Christian faith by itself is like trying to balance oneself on one leg. But if “works” are stood on as the other leg, one can then stand straight and steady. Faith alone is nothing; works alone is nothing. Both are required in order for faith to be an active and perfected whole.

What does that look like? An example, in the book of James, is Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son because he believed that God could and would raise Isaac from the dead. Making preparations for Isaac’ s death and raising his knife to take Isaac’s life – before being stopped by God, – demonstrates the fullness of faith. For true faith is not just believing in knowledge, but acting on the belief.

Acting on belief is the key. Notice it is Abraham acting on what he believes. Acting gives life to faith. And James describes Abraham’s actions as works.

So works are a result of one carrying out his/her beliefs; beliefs that come from knowledge. And in terms of faith, where does knowledge come from? It comes from hearing the word of God.

Works can be in many forms, of course, because God’s word is not always literal; sometimes it communicates only principles.

The bottom line: biblical-works are motivated by scripture and are the doing of God’s word.