My fear was that when you addressed faith - it lent itself to easy ‘faith-isms’. You know, that type of faith that requires nothing but faith to be called faith. I have seen this occur a lot in churches because of the doctrine of ‘justification by faith’ - and people tend to think it is some form of easy faith - they can do anything - pray it out - poof - all gone. That faith is dangerous if not an outright lie.

The other extreme is legalism and I am having a bout concerning this with some Messianics and how they view Christianity. They think we have to follow all these Jewish customs and rituals in order to be further blessed by God…and they have rule upon rule believe me. I have also seen this in basic churches - where pastors add certain ideas to the faith (ie: no tv, movies, or music) or else one’s salvation is in turmoil.
However, I prefer balance - meeting somewhere in the middle of that equilibrium of faith. Yes we need faith - but we need active faith - faith in the real world and not just in our minds or in some legal form. So to me, living the faith is having faith. Those who try to be ‘meek’, ‘peacemakers’, ‘loving’, ‘compassionate’, ‘forgiving’, etc - these same people are people of faith - followers of the Messiah.

I am not knocking anything about having faith in God - just don’t want people to fall into some easy believer-ism ideal…faith requires some serious work - you should know - you’re the one in the seminary because of the leading of your faith.

I’m not saying that faith and action are not unrelated.  Faith and action are NOT synonymous though.  Faith is the internal heart change that gives us the desire for action. 

If your desire is to love God, then you will want to follow His commandments (love your neighbor as yourself). 

If your desire is to be a moral person, love your neighbor, or work for your salvation, then your actions can look very similar if not identical.

But there is a very big difference.  The former is genuine, transformed faith in God that cannot help but change the world.  The latter is hollow, impotent, and incapable of consistency when we are rocked to our foundations. 

Only faith in an omnipotent, loving, unchanging God can empower forgiveness (loving your neighbor) when your family was butchered before your eyes (Rwanda, Somalia).  It is the only thing that can enable service and love to those who persecute you (the early church).  I certainly do not have that kind of faith as of right now, nor have I been exposed to such extreme circumstances, but I have far more confidence in God than I do in my own personal willpower to love others when they harm me.

“Are they still faithful to God?”

Bro, I’m not trying to divorce faith from action.  The point of James 2 is that works are an expression of faith.  One who claims to have faith but is not changed by it is a hypocrite.  But one who does works in an attempt to earn salvation is missing the whole point of the gospel (many of these fall into the category of legalism).

“…belief – as you have defined it – does nothing to make that person a more whole or healthy person – without adhering to some form of teaching to guide them.”

But it is the first step.  God works supernaturally to transform the motivations of our hearts.  It is the foundation of our works.

” I say we challenge this ideal – and test it – let’s see if it stands the test of time.”

Dude… I think we are REALLY missing each other somewhere.  I just said that the meta-narrative of scripture and it’s teaching is to put our faith in God.  Where in the world did you get the impression that I think throwing out the Bible would be a good thing?  Once again, I am not trying to divorce faith from action.  But it must come first and it must be the motivation for action. 

Honestly, I can’t think of anything to say on this topic that I have not already.  The best book on this topic is Jerry Bridges’ Transforming Grace.  It is an accessible and excellent treatment of how God’s grace gifts us with faith and transforms our motivations for behavior.  I highly recommend it, as he is much more thorough (and apparently more clear) than I.

“actually it’s a summary of Paul’s contention with works-based righteousness.”

Come on, man.  I’m well aware that Paul wrote it.  My intent was to emphasize the unity of Paul’s writings with Jesus’ teachings.  There is no contradiction. 

“Paul goes against the legalism and rests in grace, but it’s not a idle resting either!”

Oh absolutely!  I am not attempting to use a “binary framework” to summarize Paul’s corpus.  I’m trying to compare the indicative-driven imperatives that he encourages those who believe to live.  Jesus’ and Paul’s teachings of morality, loving your neighbor, etc. is only taught to believers.  For those who do not believe, their message is “Put your faith in the God who lived the life you should have lived and died the death you should have died.”  Those imperatives are impossible and impotent apart from faith.

“is Jesus really condemnatory of works-based or is he more concerned with hypocrisy?”

Yes.  They are one in the same.

“much more complicated than the binary framework you’re using here. (or at least the impression of the framework you’re using.)”

It’s a blog, not an academic treatise.  In talking about any subject of significant size or importance there will always be some degree of lacking in summary.

“To follow his teachings is an expression of an inward faith in God (Belief prompts behavior).  But to follow those teachings apart from faith in God (Christ and His atoning sacrifice) is nothing more than Christian-themed legalism (Behavior confused for belief).” (Brad)
I say we challenge this ideal – and test it – let’s see if it stands the test of time.
(a) Let’s get some new convert that believes in Jesus – and take the scriptures from them – all of the teachings – and see what behaviors they lean eventually lean towards.
Fact is, we all need to scriptures for guidance for any aspect of our faith – including how to believe in God. The teachings have nothing to do with legalism – they are there to guide us and help us in our continuing faith. Apparently in one of those parables about the seeds – faith can be snatched away. How can this be? Remove what makes faith possible – take the teachings and faith loses its headlights.
Honestly, you are in a bible school (seminary) studying these scriptures intently – for what reason exactly? Be honest – what is your purpose to study things that are not necessary for faith in God?
Following the teachings is not following apart from God – it is the exact act of following God – his teacher – the Messiah. How can I so much as say I follow Jesus without knowing what it is I am following?
Remove the teachings and you no longer have faith – you have lunacy (a blind faith). Cults thrive on the idea the teachings can be removed/changed and replaced with other ideas. You remove the teachings as an aspect of one’s faith in God – you too will find lunacy appears – not greater freedoms.

actually it’s a summary of Paul’s contention with works-based righteousness. he has no problem with people doing good works as the rhetoric arc of 1 Corinthians is that those who are washed, sancified and justified would act like it (6:11) as is a typical indicative/imperitive language for Paul. Paul goes against the legalism and rests in grace, but it’s not a idle resting either!

then there’s always the James argument to consider.. plus when we get into the Gospels… is Jesus really condemnatory of works-based or is he more concerned with hypocrisy? Doesn’t Jesus tell us to do what the lawyers and scribes tell us but do not act as they do? Doesn’t Jesus say that he’s not going to remove one letter of the Torah but is raising the bar for his followers as to fulfill the Law?

much more complicated than the binary framework you’re using here. (or at least the impression of the framework you’re using.)