‘And in the same way was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works, in that she received the messengers, and sent them out another way?'

James then brings a second example out of the Old Testament, the example of Rahab who hid the spies when Joshua was about to invade Canaan. Here he is giving an example of a Gentile who also evidenced the same truth, for his message is to both ex-Jews and ex-Gentiles. There in Jericho there was one woman whose heart had been stirred to believe in the God of Israel. And as a result, when the spies came she fed then and hid them, and then arranged for them to escape. And what did this prove? That she believed in the God of Israel and trusted that He would have mercy on her. But how did Israel know that she was a believer, and that they must spare her, even though everyone living in Jericho apart from her and her family had to be killed? And the answer is, because of what she did, because of her works. By this she was seen as righteous (justified) in the sight of Israel. By this they knew of her faith.

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