Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

this sin is defiling the temple of God, and that this requires the death penalty
(1 Cor. 3:16-20)! He concludes by forbidding the Corinthians to glory in man
(1 Cor. 3:21). Incidentally, he is clearly confident that the Corinthians will
heed his advice (1 Cor. 3:22-23).
Second, the “Carnal Christian” doctrine runs counter to, and goes against
the grain of, the total teaching of Scripture, of Jesus (Mt. 7:24-27; 13:3-9;
18:23; Lk.8:5-18), of Paul (Rom. 6:1-23, esp. 2, 12, 16, 18; 8:10-3; Gal. 5:6,
16-25; Eph. 2:8-10; Phil. 3:19; 1 Thess. 4:3,7; Tit. 2:13-14; 3:4-8), of Hebrews
(10:16-17; 12:1-14, esp. 4,10, 14, 26-29), and of the Pastorals (1 Pet.
1:15-16; 2:2, 24; 2 Pet. 1:5-11; 2:20-22; 1 John 1:6; 2:15-17; 3:2-10, esp. 9,
5:18; Jude 3-23). James is no exception. Faith is either active or it is not
worth a dime! His illustration puts his readers on notice, and calls them to serious
self-examination. However, there is more. As we shall see, James argues
that faith is not just active in the abstract. It is a “powerhouse” (See Heb.
11:1ff) that will undoubtedly make the “haves” light up in their solicitous
care for the “have-nots.”
516
(2) Illustration of Dead Faith (2:15-17)
This illustration conveys that pious words without deeds are a sham. Imagine
meeting fellow believers, whether brothers or sisters, 244 who are cold and
shivering, because they are inadequately dressed, if not dangerously underdressed
(“naked”), undoubtedly without the substantial outer garment or top
coat necessary to survive (Job 22:6; Is. 58:7; Mt. 25:36) (Martin, 84, with reference
to 1 Sam. 19:24; John 21:7; Acts 19:16; see also Lk. 6:29). While the
term “naked,” therefore, is to be understood as figurative rather than literal, it
vividly points out the desperate need of the believers in question. “For good
measure” they are also starving, experiencing severe hunger pains and clearly
without the necessary food supply for the day (Adamson, 122). “Their need is
dramatic and immediate” and their vulnerability beyond question (Johnson,
238). In fact, they are terminal cases in which nothing less than mercy is
mandated! Incidentally, this kind of conduct comports quite well with the
disdainful way in which poor visitors are treated in the beginning of the
chapter. James clearly eyes an issue that has a long, but regrettably not very
venerable, history with its untold number of destitute and perishing human
beings, both from a biblical (Is. 58:7-9; Mt. 25:34-45; 1 John 3:17-18) (Moo,
1985, 103) as well as secular perspective (Phillips, 83).
Furthermore, the words you proceed to speak in this situation are conventional
(Mk. 5:34; Lk. 7:50), on the surface rich in content (Rom. 1:7; 1
244 The conjunction “or” makes it unlikely that James has husband-and-wife teams in mind.