Just Another Messianic Weekly Devotional-September 9, 2016

By Rabbi John Wesley A. II  

In today’s devotional we have a quote from James (Yaʻaqov) the half brother of Jesus (Yeshua/Yahushua). It is important to address some of Jesus’ siblings in order to historically shed light on the importance of both James’ and Judas writings. James was one of four brothers total (The Gospel of Mark 6:3 and the Gospel of Matthew 13:55-56 state that James, Joses (or Joseph), Judas, and Simon were the brothers of Jesus, the son of Mary (Maryam in aramaic). [Please note:The same verses also mention unnamed sisters of Jesus]. The author uses the word “SIMILE” in this devotional to correlate the word “faith” and “spirit” together in order to emphasize the significance of how essential it is to use “faith” properly. Now a Simile pronounced ˈsiməlē is defined as a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid (e.g., as brave as a lion, crazy like a fox ).  So in this scripture passage “James 2:26 NKJV- For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”  It is quite unfortunate that we seem to deviate outrageously south from what should have been an awesome daily devotional. Instead we have to endure a biblically inaccurate theological dissertation pertaining to the topic “spirit, soul and body.” He begins by interconnecting the word “spirit” and “soul” together as one. OMG, how wrong can that be; that is like promising someone a wonderful organic three course meal then serving it to them straight from a filthy cesspool in plain sight and expecting them to eat it! Really!?!. Yeah I know that one was quite the graphic example,  but the Body of Christ has no idea as to the gross error in that statement. And Yes I am very aware of where it originated … but that still doesn’t make it right! In short, why don’t we just allow the bible to explain itself. James was as stated earlier the half brother and disciple of Yeshua. As His disciple he would of believed and did as Yeshua taught. Yeshua in turn said this … in John 8:28 KJV “Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am He, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.”  

So the billion dollar question (with a “B”) is what exactly did The Father teach Yeshua pertaining to the spirit, soul & body doctrine? All one has to do is read what Jesus said about the subject; Mark 8:35-37 NASB “For whoever wants to save his life (the real him) will lose it, but whoever loses his life (the real him) for My sake and for the gospel will save it. 36 What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?  37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

The scripture say that when Yeshua died he gave up his spirit to our Heavenly Father who received it while Yeshua was on the cross; Luke 23:46 KJV “And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.”

So what Rabbi why is this important? If you believe that the spirit and soul of man are the same then we are guaranteed to go to heaven no matter what we do in this body after salvation. Eccl. 12:7 KJV “ Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” If you believe the bible that the spirit, soul and body are three different components then where is the soul going in this after death analogy? Don’t worry it was a rhetorical question … smile! A better question to answer at this point is which part of Yeshua went to hell for us (the real us). Answer: The soul! No one would argue the point that Yeshua went to hell for us. But if you ask anyone which part of him went to Hell …. Now that causes one to scratch their head and then assume the thinking position for some time.  Usually you get the phrase “Hmmm … I never thought about that!?!” or “Never thought of it that way!?!” Sorry for ranting but this is one of many of my pet peeves. Yeshua as prophesied years earlier by King David clearly stated that Yeshua’s soul (the real him) would have to go down to hell. But I so enjoy the way Luke writes about how Peter preached about this encounter in his own style on the day of Shavuot (Pentecost): Acts 2:25-33 KJV “ For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: 26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:  27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul (the real me)  in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One (the real Yeshua’s body) to see corruption.  28 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.  29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. 30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ (the real him)  to sit on his throne; 31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ (the real him) , that his soul (in this passage he always was referring to the soul of Christ as the real him which) was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. 32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. 33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.”

Okay! Okay already! … I best stop there! I hope you can enjoy the rest of this devotional after this?

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

— James 2:26 NKJV

In our verse for today James puts forth a simile. On the one hand, there is the body and the spirit. On the other hand, there is faith and works. The two pairs are comparable to one another.

The spirit or soul of a human person is the quickening or vivifying principle of the body. It is the spirit that makes the body alive. The body is not completely and finally dead until the spirit leaves the body for good. Indeed, the body apart from the spirit is not even the body anymore, but a mere corpse. Spirit and body were designed by God to be connected to one another (Genesis 2:7). Death is the disruption of that connection.

One would think, given the biblical point of view, that faith should be comparable to the spirit and works should be comparable to the body. This is because faith is best regarded as the inward quickening principle of the outward visible acts of a person. Faith, to put it another way, determines the direction that our outward acts take.

James, however, reverses what we would expect. Instead of comparing spirit to faith and body to works, he compares spirit to works and body to faith. This is because, from his point of view, faith apart from works is not true faith at all, but a mere intellectual assent to a dogma. It is not, in other words, the quickening principle of good works that it should be. Such "faith" is just as dead as a body without the spirit.

James is not contradicting the Apostle Paul's teaching that Christians are justified by faith. All he is saying is that the true faith that justifies us will by nature yield up good works. If it never does, then something is wrong with it. It is dead. Paul's point is that mere obedience to a law can never justify us. James' point is that mere intellectual assent to a dogma can never justify us either (James 2:24).

In summary, James' point is that it is important that our works reflect the faith that we have in our hearts. If our works never show the quickening of true faith, then that faith is not true faith at all.