02.02. Chapter 2 - Verse 25

James 2:25. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?

Here he bringeth another instance. But why doth he mention Rahab? (1.) Because this act of hers is made an effect of faith: Hebrews 11:31, ‘By faith Rahab the harlot perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies in peace.’ It was indeed a great act of faith for one that had lived among heathens to be persuaded of the power of the God of Israel, of the right they had to that land; which faith was wrought in her by divine instinct, upon the report which was made of God and his works. (2.) Because this instance doth well to be annexed to the former. They might object that every one could not go as high as Abraham, the great idea and pattern of all believers; ay! but the lowest faith must produce works as well as the highest; and therefore he bringeth Rahab for an instance of the weakest faith. (1st.) For her person; she was a woman, a harlot, a heathen, when God wrought upon her; there being so many disadvantages, it is to be presumed this was as low an instance as can be brought. (2d.) For the act itself, it was accompanied with weakness, with a lie, which indeed is suppressed, or not mentioned, lest it should deface the glory of her faith. (3d.) Because there might be some doubt of this instance. They might object that bare profession was accounted faith in Rahab, and she a harlot. He replieth that in Rahab the doctrine might be made good; for her faith, how weak soever, yielded some self-denying act or fruit. But you will say, How is this pertinent to the purpose, to prove that pretence or profession of faith without works is not enough to acquit us of hypocrisy? I answer—You must conceive it thus: If she had only said unto these messengers, I believe the God of heaven and earth hath given you this whole land for a possession, yet I dare not show you any kindness in this city, it had been but such a dead barren faith as he here treateth of; but this belief prevailed so far with her, that she performed a grateful office to them, though she incurred present danger, and the tortures which the rage of her citizens would inflict upon her for harbouring spies. I come now to the words.

Likewise also.—It hath relation to the former instance of Abraham. Was not Raliab the harlot.—Lyranus thinks that the word hazzonah, for harlot, was her proper name; others think it only signifieth that she was a hostess or victualler; so the Chaldee paraphrase rendereth it a woman that kept a tavern, פנדוקיתא תתא, γυναῖκα πανδοκεύτριαν; the Chaldee word being formed out of the Greek, they derive the original zonah from zun, which signifieth to feed, though others derive it from zanah, he played the adulterer; and they think it altogether improbable for a prince of Judah to marry a common harlot. But the article ἡ πόρνη, that harlot, so commonly used in scripture, and because this is still repeated as a noted circumstance, and the Syriac hath a word that properly and only signifieth harlot, seem to infer that she was indeed a woman of a vicious and infamous life, and it is but folly to excuse that which God would have made known for his own glory. Probably she might be both a hostess and a harlot too, as many times such are of an evil fame. She lived from her parents; no mention is made of husband and children: if her pretence had not been to keep a place of entertainment, it is not likely that the spies would turn into an open brothel-house, unless ignorant of it, or by divine providence guided thither.

Justified 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 Joshua 2:1-24. 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, Joshua 2:9-11, &c. And being gained to the faith, she was to leave her Gentile relation, and to be amassed into one body with the people of Israel, and so bound to promote their interest, as Calvin well observeth.¹ 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: Joshua 2:11, ‘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,² 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 herein, 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,³ 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.

¹ ‘Sola cognitio Dei, quam Deus animo ejus indidit, eam eximit a culpa, tanquam solutam communi lege, quamvis ad cum usque diem obstricta fuisset suis popularibus; ubi tamen co-optata fuisset in corpus Ecclesiæ, nova conditio manumissio fuit a jure societatis, quo jure devinciuntur cives.’—Calvin in Joshuam, 2. 4.

² ‘Ilia quæ aliquando erat meretrix, jam Spiritu Sancto repleta est, et de præteritis quidem confitetur, de presentibus vero credit, prophetat et prænunciat de futuris.’—Origen. Hom. 3, in Josuam.

³ ‘Non minæ civium, non bellorum pericula, non incendia patriæ, non suorum pericula terrent: disce, vir, disce, Christiane, quomodo verum Jesum sequi debeas, quando fæmina contempsit omnia sua.’—Ambrose in Enarrat. Ps. 37. 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. Chrysostom⁴ 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 Timothy 1:13; and all as precedents in which God would show forth mercy and long-suffering; as Rahab here. So you shall see it is said, Matthew 21:31, ‘Publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God.’ The most odious and despised sinners, when they turn to God by repentance, find grace and place in Christ’s heart.

⁴ Chrysostom. Homil. 3, in Matt.

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,’ Song of Solomon 2:13. 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: Matthew 10:42, ‘A cup of cold water in the name of a prophet’ is not courtesy, but duty, and shall not lose its reward. Heb. 11., 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 super natural strength. A carnal 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, Matthew 16:24. 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,’ Numbers 20:11; there was anger mixed with faith. Abraham offered Isaac, but equivocated with his servants: ‘I and the lad will return,’ Genesis 22:5; 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 5:11, ‘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! 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 3:6, ‘Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord.’ The place alluded to is Genesis 18:12. 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.