Even in the Reformed tradition, in the Heidelberg Catechism that we sometimes refer to as one of the great confessions that came out of the Protestant Reformation in the 16 th Century – the Catechism is very, very firm – the whole second, big section of the Heidelberg Catechism is on salvation by grace alone. That is what the word means: Someone who bears witness to what they believe by even giving their life to seal it so, that is genuine faith, James says.Īnd that is what James would expect of anyone with true faith. That is the ultimate and that is what a martyr is. I will not deny Christ.” Now, talk about showing your faith by your actions.

So, these twenty one were all people who said, “No, I am a Christian. They were mostly… twelve of them – half of them – were from one village – the same small village and as they were working there, these Islamists came in and grabbed a bunch of guys and they held them for over forty days and urged them to renounce their faith and those who did were allowed to go free. These were not just random… These were poor Egyptian men who had gone to Libya in search of work. I was just in Egypt, and I learned from the Egyptians – the Egyptian Christians that I met with – that these were genuine martyrs.

Twenty one Egyptian Christians were murdered by ISIS militants – by fanatical Muslim extremists. Somewhere we need to be sharing this story.

James bible study book faith works