James instructs us that there are two categories of faith—(1) faith that has works and is thus living and (2) faith that does not have works and is thus dead. Works and faith are not the same thing. Rather, works are produced by a genuine faith and are, therefore, evidence of it.

Dead Faith

James is a realist about religion. He frequently invokes the category of dead, deficient, or false faith as a foil to the living faith that the apostle enjoins on his readers. Indeed, James repeatedly warns his readers that verbal claims or religious self-assessments do not necessarily indicate one’s true spiritual condition. To properly understand the category of living faith, one must also acknowledge the category of dead faith. One category necessitates the other.

James wastes no time in introducing the category of defective faith. In James 1:5, he commands persons who lack wisdom to ask God for it. The apostle further notes that some persons who petition God for wisdom may not really ask “in faith” (James 1:6). In other words, they ask God but doubt whether he is good, able, or inclined to answer their petitions. James tells us, “That person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” (James 1:7–8). James does not construct a nuanced continuum but only offers two ways of prayer—one in faith and one doubting. And the doubting man is double minded and receives nothing. We should observe that the doubting, double-minded man still has an outward religious expression—in this case, prayer for wisdom. Yet, that outward religiosity is condemned as tragically deficient.

James’s exhortation about praying in faith is reflective of much of his letter. James confronts his readers with stark spiritual dichotomies, similar to patterns found in wisdom literature, such as the book of Proverbs or in the opening lines of the Didache.¹ James’s polarities confront the reader with the realization that, in the final analysis, beliefs and behaviors only end in one of two ways—life or death. With such a confrontation comes the invitation to respond appropriately.

1. Prayers That Lack Faith

Christians with sensitive consciences may feel too easily condemned by James’s insistence that prayer be offered in faith. Indeed, for a modern reader to summarily tell other persons that they have not had their prayers answered because they do not have the requisite faith would likely be spiritual abuse. Yet, in constructing a full-orbed biblical view on faith, we must remember that Jesus repeatedly demands faith from those who approach him and qualifies his healings with statements such as “According to your faith be it done to you” (Matt. 9:29). When Jesus’s disciples could not heal a child with demonically induced seizures, they privately asked Jesus why. He replied “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matt. 17:20).

In noting the necessity of faith in prayer, however, James does not condemn the maturing cry of a striving faith (“I believe; help my unbelief!” Mark 9:24); he is instead describing the mindset of one who does not rely on God while emptily mouthing a petition for help. Praying while not trusting the goodness, power, or inclination of God fits in the category of deficient faith, hypocrisy, and empty religiosity. At the same time, it cannot be emphasized enough that to insist on faith for answered prayer is not the same as concluding that unanswered prayer is necessarily a sign of defective faith.

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