ANOTHER WAY
What Does Faith Actually Change?
OT: Joshua 2:1–7 | NT: James 2:18–26
Interpretive Spine: Hebrews 11
Date: September 20, 2026
If you say you believe differently, but you keep choosing the same road,
what exactly has your faith changed?
James 2:18-26
Faith without Works Is Dead
18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from works, and I by my works will show you faith. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. 20 Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is worthless? 21 Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and by works faith was brought to completion. 23 Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another road? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.
Hebrews 11:1-2, 29-31
Faith to Live By
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.
The Examples of Abel, Enoch, and Noah
4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain’s. Through this he received approval as righteous, God himself giving approval to his gifts; he died, but through his faith he still speaks. 5 By faith Enoch was taken so that he did not experience death, and “he was not found, because God had taken him.” For it was attested before he was taken away that “he had pleased God.” 6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would approach God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7 By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith.
The Faith of Abraham
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance, and he set out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 By faith, with Sarah’s involvement, he received power of procreation, even though he was too old, because he considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”
13 All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, 14 for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better homeland, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.
17 By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, 18 of whom he had been told, “It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you.” 19 He considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead—and, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. 20 By faith Isaac invoked blessings for the future on Jacob and Esau. 21 By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, “bowing in worship over the top of his staff.” 22 By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions about his burial.
The Faith of Moses
23 By faith Moses was hidden by his parents for three months after his birth, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered abuse suffered for the Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, unafraid of the king’s anger, for he persevered as though he saw him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
The Faith of Other Israelite Heroes
29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.
Joshua 2:1-7
Welcoming Strangers
1 Then Joshua son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and spent the night there.
2 The king of Jericho was told, “Some Israelites have come here tonight to search out the land.”
3 Then the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out the whole land.”
4 But the woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said, “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they came from.
5 And when it was time to close the gate at dark, the men went out. Where the men went I do not know. Pursue them quickly, for you can overtake them.”
6 She had, however, brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax that she had laid out on the roof.
7 So the men pursued them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords. As soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.
LITERARY INSIGHTS — HEBREWS 11
Literary engine: repeated “By faith” moves belief from abstraction into action.
A — UNSEEN
Hebrews 11:1
Faith trusts beyond present evidence.
B — WITNESSES
Hebrews 11:2
The ancestors prove faith can be lived, not merely confessed.
C — CROSSING
Hebrews 11:29
Israel crosses where no road appears to exist.
B′ — WALLS
Hebrews 11:30
Faith confronts what appears permanent and immovable.
A′ — RAHAB
Hebrews 11:31
Rahab acts before Jericho falls. Invisible conviction becomes visible decision.
LITERARY MOVEMENT
Unseen → Witnesses → Sea → Wall → House
The text narrows from theology to history, from history to crisis, and from crisis to one person’s decision.
Hebrews asks: What is faith?
Joshua shows: What did Rahab do?
James demands: Show me.
LESSON
Faith sees before evidence.
Faith moves before certainty.
Faith crosses resistance.
Faith becomes action.
If faith is alive, eventually somebody should be able to see what it did.
PaRDeS REFLECTION
PESHAT — What does the text say?
Rahab receives Israelite spies, hides them, protects them from the king's search, and sends the pursuers toward the Jordan.
James later cites Rahab as evidence that living faith expresses itself through action.
REMEZ — What does the text hint toward?
Jericho's physical walls have not fallen yet.
But another wall has.
The wall determining who Rahab believes she must remain.
The first wall to fall in Jericho may have been inside Rahab.
DERASH — What does the text demand from us?
Do not only ask:
What do I believe?
Ask:
What has my belief changed?
Who receives more mercy because of it?
What injustice can I no longer comfortably tolerate?
What habit can no longer travel with me?
Whom do I need to approach?
What do I need to repair?
Where do I need to return?
SOD — What mystery remains?
God is already moving outside Jericho's walls.
Rahab is already moving inside them.
Neither can yet see how those movements will meet.
Perhaps grace often works like that.
God may be preparing something beyond the wall while simultaneously preparing something inside us to recognize it.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Why do you think Hebrews remembers Rahab specifically as a person of faith?
What is the difference between regretting something and actually returning — teshuvah?
Why does James place Abraham and Rahab beside one another?
Can genuine faith remain completely private?
What is one place in life where “another road” would look different from simply saying, “I'm sorry”?
Call and Response
Leader: Faith is more than what I say.
People: Show me the road it changed.
Leader: Faith is more than what I know.
People: Show me the life it changed.
Leader: Faith can see beyond the wall.
People: And faith can walk another way.
Leader: Teshuvah calls us home.
People: We will return with our whole lives.
Leader: When faith is alive—
People: Something moves.
Word Study
1. אֱמוּנָה — EMUNAH
“Faithfulness; steadfast trust.”
Faith in the Hebraic sense is not merely belief held in the mind; it is trust proven by how one lives.
2. מַעֲשֶׂה — MA’ASEH
“Deed; action; what is done.”
James presses faith toward embodiment: belief eventually has to become something visible.
3. חֶסֶד — CHESED
“Steadfast kindness; covenant loyalty.”
Rahab acts with chesed toward the spies and later asks that the same faithful kindness be shown to her household.
4. דֶּרֶךְ — DEREKH
“Way; road; path.”
A derekh is more than a route; it can describe the course of a life. Rahab’s faith changes the road.
5. שׁוּב — SHUV
“To turn; return.”
The root behind תְּשׁוּבָה — teshuvah. Repentance is not merely regret; it is a turning of direction.
