Demons and Sola Fide

Especially with reference to other scriptures cited within, the context of James 2 is not hard to discern. While it is so commonly used to attack salvation by faith alone, James 2 in no way contradicts other scriptures which clearly teach salvation by faith alone. When you confuse justification with salvation, it makes sense that some people might misunderstand, for example, verse 24, which says a man is not justified by faith alone. But then we consider that "...wisdom is justified by her children" (Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:35), and "...even the tax collectors justified God,..." (Luke 7:29, emphasis mine), and it turns out unless you believe the personified concept of wisdom, as well as the Lord Himself, are sinners bound for Hell, and that the tax collectors of all people get to decide whether or not God gets to go to Heaven, James 2:24 sucks as a refutation of Sola Fide.

But then we must ask, why does James seem to scoff at the idea that faith is enough, saying "You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!" (James 2:19)? If faith alone is not enough for the demons, how can it be enough for us?

The first, and arguably most obvious response is that no one says monotheism is enough for salvation. Forget demons, Muslims believe there is one God. In fact, they boast that their concept of Tawhid is more monotheistic than Christian Trinitarianism. In Christianity, there is one God, but He exists as 3 coequal persons. The Father is not the Son is not the Holy Spirit is not the Father, yet the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are all one God. Muslims scoff at that, stating it's illogical to say 1 + 1 + 1 = 1. Tawhid, they claim, makes them more monotheistic than us.

Of course, there are many criticisms of Tawhid, as well as solid defences of the Trinity, but ultimately, Muslims give lip service to the statement "there is one God". Yet, no Christian, taking his faith seriously, will claim Muslims are saved by their belief in one God. While we are saved by faith alone, we are saved by faith in Jesus alone. "But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”" (Romans 10:8-11).

Now, there's a lot in that small extract, starting with "the word of faith which we preach". What is the word of faith that the Apostles preached? "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." (Emphasis added). "“Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”" (Emphasis added). That, right there, is salvation by faith alone, stated so plainly that I could not state it any more plainly. So, this is the Gospel Paul preaches. Now pay attention to what else Paul preaches: "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed." (Galatians 1:8).

So we're not off to a great start for works-based "gospels". According to Paul, if anyone, be they an angel from Heaven, or even an Apostle such as himself, preaches any other gospel than "if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." and "“Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”", you're done. Accursed. Anathema. The Church must not listen to anyone who says anything else. So there are two possible conclusions here:

1. James, even being an Apostle, is preaching another gospel, and thus Paul says "let him be accursed".

2. James is not saying salvation is by more than just faith.

Furthermore, with that out of the way, the specifics of the faith go beyond "there is one God". You must confess Christ, and Him crucified. Furthermore, you must confess that this crucifixion was not the end, He was raised, by none other than God Himself.

But do demons not also confess this? Certainly they do. They want to dissuade you from believing this, but they believe it themselves. So clearly, faith alone cannot save them. The problem here is nothing can save them. In fact, according to Hebrews 2:14-17, "Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people."

By faith alone, or by faith at all, angels cannot be saved. It is hard to even fathom how salvation would have to work for them. They don't marry or reproduce, they didn't come from one originally sinful demon, they don't even have physical bodies. How, then, could Jesus be made like demons to make propitiation for their sins? Demons can't be saved, and so they are a terrible thing to compare ourselves to.

However, they are not terrible examples of why faith and works should go hand in hand. As James says just one verse prior, "But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works." This is a key contextual verse in James 2. If merit-mongering heretics can run around shouting "faith without works is dead" as if "salvation is by faith alone" means "we don't need works at all", we can run around saying "I will show you my faith by my works". James 2 has nothing to do with being saved by works, but about using works to prove our faith.

Just as it is unfathomable that a living body would not move, it is unfathomable that a living faith will not produce works. If you believe there is one God, you're not going to live your life as if there isn't. Especially if you believe that God will judge you, and indeed already has judged you. As a Christian, I believe God has looked at my life and said "this man has committed these sins, and has earned my wrath. The wages of sin is death, and he has sinned, and so he must die". If I believe my sin is that offensive to God, how could I continue sinning as if it's nothing? But I also believe God has looked at me and said "I love this man. I want him in my Kingdom, and so instead of punishing him, my wrath will fall upon my Son, so if this man will only believe, I will forgive him". I believe I had a debt to God, I believe God paid that debt. Should I therefore run up more debt?

In context, therefore, James 2 only strengthens the concept of salvation by faith alone. It strongly argues against justification by faith alone, because faith is more than mere intellectual assent. If you believe, you will act. And so yes, demons tremble, because they cannot be saved, and they know full well what God will do to them in due time. But our trembling should not be based on the potential for Him to punish us also. Rather, we should be astounded that though we are mere grasshoppers in His sight, He paid the ultimate price to forgive us. Works play no part in our salvation, but if they play no part in our faith, our faith is not real, and so how can we be saved?