The Faith Equation

Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. ‘Go, look over the land,’ he said, ‘especially Jericho.’ So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.”  Joshua 2:1

Honestly, I just don’t get it.  The spies went and entered someone’s house?  Shouldn’t they have been doing more spy-ish things, like ducking behind cacti while the mission impossible theme song played in the background?  And why of all places did they go to a prostitute’s house?  I don’t want to give God’s guys a bad wrap here, but this really just doesn’t seem logical to me.

But what makes even less sense is that this prostitute made it into God’s hall of fame.  Better than a star on Hollywood Boulevard, Rahab is listed among spiritual giants such as Abraham, Noah, Joseph and Moses.  What on earth could a prostitute do to be ranked among the likes of such men?

Well, she hid the spies.  That simple.  When the king of Jericho came looking for them, she lied and said they had already left (Joshua 2:4).  I’m not trying to make light of what she did.  I have no doubt Anne Frank was exceedingly grateful to the people who hid her from the Nazis and thereby saved her life.  The spies’ gratitude is just as apparent as they agree to wipe out all of the city except for Rahab and her family.  But what is it that makes Rahab so extraordinary?  Hebrews 11:31 gives us the first half of the answer:

By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.”

Faith.  Rahab exhibited tremendous amounts of it as she talked to the spies, yet it is only part of the solution.  James 2:24-26 completes the equation.

You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”

How is this equation playing out in your life?  Are your deeds linked to your faith?

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Galatians 5:6b