Unlike Abraham, Rahab was a woman, a heathen, a Gentile, and was socially unacceptable because of her background and notorious activities. Yet, the grace of God stooped down to transform her. Placed next to Abraham we find the great love and mercy of God exhibited. God had said that He would destroy Jericho and would give it to Joshua's men. Rahab be lieved the Lord would do exactly what he prophesied. Accordingly she forsook her own people and allied herself with the Israelites. She promoted their cause at the risk of her own life. Then we read the comment, "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (vrs. 26). "Spirit" here refers to the vital principle which sustains physical life. Faith without works is equivalent to a physical corpse, inanimate, inactive and in sensitive. When a tree produces
nothing green we can justifiably assume that the root is dead. Matthew Henry comments, "Faith is the root, good works are the fruits, and we must see to it that we have both!" Mere mental as sent to certain scriptural truths does not always mean that the per son has accepted Christ and there fore possesses salvation. Talking about being a believer in Christ does not profit anybody unless ac tions becoming a child of God accompany the faith that is pro claimed. Boyd Carpenter points out, "Be lief may be orthodox, while the character of a man is evil. Merely to believe in one God, or that God is one, may be an empty intellec tual assent, so entirely inoperative in the life that the spirit displayed in it may be positively malignant." Yes, we need to remember that faith without works does not dem onstrate life, nor can it, for it is dead!
Janice Wilson is the new secretary for the Director of Advertising. She graduated from Whittier Christian High School in June. Page 43
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