Thomas Manton · 34 of 60
A Practical Commentary, or an Exposition with Notes on the Epistle of James. · Chapter II. · Part 11
by works; that is, approved to be sincere, and honoured by God before all the congregation; there being a special charge to save her and her household when all her countrymen were slain, and she being after joined in marriage with a prince of Israel.
When she had received the messengers, and sent them out another way.—The story is in the 2d of Joshua. But is not this act questionable? Is it not treachery? Did she not sin against that love and faithfulness that she owed to her country? Abulensis thinketh she had not sinned if she had betrayed the messengers; but vainly, and against the direct testimony of scripture: she sinned not, because she had a warrant and particular revelation from God that the land of Canaan, and so her town, was given to the Israelites, Josh. ii. 9-11, &c. And being gained to the faith, she was to leave her relation, and to be amassed into one body with the people of Israel, and so bound to promote their interest, as Calvin well observeth. But you will say, If there be no sin, wherein lieth the excellency of the action? what is it more than civility, or necessary prudence and caution, she being thus persuaded? I answer—(1.) There was much faith in it, in believing what she had heard of God in the wilderness and the desert places of Arabia, and magnifying his power and ability to destroy them. Though the people of her city were in great strength and prosperity, they thought themselves safe within their walls, and were not sensible of their sins and ensuing dangers; and besides, God having revealed it to her by some special instinct, she was confident of future success: Josh. ii. 11, `The Lord your God is God in heaven above and the earth beneath: I know the Lord hath given you the land., And so, as Origen observeth, she acknowledgeth what is past, believeth what is present, and foretelleth what is to come. (2.) There was obedience in it; for whatever she did here in, she did it out of a reverence and dread of God, whom she knew to be the author of this war; and though there was some weakness in the action, yet for the main of it, it was a duty. (3.) There was self-denial in it; it was an action that might have been of a very dangerous consequence to her; but to manifest her fidelity to God she overlooketh the threats and cruelties of her citizens, the promiscuous events of war, the burning of her country, which she would never have done, if she had thought a profession of confidence enough.
The points observable in this verse are many. I shall dispatch them briefly.
Obs. 1. Many times God may choose the worst of sinners. Faith in a harlot is acceptable: `The last shall be first;, that is, those that set out late for heaven do often make more way than an early professor. No women are reckoned in the genealogy of Christ but such as were stained with some infamy; idolatrous women, adulterous women, in Christ's own line, such as Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, Tamar. Chrysostom giveth the reason, ὡς ἱάτρος, οὐχ ὡς δικαστὴς παραγέγονεν, he came to save sinners, and therefore would be known to come of sinners according to the flesh. Manasses was received after witchcraft, Paul after blasphemy, 1 Tim. i. 13; and all as precedents in which God would show forth mercy and ; as Rahab here. So you shall see it is said, Mat. xxi. 31, ` and harlots go into the kingdom of God., The most odious and despised sinners, when they turn to God by , find and place in Christ's heart.
Obs. 2. The meanest faith must justify itself by works and gracious effects. Rahab, a Gentile convert, doth not only profess, but preserve the spies. Let not hypocrites plead every one is not like Abraham. Are you like Rahab? Can you produce any evidence of your faith? The lowest degree will show itself by some effect or other. Christ in the garden taketh notice of the `green figs, Cant. ii. 13. The smallest faith, though it be but like a grain of mustard-seed, will have some branches.
Obs. 3. Believers, though they justify their profession, are still monuments of free grace. It is `Rahab, the harlot, though justified by works. The scars and marks of old sins remain, not to our dishonour, but God's glory.
Obs. 4. Ordinary acts are gracious when they flow from faith and are done in obedience; as Rahab's receiving the messengers: entertainment in such a case is not civility, but religion: Mat. x. 42, `A cup of cold water in the name of a prophet `is not courtesy, but duty, and shall not lose its reward. Heb. xi., many civil and secular acts are ascribed to faith, as fighting of battles, saving of children, &c., because by faith directed to spiritual ends, and performed by supernatural strength. A man performeth his religious duties for civil ends, and a godly man his civil duties for religious ends, and in offices natural and human he is spiritual. Certainly there is no chemistry like to that of grace; there brass is turned into gold, and actions of commerce made worship. A Christian is always doing his great work, whether in the shop or in the closet, obeying God and glorifying God in his respects to men.
Obs. 5. The great trial of faith is in acts of self-denial. Such was Rahab's, to prefer the will of God before the safety of her own country; and such was Abraham's in the former instance. Self-denial is the first thing that must be resolved upon in Christianity, Mat. xvi. 24. A man is not discovered when God's way and his own lie together. Your great inquiry should be, Wherein have I denied myself for God? thwarted any lust? hazarded any concernment? No trial like that when we can part with some conveniency in sense, upon the proper and sole encouragements of faith.
Obs. 6. The actions and duties of God's children are usually blemished with some notable defect; as Rahab's entertainment with Rahab's lie. `Moses smote the rock twice, Num. xx. 11; there was anger mixed with faith. Abraham offered Isaac, but equivocated with his servants: `I and the lad will return, Gen. xxii. 5; and yet he meant with a mind to sacrifice him. Thus we still plough with an ox and an ass in the best duties, and discover corruption in the very trials of grace.
Obs. 7. God hideth his eyes from the evil that is in our good actions. Here is mention made of receiving the messengers, but no mention of the lie. He that drew Alexander, whilst he had a scar upon his face, drew him with his finger upon the scar. God putteth the finger of mercy upon our scars. See James v. 11, `Ye have heard of the patience of Job;, we have heard of his impatience, his cursing the day of his birth, &c., but no murmurings are mentioned. How unlike are wicked men to the Lord I they only pitch upon the evil and weaknesses of his people, and overlook the good; like flesh-flies, that pitch upon the sores, or vultures, that fly over the gardens of delight, and light upon a carrion: one blemish shall be enough to stain all their glory. But the Lord pardoneth much weakness where he findeth anything of grace and sincerity. It is said, 1 Peter iii. 6, `Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord., The place alluded to is Gen. xviii. 12. Sarah's whole sentence is full of unbelief: `Shall I have pleasure, my lord also being old?, There was but one good word, that of lord, the note of respect and reverence to her husband, and that the Spirit of God takes notice of. Certainly it is good serving of that master, who is so ready to reward the good of our actions, and to pardon the evil of them.
Ver. 26. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Here the apostle concludeth the whole dispute, showing how little is to be ascribed to an empty profession of faith without works; it is but as the body without the vital spirit—a carcase, useless but noisome. There needeth not much illustration of this verse, the matter of it being already discussed in ver. 17 and 20.
For as the body without the spirit.—There is some difference about the meaning of the word πνεύματος; we read in the margin, breath; in the text, spirit. Many prefer the marginal reading, because it is not ψυχῆς, as the body without the soul, but as the body without the spirit or breath. Of this opinion is Cajetan, whose words are notable, because they fully accord with the Protestant doctrine. `By spirit, saith he, `is not meant the soul, but the breath: for as the body of a beast when it doth not breathe is dead, so is faith without works dead, breathing being the effect of life, as working is of living faith. it is clear what the apostle meaneth, when he saith, faith is dead without works, not that works are the soul of faith, but that works are the companions of faith, as breathing is inseparable from life., By which exposition their doctrine that is the soul of faith, and their distinction of inform and formed faith, fall to the ground. But, however, I rather think that πνεύματος in the text is not to be translated breath, but spirit or soul, that substance which and animateth the body, which is elsewhere expressed by this word; as in those noted places, Luke xxiii. 46, `Into thy hands do I commit my spirit;, and Acts vii. 59, `Lord Jesus, receive my spirit., And that respiration which is the effect of life is expressed by other words, πνοὴ and ἀναπνοὴ; as Acts xvii. 25, he giveth ζωὴν καὶ πνοὴν καὶ τὰ πάντα, `he giveth life, and breath, and all things., The meaning is, then, as a body without a soul, so is faith without works. And yet hence it will not follow that charity or the works are the soul of faith, for the comparison doth not hold in regard of animation and information, but in regard of operation. As in the body without soul there are only the outward proportions and lineaments, but nothing to discover life; so in empty profession there are some lineaments of faith, but no fruits to discover the truth and life of it, it differing as much from faith as a carcase doth from a man.
Is dead; that is, cannot perform the functions and offices of life, or of a man.
So faith without works.—The Papists understand true justifying faith, for they suppose it may be without works; but dead faith cannot be true faith, as a carcase is not a true man, and a true faith cannot be without works, Gal. v. 6. We must understand, then, an external profession of belief, which, because of some resemblance with what is true, is called faith.
Is dead; that is, false or useless to all the ends and purposes of faith.
For practical notes see ver. 17, 20; only observe:—
Obs. That naked profession, in respect of true faith, is hut as a dead body and carcase. It is so in two respects:—(1.) It is noisome as a rotten carcase. A carnal Christian is the carcase of a true Christian; there are the lineaments with corruption. An impure life veiled under profession is as noisome to God as a dead body is to you. When carnal professors draw to Christ, he goeth further off, as you would from what offendeth: Mat. vii. 23, `Depart from me, ye workers of ;, I cannot endure your presence. When they come to him in prayer, `The prayer of the wicked is abomination;, like the breath that cometh from rotten lungs. (2.) It is useless, as to all the purposes of faith; it cannot unite you to Christ, that you may possess yourselves of his , or give you a feeling of his Spirit. In short, it bringeth no glory to God, yieldeth no comfort to him that hath it, and no benefit to others; of no more use than a dead body when the spirits are gone.
