Colossians 1:9-14 - 9 And so, from the day we heard, we have
not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of
his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a
manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good
work and increasing in the knowledge of God. 11 May you be strengthened with
all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with
joy, 12 giving thanks[a] to the Father, who has qualified you[b] to share in
the inheritance of the saints in light 13 He has delivered us from the domain
of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we
have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. What is faith? The one who pleases God is the one who is
full of faith in the God. Faith has a great meaning in the Bible. This verse like many other verses explains
the meaning of faith. One who is in faith will be filled with the knowledge of
his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner
worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and
increasing in the knowledge of God. So, Paul is in constant prayer for the
saints in Colossians so that they may be filled with the knowledge of his will
in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of
the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and
increasing in the knowledge of God. Actually Paul is praying for the increasing
faith of the Colossians and to the visible expression of bearing fruit for
Christ. We cannot bear fruit without faith. “Faith Always Bears Fruit.”
Faith brings actions. So Apostle James says, James 1:22 Do
not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says and
he continues, James 2:14What is the profit, my brethren, if faith, any one may
speak of having, and works he may not have? is that faith able to save him?
Many people gets confused it with the doctrine of justification by the merit of
good works which all the religion teaches - the salvation by the merit of your
works but Bible teaches and here James teaches the opposite - it is not your
work but the work of God fulfilled through you by your faith in God. Even the
Great Martin Luther got confused with the Epistle of James. Luther, supposing
that James did actually teach the doctrine of justification by works, which his
good sense showed him to be absolutely insufficient for salvation, was led to
condemn the epistle in toto, as a production unauthenticated by the Holy
Spirit, and consequently worthy of no regard; he therefore termed it epistola
straminea, a chaffy epistle, an epistle of straw, fit only to be burn. James is
not speaking in religious and fleshy terms but spiritual terms where our faith
produces result. James 2:17, 19 in the same way, faith by itself, if it is not
accompanied by action, is dead. You
believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
Faith does not just believe in God. If you think that is it then demons have
more faith than you. Believing that there is a God and even fearing God are all
actions demons do and God expects much more from us.
James explains it
clearly with the example of Abraham and Rehab. How could they please in the
midst of their circumstances? Abraham was a pagan, son of an idol maker. In
Acts 7:2-3 Stephen explains it to people who came to stone him. And he said,
‘Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham
when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran and said to him, “Depart
from your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show
you” The call of Abram is recorded for us in Genesis 12:1: “Now the Lord said
to Abram, ‘Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your
father’s house, to the land which I will show you.’” Abraham understands the
futility of the traditions of his father from his experience but what God was
asking in return was something impossible. First of all, Abram’s age was not a
factor in favor of leaving Ur for some unknown land either. Moses tells us that
Abram was 75 when he entered the land of Canaan. In those times social security
provided only among their own clan and when you walk alone there is ninety nine
percent probabilities that you will be killed. How can he believe in such an
unknown God who gave him some vague promises? He believed in such drastic
conditions and that was rendered as righteousness. Even today in this modern
age we cannot take our family and wander through the places Abraham had
wandered facing all the hardships. So how could Abraham fulfill the wish of God?
The answer is faith
This is the faith with actions according to Apostle James.
James goes to to the other extreme to the testing of this faith of Abraham by
God and obeyed completely. He did not care for his son but his God. For him God
was above everything in this world. How will you understand you have faith? You
will pass God's testing. Many people will have faith but when it comes to
testing they will fail. This is also faith with actions. Dear brother and
sister if we have not passed through test of faith and has passed it
successfully, our faith is useless. So Abraham came out successfully and God
calls such people as His friend. James 2: 21-26 was not our father Abraham
considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the
altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his
faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that
says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”[b]
and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered
righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. Without bearing fruit our
faith is incomplete. Paul chose Abraham as the finest example of a man who is
justified before God by faith apart from works (Romans 4). The writer to the Hebrews pointed to Abraham
as an illustration of a man who walked by faith, devoting more space to him
than any other individual in chapter eleven (Hebrews 11:8-19). In Galatians
chapter 3 Paul wrote that Christians are the ‘sons of Abraham’ by faith, and
therefore, rightful heirs to the blessings promised him (Galatians 3:7,9).
Consider Rahab, the prostitute, who did a heinous crime
against her own nation. She is already a anti-social but with her action she
became an anti-national too. The first part of Rahab—“Ra,” was the name of an
Egyptian god. As an Amorite, Rahab belonged to an idolatrous people, and had a
name meaning “insolence,” “fierceness,” or “broad,” “spaciousness.” While Rahab’s parents, brothers and sisters
were alive at the time of her association with the spies Joshua sent out, we
are not given any of their names (Joshua 2:13).
in the royal genealogy of Jesus, Rahab is referred to as being the wife
of Salmon, one of the two spies she sheltered. In turn, she became the mother
of Boaz, who married Ruth from whose son, Obed, Jesse the father of David came,
through whose line Jesus was born (Matthew 1:5, where the asv reads, “Salmon
begat Boaz of Rahab”—not Rachab). Salmon was a prince of the house of Judah,
and thus, Rahab, the onetime heathen harlot, married into one of the leading
families of Israel and became an ancestress of our Lord. How could she do this
crime and became referred as having faith equal to Abraham? James 2:25 In the
same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she
did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different
direction?
Jericho was the worst of the cities of the Amorites, and God
commanded Joshua to destroy both the city and the inhabitants. By divine
decree, it was to be given over to a perpetual desolation. Rahab hid the spies,
put those who sought them on a false trail and helped the spies to escape and
melt away into the shadows of night, and lay concealed until they could reach
Joshua with their report, she took her life in her own hands. We cannot but
admire her courage and willingness to risk her own neck. Had those spies been
discovered hiding in her house, she would have died at the hands of the king of
Jericho. Yet with a calm demeanor, and without the slightest trace of inner
agitation, she met the searchers and succeeded in setting them out on a false
trail. To hide spies was a crime punishable with death. Seeing the faces of the
spies filled with fear, Rahab assured their hearts that she was on their side,
and in spite of the sacrifice involved said, “I will not betray you. Follow
me!” By military law the spies were likewise liable to instant death because of
the threat of war, and Rahab, willing to do all in her power to protect her
nation’s enemies, faced a like terrible end. How gloriously daring was her
faith, and how richly rewarded she was for her willingness to sacrifice her
life in a cause she knew to be of God!
How could she do that again for the God of Israelite? She
has heard about the mighty works of God doing through his people of Israel and
she believed Him as the true God. From the travellers, she has entertained and
sinned with, that she came to learn the facts of the Exodus of Israel, the
miracle of the Red Sea, and the overthrow of Sihon and Og. All the nations
around only feared Israel and God who lead them but she believed in Him. So
when she saw the Israelite spies, she was more than ready to help them. As
Rahab offered to shelter the spies and aid them in their escape, she received
from them the promise that when they returned to her country, along with Joshua
and his army, that she and her family would be spared alive. While her sin had
possibly estranged her from her loved ones, she was concerned about their
safety as well as her own. When Joshua entered the city he set about the
execution of the divine command, but respected the promise made to Rahab by the
spies. Under the protection of the scarlet line, Rahab and all her kindred were
brought out of the house. The spies came to her house, not to indulge in sin
with Rahab, but to prepare the way for Joshua to take Jericho. She saved the
spies not out of human pity, or because of expediency, but because she knew
that they were servants of the Lord. In turn, she was saved. It lead to the
another great visible expression of Faith-the fall of Jericho wall. Hebrews 11:30 By faith the walls of Jericho
fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.
