Dead faith cannot be activate by works. Dead faith is not incomplete faith. It is imitation faith. It is a claim without foundation in reality.
One may strive very hard to make that faith a reality, but it will never be matured. It is a pseudo faith, rotten to the core. It is of the wrong substance. It is of the substance of human striving and self-righteousness. Dead faith will never be infused with life. Works piled on top of it only guarantee that it will never rise again. Paul described saving faith as โ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ด (Hebrews 6:1).โ The blood of Christ is said to โ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ด (Hebrews 9:14).โ
For forty years Abraham had been walking around with a testimony that he believed God. For forty years Abraham had been counted righteous in Godโs sight. Then the day came for the ultimate test of faith. Bound hand and foot, lying on an altar, was a young boy with no descendants, whom God had said would have children as the stars of heaven. If Abraham killed his royal seed there would be no nation, and Abrahamโs forty years of believing would have been in vain. That left Abraham and God with only one possible solutionโa resurrection! Abraham, the believer, after forty years, still believed. God would raise him from the dead! (Hebrews 11:19). The earlier faith which justified him is here seen at work. His actions justified his claim to faith. He did not become any more righteous, but he did manifest that same faith which previously justified him. When James concludes with, โโฆ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ (James 2:26),โ he is talking about the quality of faith.
He does not say, as many read, โSo then if a man has faith, but does not add works to it, then HE is dead.โ He says that where one claims to have faith and does not have works to prove it, then the FAITH is dead. The man does not have a living faith, as demonstrated by the lack of works. Workless faith is worthless to save.
To proceed to add works would not bring the faith to life any more than standing a dead man up would restore life.
โ Michael Pearl
Justification and the book of James
