Autopsy of a Dead Faith | James 2:14-26

Autopsy of a Dead Faith | James 2:14-26

June 7, 2026 · 49 min

Martin Luther once said he wanted to throw the book of James into the stove. He called it an "epistle of straw" — hollow, inferior, barely worth keeping in the Bible. The reason? James 2:14–26, the passage that says faith without works is dead. Luther thought James was contradicting Paul's gospel of grace through faith alone. He was wrong — and in this message, Dr. Abidan Shah walks through exactly why.Using a small but crucial detail in the Greek text — an article most English translations miss — Dr. Shah reframes the entire passage: James isn't saying you're saved by works. He's saying a faith that produces no works was never alive to begin with. He unpacks the real audiences behind both James and Paul, walks through Abraham and Rahab as case studies, and lands on the test Jesus himself gave in Matthew 25: not whether you've stopped sinning, but whether you noticed the person who was hungry, naked, or in need — and did something about it.~~~~CONNECT: https://clearviewbc.org/contactGIVE: https://clearviewbc.org/giveBOOKS: https://abidanshah.com/books/LISTEN LATER: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/clearview-today-with-dr-abidan-shah/id1651006506DR. SHAH: http://abidanshah.com/

Dr. Abidan Shah78.8K followers

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Dr. Abidan Shah is a New Testament text critic, author, professor, and pastor of Clearview Church in North Carolina. His desire is to make biblical scholarship accessible and applicable to all people.