Around that center are many other gospel truths, some closer and some farther out. A person does not need to know everything in the outer rings in order to receive the gift in the center. The farther a truth is from the center, the less a person must understand it before believing.

This is why I have asked, in another study, how much a person needs to know in order to receive eternal life. The answer is not “as much as possible.” The answer is the invitation itself. There are other truths that help a person understand that invitation, and I have discussed those as gospel preparation truths. They are valuable. They are not a second center of the target. If a person already understands the invitation and is ready to believe, you do not have to walk them through every surrounding truth first.

In theory, a person could hear the simple invitation, believe it, and receive eternal life, even if that person knew very little else. I have sometimes used the hypothetical of someone in a remote place who hears only that Jesus gives eternal life to those who believe in Him, and who believes it. Would that person receive eternal life? According to the words of Jesus, yes. In ordinary life, of course, people usually know more than that, and they have questions that belong to the outer rings of the target. The hypothetical is only meant to keep the center clear. We must not add more to the invitation than Jesus did.

Listen, Then Move Inward

In actual conversations, the simple way is often to listen first. People rarely begin with a blank mind. They have questions about sin, about the church, about suffering, about who Jesus is, or about whether God would accept them. Those questions are not interruptions. They are usually points on the outer rings of the target. You can start where they are and move inward toward the invitation.

If someone wants to talk about how a person should live, you can agree that the Christian life matters, and then explain that this is not how a person receives eternal life. If someone is burdened by guilt, you can talk about sin and forgiveness, and then come to the promise of life in Jesus. If someone is curious about Jesus Himself, you can start with who He is, and then say what He offers. The goal is not to win an argument or to finish a script. The goal is to arrive at the center: believe in Jesus for eternal life.

This also means you can mention Jesus, mention the promise, and invite mere belief without waiting until you have covered every objection. A person may still have more to learn. All of us do. But a person does not need a complete theology in order to believe the promise Jesus made. I have a much longer practical discussion of this in How to Present the Gospel. This post is only meant to keep the method simple. Stay with the words of Jesus. Keep the center of the target in view. Answer questions as they come, and do not turn those answers into new conditions.

Keep the Invitation Clear

The reason this matters is that a complicated gospel is easy to distort. When we add extra steps, we often add extra conditions. When we delay the invitation until a person has mastered our outline, we imply that understanding a system is what saves. And when we use words other than “believe,” we can confuse the very people we are trying to help.

Sharing the gospel in a simple way does not mean being shallow, and it does not mean avoiding hard questions. It means knowing what belongs at the center and what belongs around it. Believe in Jesus for eternal life. That is the invitation. If you can say that clearly, listen to the person in front of you, and walk with them toward that center, you have shared the gospel in the way Scripture itself presents it.

Learn More in The Gospel According to Scripture

I discuss the gospel invitation, presentation truth, and how to keep the message clear in my book The Gospel According to Scripture. It is available in Kindle, paperback, and hardcover. You can also read more on the book page.

If you want to study these truths with others, join the RedeemingGod.com Discipleship group.

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How Do I Know I Have Eternal Life?

By JD Myers

You Can Know You Have Eternal Life

Some people think it is arrogant to say you know you have eternal life. They believe the humble thing is to say, “I hope so.” But the Apostle John wrote one of his letters so that believers would know. He says that “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life” (1 John 5:11-12). Then he adds, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).

Notice that John does not say “that you may hope” or “that you may think.” He says “that you may know.” God wants His children to be certain of their place in His family. And it is not arrogant to believe what God has said. If God promises something, the humble response is to take Him at His word. The arrogant response is to doubt Him, or to think that our own efforts must be added to His promise before it can be trusted. I write more about this in Is Certain Assurance of Salvation Possible?

What Does It Mean to Believe?

A person reading an open Bible, asking how do I know I have eternal life

Much of the confusion about assurance comes from confusion about faith. Many people think of faith as a feeling, or a leap in the dark, or a commitment to obey. But in Scripture, faith is being persuaded that something is true. Even the Greek word for faith, pistis, shows this idea: in a legal setting, it was the evidence presented to a court of law. So faith is a certainty based on the evidence provided. When you are convinced that something is true, you believe it. Faith is not measured in amounts. You either believe something or you do not.

This gives us a simple way to know whether we believe something. Try replacing the word “believe” with the word “know.” Do you believe that water is wet? Of course you do, because you know it is true. In the same way, you know you have believed in Jesus for eternal life if you know that His promise is true. You do not need to search your heart for some special feeling. You only need to ask whether you are convinced that Jesus keeps His promise of eternal life.

Doubt Is Not the Enemy of Faith

Some people worry that their questions and doubts mean they do not have real faith. But while faith is the opposite of doubt, doubt is often a pre-condition to faith. We rarely investigate something unless we first question it. And as we look into our questions, we either come to believe something more firmly, or we discover that we were wrong. So if you have doubts, do not run from them. Bring them to God and to His Word. Many believers find that their faith grows deeper and stronger after a season of honest questions.

How Do I Know I Have Eternal Life? Look at the Promise

At the heart of the gospel is a promise. Jesus offers eternal life as a free gift to all who believe in Him. Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life” (John 6:47). He also said, “he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life” (John 5:24). And John 3:16, which so many of us learned as children, says that “whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Notice that Jesus does not say that whoever believes might have eternal life, or will have it if they prove their faith over time. He says the one who believes has it now. So the question is not whether your faith is strong enough. The question is whether Jesus is trustworthy. Scripture says that “God is not a man, that He should lie” (Num 23:19). If you know that Jesus’ promise is true, then you have believed it. And if you have believed it, you have eternal life, because He said so.

Why the Object of Faith Matters

This does not mean that we are saved by faith in faith. Everyone believes something. Even an atheist believes there is no God. It is not the act of believing that gives eternal life, but the One we believe in. Imagine your neighbor told you that he would give you eternal life if you believed in him. You would not believe him, and you would be right. But Jesus is not your neighbor. He died and rose from the dead, and He has the authority to make this promise. This is why the gospel is simple to understand, but not always easy to believe.

Why Good Works Cannot Give You Assurance

A person walking toward the sunrise, picturing assurance of eternal life

Many Christians have been taught that good works are the proof of genuine faith. If you have believed, they say, your life will show it, and if it does not, you probably were never saved. This sounds reasonable, but it robs people of assurance. How many good works are enough? How long must you keep them up? And what about the person whose life is quietly changing in ways no one else can see? God does promise to work in the lives of His children. But Scripture never tells us to measure our standing with God by measuring our works.

In fact, Jesus warned about people who would point to their works on the day of judgment. They will say, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And He will answer, “I never knew you” (Matt 7:22-23). These people were not trusting in Jesus’ promise. They were trusting in their own works. If we look to our works for assurance, we are doing the very thing Jesus warned against.

What Paul Learned About Himself

The Apostle Paul is a helpful example. In one letter he described himself as “the least of the apostles” (1 Cor 15:9). In a later letter he wrote that he was “less than the least of all the saints” (Eph 3:8). And in one of his last letters, he said that among sinners he was the worst (1 Tim 1:15). As Paul grew closer to God, he became more aware of his sin, not less. If he had based his assurance on his works, he would have become less sure of his salvation every year. But because he trusted the promise of God, he could praise God more and more. Good works are important, but they belong to our growth as followers of Jesus, not to our assurance. I explain this in Are good works necessary for eternal life?

What About “Examine Yourselves”?

Quote graphic: If God promises something, the humble response is to take Him at His word. J. D. Myers

Some people point to 2 Corinthians 13:5, where Paul writes, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith.” They believe Paul is telling Christians to check whether they are truly saved. But Paul is not talking about faith in general here. He is talking about “the faith,” which refers to the Christian way of believing and living. Throughout this letter, Paul treats the Corinthians as believers. He is not asking them to doubt their salvation. He is asking them to see whether their beliefs and behavior match who they already are in Christ.

This is an important difference. Paul wants the Corinthians to act like who they are. He does not want them to question whether they have that identity at all. We, too, should examine our lives, not to find out if we are saved, but to see where we can grow in following Jesus. That kind of examination is healthy. It comes from security, not fear.

Can I Lose the Eternal Life I Have Received?

Finally, once you know you have eternal life, you can also know that you will never lose it. Jesus said of His sheep, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28). Eternal life would not be eternal if it could be lost. Paul adds that nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:39). I explain why I believe in eternal security, though not every version of “once saved, always saved,” in this post on eternal security.

This is the freedom God wants for you. When you know you have eternal life, you no longer serve God out of fear that He will reject you. You serve Him out of love and gratitude, because He has already accepted you. That is when real spiritual growth begins.

Learn More About Faith and Assurance

What is Faith? book cover by J. D. Myers

So how do I know I have eternal life? You know it by knowing that Jesus’ promise is true. Look away from your feelings, your doubts, and your works, and look to Jesus. He has promised eternal life to all who trust Him, and He cannot lie. If you are persuaded that His promise is true, then you have believed, and the life He promised is yours today and forever.

If you want to understand faith more clearly, my book What is Faith? How to Know that You Believe explains what faith is, how it works, and what Scripture really means when it talks about believing. It also corrects common misunderstandings about faith and walks through many of the most debated faith texts in the Bible. Get What is Faith? on Amazon and discover the joy of knowing that you have eternal life.

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The Rich Young Ruler and You (Matthew 19:16-24)

By Jeremy Myers

2 Comments

Money! Money! Money! It’s the money episode! In this podcast study, I talk about cryptocurrency, a reader email about tithing, and the story of the Rich Young Ruler in Matthew 19:16-24. We see that Jesus was NOT telling the young man that he had to give up all his money in order to go to heaven. The story is about something else entirely.

Cryptocurrency like Bitcoin and Dogecoin are in the News!

Have you heard of cryptocurrency? They’re in the news a lot this week, so I decided to talk a a bit about them. I explain what they are, why they’re important and gainin widespread acceptance, and how to get some if you want. Ten years ago, Bitcoin was $1. It hit $48,000 today. Dogecoin is the most entertaining cryptocurrency, which causes many to believe it will be the most successful. It currently sits at $.07, and many believe it will hit $1 this year. Where will it be in ten years?

I personally bought a tiny fraction of one Bitcoin and several hundred Dogecoins this past week.

Best and easiest is Coinbase. Use my link to get $10 of free Bitcoin if you buy at least $100. That’s 10% instant profit though, so you might as well take it.

But Coinbase doesn’t sell Dogecoin. So if you want Dogecoin, use Robinhood. Use that Robinhood link to get a free stock when you sign up.

Reader Email about Tithing

A reader sent me a question about tithing this week. He wanted to know if he is really supposed to tithe 10% to his church or not.

I have written a lot about this before. There’s a whole section on tithing in my book (#AmazonAdLink) Church is More than Bodies, Bucks, & Bricks. Here are some links on my site you can read as well:

The bottom line truth about tithing is that most of what we have been taught in our churches about tithing is flat-out wrong. In the Bible, tithing is closer to what you and I would think of as income tax. But even then, the tithe went to help local people, rather than to nameless and faceless governmental programs. Most surprisingly of all, that 10% tithe we so often hear about from our pulpits was primarily for the purpose of hosting a large community party for everyone who came. It was to help pay for everybody to come together once a year for a giant music, arts, and food festival.

There’s a lot more to it than that, but there is nothing in Scripture to support the practice we have today of paying 10% of your annual income to cover the costs of an expensive church building and staff salaries. This doesn’t mean you can’t have buildings and church staff. You can. But what you cannot do is defend the practice from the Bible.

Anyway, the bottom line answer to the question is this: “No, the Bible does not command us to give 10% of our income to the local church.” It is smart to use some of your money to support people, ministries, and causes that you believe in, and to help the poor and needy in your community, but also make sure you are using some of your money to make memories with your spouse and children, and to also enjoy life a bit.

Read some of the articles linked to above (or just get the book) to learn more about what the Bible teaches about tithing.

The Rich Young Ruler in Matthew 19:16-24

I have previously taught about the Rich Young Ruler here and here.

The passages of Matthew 19:16-24, Mark 10:17-31, and Luke 18:18-30 all tell the account of a rich, young ruler coming to Jesus to ask how he can have eternal life. Jesus tells him to give all his wealth away, and then come follow Jesus. The young man went away sorrowful, because he was very rich. After his departure, Jesus and His disciples have a discussion about wealth and the kingdom of heaven.

This is a confusing text for many Christians because many people think that the term “kingdom of heaven” refers to heaven itself. And so many believe that when Jesus taught about how difficult it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, He was saying that it is difficult for the rich to receive eternal life and go to heaven when they die.

Thus, it is taught, the rich must give away their wealth in order to have a chance at eternal life.

But this is a works-based message of eternal life and is completely contrary to the free offer of eternal life found everywhere in Scripture.

If eternal life is freely given to anyone and everyone who simply and only believes in Jesus for it, it would be a biblical contradiction for Jesus to also say that the rich must give away their wealth to receive eternal life.

Thankfully, a proper understanding of the concept of the kingdom of heaven helps explain this apparent contradiction. When Jesus teaches about the dangers of wealth, He is not referring to the difficulty the rich will have in receiving eternal life, but to the difficulty they will have in experiencing the rule and reign of God in their life here and now on this earth.

The Kingdom of God is about the Rule and Reign of God in our life NOW

The context of these passages provides numerous lines of evidence to show that Jesus is talking about experiencing eternal life in our present life through the rule and reign of God, rather than about how to receive eternal life and go to heaven when we die.

For example, other than the initial question by the rich, young ruler in Matthew 19:16, the rest of the passage is about inheriting eternal life, following Jesus on the path of discipleship, and entering the kingdom of heaven. So despite how the rich, young ruler phrased his initial question, Jesus answer a more important question for this particular person.

The Gospel authors understood this, and so the parallel versions in Mark 10:17-31 and Luke 18:18-30 have the rich young ruler have the rich, young ruler asking how to “inherit” eternal life. Furthermore, Jesus later clarifies in Matthew 19:29 that He is only talking about inheriting eternal life (which refers to the present age experience of eternal life), Mark and Luke use the word inherit for consistency’s sake when they record the question from the rich young ruler (Mark 10:17; Luke 18:18).

Now which question did the rich, young ruler originally ask? It is difficult to say. Probably he spoke in Hebrew or Aramaic, and so Matthew translated the man’s word one way while Mark and Luke translated it another. But regardless of what was in the mind of the rich, young ruler, however, Jesus answered his question in a way that reached to the heart of the issue, and the heart of the young man.

Wealth in Jewish society

In Jewish society, wealth was a sign of God’s divine blessing. Due to various promises in the Hebrew Scriptures, it was assumed that if a person was observing the law and was wealthy, God had blessed them with their wealth because of how successful they were in observing the law. This belief would obviously not apply to someone like Zacchaeus, who was clearly making no effort to observe the law, but would absolutely apply to someone like this young ruler.

He believed that he had observed the entire law since his youth (Matt 19:20), and everyone else believed it also (cf. Matthew 19:25).

When Jesus instructed the rich, young ruler to give away all his wealth and then come follow Him, Jesus was challenging this entire way of thinking about the connection between God’s law and human wealth. Jesus was showing that there is no true connection between the two. Wealth is not an outward sign of inner righteousness.

Jesus wanted to show this young man, as well as the disciples, how to truly live in righteousness, which comes through following Jesus in discipleship and living in light of the kingdom of God. But Jesus cannot do this as long as a person is looking to their own ability to be righteous, or to their own wealth as a sign of personal righteousness. So he tells the young man to discard all evidence or thought of personal righteousness and then come follow Him to see what righteous living truly looked like. But the young man went away because he was unwilling to do this.

The Kingdom of God is Entered Through Discipleship

So the answer from Jesus is not about how to receive, gain, or have eternal life, but how to inherit or experience God’s will, purpose, and blessings for our life here and now on this earth. As we follow Jesus on the path of discipleship in this life we will experience the life God wants for us now and also gain treasure for our future life in eternity (Mark 10:21: Luke 18:22).

All of this is about entering into the kingdom of God (Mark 10:23-25; Luke 18:24-25), which is shorthand for entering into the experience of the rule and reign of God in our lives here and now on this earth.

But what about the word “saved”?

Note that the disciples use the word “saved” (Mark 10:26; Luke 18:26), which also causes confusion in the minds of some. But when we recognize that the word “saved” also does not refer to receiving eternal life or going to heaven when we die, then the passage retains its message. Jesus is talking about being delivered and rescued from the problems that wealth brings, so that His followers can experience the rule and reign of God in their life now.

The surrounding context makes it clear that Jesus and the disciples are talking about discipleship and eternal reward rather than justification and receiving eternal life (Mark 10:28-30; Luke 18:28-29).

What Jesus Might Say to Us Today

In modern, Western culture, while some people see wealth as a sign of God’s blessing on a person who is fully obedient to Him, this is not a widely held view. If Jesus were physically walking the earth today, I can imagine a scenario in which a well-known, young pastor comes to Jesus and says, “Good teacher, what must I do to experience God’s life?” The young pastor only asks this because he thinks he is already experiencing God’s life, and believes Jesus will praise Him for his great success at such a young age.

Instead, Jesus says, “Well, what is it that you teach from your pulpit and write about in your books?”

The young pastor would respond, “People must attend church regularly, tithe 10% of their income, read the Bible and pray every day, and not be given to alcohol or drugs. They should also be a good witness at their job by wearing Christian t-shirts, a cross-shaped necklace, and never laugh at crude jokes. Instead, they must hand out Gospel tracts and invite people to church.”

Jesus would respond, “Okay. Go do all of that then.”

To which the young man would proudly boast, “I’ve done all this since I was a kid.”

“Well done!” Jesus would say. “Only one thing is left. Resign as pastor. Stop selling books. Quit preaching. Throw out all your gospel tracts and Christian clothes. Stop tithing to the church. Put your Bible on a shelf for a while, and go have a beer at the local pub. Then come follow Me and we’ll see what’s next.” But the young pastor would go away, thinking that Jesus was a false teacher, for the young man had it all figured out.

In this text, Jesus is showing that there is no such thing as an outward manifestation of inward righteousness. However, if we want to truly experience the life of God in us, and all the riches and blessings that entails, we can stop following religion and instead follow Jesus into a life of discipleship. While Jesus always leads in surprising directions, but also leads us toward a true life with God.

Matthew 19:16-24 therefore, is not about how to receive eternal life, but about how to get rid of the things in our life that we rely on as evidence that we are “good” Christians, and instead just follow Jesus wherever He leads. What things do you look to for proof that God loves and accepts you? That you are doing a “good job” for Jesus? Get rid of such things, and then come to Jesus empty-handed, saying, “Wherever You lead, I’ll follow.”

When you do this, Jesus will lead you into a full experience of the kingdom of God.

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Naked Grace

By Jeremy Myers

Even the Demons Believe (James 2:19)

By Jeremy Myers

24 Comments

Almost every single time I write a post on my blog or on Facebook about how we receive eternal life from God by faith ALONE, someone brings up James 2:19 and says “But even the demons believe!”

In this current series of posts on faith, I have previously taught about James 2:14-26 with a focus on the concept of “dead faith.” But in this final post on faith, I wanted to focus in on this famous verse of James 2:19, and show why people who quote it do not understand what James is saying.

(Note: ALL of these posts on faith are drawn from my book, (#AmazonAdLink) What is Faith? So if you want them all in one place, along with an extended discussion about the nature of faith and how to know you believe, just get the book.)

Let me give you an example from Twitter… By the way, I dislike Twitter Debates. It is impossible to discuss anything tangible on Twitter.

demons believe James 2:19 — This picture is ironic in so many ways. It misquotes the text in several ways to reinforce a misapplication of the text itself. But this is what often happens with James 2:19.

Here is some of what we said on Twitter:

Note that I didn’t tweet the same thing to him over and over and over… he responded multiple times to one of my tweets, and I don’t know how to get rid of that when embedding a Tweet into WordPress… if anybody knows how, let me know!

@jeremyers1 No because as James 2:19b says "the devils also believe, and tremble".

— J.D. Elliott (@jde4zion) January 28, 2013

@jeremyers1 The point is that if she believes a lot about Jesus, but not his resurrection is on par with the devils that had no faith N God

— J.D. Elliott (@jde4zion) January 29, 2013

@jeremyers1 Brother we're arguing over semantics. The devils know who Jesus is. In Luke 4:33-34 they called him out by name. And they…

— J.D. Elliott (@jde4zion) January 29, 2013

@jeremyers1 tremble at the hell that awaits them for opposing the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. The point that I'm making is as Paul…

— J.D. Elliott (@jde4zion) January 29, 2013

@jeremyers1 written in 1 Corinthians 15:12-17 that if she doesn't believe that Christ was resurrected then her faith is in vain, and she…

— J.D. Elliott (@jde4zion) January 29, 2013

@jeremyers1 as Paul said 1 Cor 15:17 she is "yet in your sins".As you said she believes in Jesus, but "not in his resurrection" is vanity…

— J.D. Elliott (@jde4zion) January 29, 2013

@jeremyers1 Because as James 2:19b says even "the devils also believe, and tremble".

— J.D. Elliott (@jde4zion) January 29, 2013

So what does James 2:19 mean?

Here is what I was trying to say on Twitter, which didn’t get stated very clearly at all:

People believe millions of things. I believe that this chair I am sitting in will hold me up. I believe that the earth orbits around the sun. I believe that my children love me. I believe that coffee is a delicious beverage which helps me wake up in the morning.

But none of these beliefs, even though they are correct, will give me eternal life by believing them.

The same holds true when it comes to beliefs about God and Jesus Christ. I can believe a lot of things about God and Jesus. I believe that God exists. I believe that God consists of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I believe that God created all things, that He is holy, righteous, loving, and good. Regarding Jesus, I believe that Jesus was God in the flesh, that He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross, and rose again from the dead. I could go on and on.

But guess what? Just as believing that the earth orbits around the sun does not give me eternal life, so also, none of the beliefs I have just stated in the previous paragraph will give me eternal life by believing them.

The Bible is pretty clear that to receive eternal life, you don’t just need to believe. You have to believe in the right person for the right thing, namely, you have to believe in Jesus for eternal life (John 3:16; 5:24; 6:47).

Eternal life is not given if I believe in Moses for eternal life. Nor is it given if I believe in Jesus for infinite wealth.

If I believe in Moses for eternal life, I am believing the wrong person for the right thing, but if I believe in Jesus for infinite wealth, I am believing the right person for the wrong thing.

According to Scripture, we must believe in Jesus for everlasting life.

So, what do demons believe?

Believe it or not (ha ha!), demons are probably more correct in their theology than most humans. Though I cannot be certain, I assume that demons believe that God exists as the Trinity, and that God is holy, righteous, and good, and that Jesus was God incarnate, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross, and rose again from the dead.

In fact, demons probably know more about God than we do. Demons probably have better theology than many Christians. That is, demons probably believe more accurate truths about God than many Christians do.

The problem with demons, however, isn’t in what they know about God, or in what they believe. Their problem is that they don’t like what they know about God and believe that they can rebel against God and win (this is where their beliefs are wrong).

When it comes to the book of James, and James 2 specifically, lots of people quote James 2:19 out of context. They hear a pastor, professor, teacher, blogger, or evangelist say that to receive eternal life, all you need to do is believe in Jesus for it, and the objector says, “That’s not true! Even the demons believe!”

Right.

Of course demons believe. Humans believe things. Demons believe things. Even animals believe things. We have three cats. When I get up in the morning, one or two of them is always there in the kitchen, looking at me, expecting me to either feed them, or let them outside to do their business. They believe that I am the one who can make these things happen for them.

But so what? Do cats have eternal life because they believe in me for food and that I can open the door? Of course not! So also, demons believe many things, but they don’t get eternal life simply because they believe.

When it comes to receiving eternal life, it is not simple belief that matters, but believing in the right person for the right thing.

So yes, demons believe. But the real question is “What do demons believe?”

More specifically, what is James 2:19 talking about? What is the argument? What is the point?

James 2, Faith, Works, Demons, and Abraham

Below is a super brief synopsis of how to understand James 2:14-26.

James is writing to believers.

First, James is not writing an evangelist pamphlet telling people how to receive eternal life. He is writing to believers about how to live as followers of Jesus and function within the church.

Many scholars and pastors have noted the numerous parallels between the book of James and the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. Just as the Sermon on the Mount is the discipleship manual of Jesus, so also the book of James is a reworking of the discipleship manual for Christians under the pastoral care of James.

He is not telling these believers how to receive eternal life, but is writing to them based on the assumption that they already have eternal life, but need some advice on how to look and live like Jesus in the world.

James 2:14-26 deals with living a profitable Christian life.

The issue in James 2:14-26 is not about gaining or proving that one has eternal life, but rather, living as a profitable servant of Jesus Christ. James mentions profit several times (cf. James 2:14, 16) and the opposite of profit–being dead or useless (James 2:17, 20, 26).

The “profit” he is talking about, of course, is not monetary gain, but living as an energized, successful, fully-committed, faithful, generous, loving, caring follower of Jesus Christ. None of us want to live useless lives, but profitable lives that are useful to God and His rule and reign on earth.

In James 2:14-26 we are told how.

Don’t just pray and believe God; Do Something!

The main point of James 2:14-26 is that believing God can do something is good, but if we really believe God can do something, we will personally seek to be part of the solution.

Specifically, if you see someone who is hungry or without clothes, it is okay if you tell them you are going to pray for them, or if you believe that God can provide for them. But more than just pray for them, and more than just believe that God will give them food and clothes, why don’t you actually be an answer to your own prayers and your own faith, and give them food and clothes!?

That is what James is saying: “Don’t just believe; Do something!”

This is why people get so upset at Christians when we are faced with a troubling situation, or a dire need, and our only response is, “I’ll pray for you!” or “My thoughts and prayers are with you!”

When people are homeless, jobless, hungry, sick, dying, struggling, they don’t need thoughts and prayers. They need Christians do actually do something. This is exactly the point that James is making as well.

James is saying, “When someone is in need … don’t just believe that God can provide for them … YOU provide for them. Don’t just tell them you’ll pray for them …. Instead, you provide for them.”

Do you see? The “believing” (or faith) of James 2:14-26 has nothing whatsoever to do with eternal life. The person is believing that God can give food and clothing to the hungry and the naked. There is nothing here about believing in Jesus for eternal life, and you do not get eternal life by believing that God can clothe and feed someone. Nor do you get eternal life by giving people clothes and food.

Again, eternal life is given to those who believe in Jesus for it.

Now, if James had stopped writing at James 2:16, there never would have been the misunderstanding about the relationship between faith and works in this passage. Everybody would have immediately recognized that James wants us to do more than just pray for people and state our belief that God can help them. We should actually do something for those in need. This point of James is pretty clear in James 2:14-16.

But he goes on to write James 2:17-26, and this is where all the problems with this passage enter. In the rest of this passage, I am not going to work though the entire passage in detail, but just provide a few of the highlights, and point you to the text of a sermon I preached on James 2 several years ago, and I also have a shorter version in Podcast episode 124 when I discussed James 2:14-26.

But here is the main argument of James 2:17-26.

1. Faith Without Works is Dead

The word “dead” does not mean nonexistent, but useless, unproductive, unprofitable. Someone may still have faith, but if that faith is not put into action, it is not doing anybody any good. It does not help those who are hungry and without clothes, and it does not help the person who has the faith. Since the context of this passage is about profitable faith, then “dead” faith is unprofitable faith.

So we must never say “Dead faith is no faith” for that is absolutely not true. Dead faith exists, it is just unproductive and unprofitable.

2. The Objector States His Opinion in James 2:18-19

Someone does not agree with what James is saying, and begins to state an objection in James 2:18. On this, every Bible translation agrees. Where Bible translations do not agree is where the objection ends. If you compare Bible translations on where they put the second set of quotation marks, you will see that they are all over the place.

However, Greek did not have quotation marks, and so authors used other methods to show where the objection ends and the refutation begins. They indicated this by calling the objection foolish (cf. 1 Cor 15:35-36; Rom 9:19-20). In this way, the objector in James 2 is saying everything in James 2:18-19. (See my article on “Epistolary Diatribe.”)

Therefore, the statement “even the demons believe, and tremble” is NOT from James, and is NOT in support of his argument, but is from someone who does not like what James is saying, and is objecting to the point James is making.

In other words, when we quote James 2:19, “even the demons believe” we are siding not with James, but taking the side of someone who disagrees with James.

The basic point of the objector is that he believes there is no connection between faith and works. James says that if we have faith, we should do something with it to live profitable and useful lives. The objector says,

That’s rubbish. The two are not connected at all. Take the cardinal theological belief of Judaism as an example: the belief that God is One. The demons believe this, but it doesn’t affect their behavior. All they do is shudder, but beyond this, this still rebel against God.” So their faith does nothing for them.

Note, by the way, that faith in Jesus for eternal life is NOT what demons believe.

Sure, we can assume that demons believe that if people believe in Jesus for eternal life then those people will receive eternal life, but the demons themselves cannot believe in Jesus for eternal life, because eternal life has not been offered to them by Jesus.

But this is not the belief of demons that James is writing about. The only thing demons believe in this context is that God is One, which is the central and most important belief in Judaism.

The Masterful Refutation by James

In the rest of the passage (James 2:20-26), James refutes what this objector said.

He notes that the objector used the most important belief in Judaism, so James says “Oh yeah? Two can play that game,” and to prove his point he uses the most important figure in Judaism: Abraham, the father of faith.

And he uses a particular event in the life of Abraham to prove that Abraham’s faith led him to obey God and perform certain actions, which in turn, allowed people to recognize that Abraham was truly God’s friend.

It is important to note that the event James is referring to takes place in Genesis 22, many years after the initial faith of Abraham in Genesis 15.

Whenever Paul refers to the faith of Abraham, he is referring to Genesis 15, when Abram was declared righteous by God. But James is referring to the events in Genesis 22, when Abraham was declared righteous by men, that is, they saw what Abraham did, and said, “Wow. He truly does believe in the God he claims to serve, and look what happened as a result! He truly is the friend of God!”

James then goes on with the knock-out punch. He has proven his point with the Forefather of Faith, Abraham, so he now takes the opposite extreme and shows how his point applies to the foreign, sinful, prostitute Rahab.

Rahab also believed something about God, and when the spies came to her, she acted on what she believed to deliver and rescue them. If she had just believed in God and done nothing, she still would have had the faith, but it would have done nothing to deliver her, her family, or the two spies. But because she acted on her faith, her faith became profitable.

James has proved his case and proved the objector wrong. If all you do with faith is believe, that is well and good, and it is still faith, but to truly be profitable, effective, energizing, and helpful in your own life and in the lives of others around us, you must act on what you believe (James 2:26).

This is the meaning of James 2.

Eternal Life IS received by Faith ALONE in Jesus Christ ALONE

So don’t let anyone tell you that faith is not enough when it comes to receiving eternal life. Of course it is! Jesus Himself promises it!

But when it comes to helping others, and getting rid of sin in our lives, and clothing the naked, feeding the hungry (James 2:14-26), taking care of orphans and widows (James 1:27), controlling our tongue (James 3:1-12), etc., etc., etc., just believing that God can take care of these situations is not enough.

Faith is the beginning, but in all these areas where God calls us to get involved, we must do more than just pray; we must do more than just believe. We must do something!

What do you think of this explanation of James 2:14-26, and especially the statement in James 2:19 about the faith of demons? Does it help this passage make more sense to you?

Does it help it fit better with what we read in the teachings of Jesus and the writings of Paul? Has it cleared up in your own mind some of the confusion around the role of faith and works?

Let me know in the comments below, and if you want more clarification, get my book, (#AmazonAdLink) What is Faith?

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So what does James 2:19 mean?

So, what do demons believe?

James 2, Faith, Works, Demons, and Abraham

James is writing to believers.

James 2:14-26 deals with living a profitable Christian life.

Don’t just pray and believe God; Do Something!

1. Faith Without Works is Dead

2. The Objector States His Opinion in James 2:18-19

The Masterful Refutation by James

Eternal Life IS received by Faith ALONE in Jesus Christ ALONE

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