And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, and one of you tells them, “Go in peace. Be warmed and filled;” yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.
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James 2:15-17 sits inside this longer paragraph.
What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him? And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, and one of you tells them, “Go in peace. Be warmed and filled;” yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself. Yes, a man will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
Parallel Translations
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And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food,
and one of you tells them, “Go in peace. Be warmed and filled;” yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it?
Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.
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If a brother or a sister be naked or destitute of dayly fode
and one of you saye vnto them: Departe in peace God sende you warmnes and fode: not withstondinge ye geve the not tho thynges which are nedfull to the body: what helpeth it the?
Even so fayth yf it have no dedes is deed in it selfe.
Show all 3 translations
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For if a brother or a sister bee naked and destitute of daily foode,
And one of you say vnto them, Depart in peace: warme your selues, and fil your bellies, notwithstading ye giue them not those things which are needefull to the body, what helpeth it?
Euen so the faith, if it haue no woorkes, is dead in it selfe.
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Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (23)
- James 2:26 (v17) For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.
- 2 Peter 1:5-9 (v17) Yes, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence; and in moral excellence, knowledge;…
- James 2:19-20 (v17) You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder. But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from…
- Proverbs 3:27-28 (v16) Don’t withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it. Don’t say to your neighbor, “Go, and come…
- Luke 3:11 (v15) He answered them, “He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none. He who has food, let him do likewise.”
Show all 23 cross-references
- 1 Corinthians 13:13 (v17) But now faith, hope, and love remain—these three. The greatest of these is love.
- James 2:14 (v17) What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him?
- 1 John 3:16-18 (v16) By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But whoever has the…
- Matthew 25:35-40 (v15) for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. I was naked, and…
- 1 Timothy 1:5 (v17) but the goal of this command is love, out of a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith,
- Matthew 25:42-45 (v16) for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in;…
- Isaiah 58:7 (v15) Isn’t it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that…
- Romans 12:9 (v16) Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good.
- 1 Thessalonians 1:3 (v17) remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and perseverance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and…
- 2 Corinthians 8:8 (v16) I speak not by way of commandment, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity also of your love.
- Job 31:16-21 (v15) “If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, or have eaten my morsel alone, and the…
- Isaiah 58:10 (v15) and if you pour out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will rise in darkness, and your obscurity will…
- Matthew 14:15-16 (v16) When evening had come, his disciples came to him, saying, “This place is deserted, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away,…
- Matthew 15:32 (v16) Jesus summoned his disciples and said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days and have nothing…
- Job 22:7-9 (v16) You haven’t given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. But as for the mighty man, he had the earth.…
- James 2:5 (v15) Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he…
- Mark 14:7 (v15) For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want to, you can do them good; but you will not always have me.
- Hebrews 11:37 (v15) They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (15 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv15, 17 15 If a brother, or, For if a brother.…
15 If a brother, or, For if a brother. He takes an example from what was connected with his subject; for he had been exhorting them to exercise the duties of love. If any one, on the contrary, boasted that he was satisfied with faith without works, he compares this shadowy faith to the saying of one who bids a famished man to be filled without supplying him with the food of which he is destitute. As, then, he who sends away a poor man with words, and offers him no help, treats him with mockery, so they who devise for themselves faith without works, and without any of the duties of religion, trifle with God.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v15 The first reason taken of a similitude: If a…
The first reason taken of a similitude: If a man say to one that is hungry, Fill thy belly, and yet giveth him nothing, this shall not be true charity: so if a man say he believeth, and bringeth forth no works of his faith, this shall not be a true faith, but a certain dead thing set out with the name of faith, whereof no man hath to brag, unless he will openly incur reprehension, seeing that the cause is understood by the effects.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv15–17 15 If a brother or sister be naked, and…
15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
Ver. 15. If a brother or a sister] As it may befall the best to be, and they are not of the chameleon kind, to live (with Ephraim) upon wind, Hos 12:1, to be fed with fair words, or to be clothed with a suit of compliments. Sion should be taken by the hand, Isa 51:18. And Tyre converted, leaves hoarding and heaping up wealth, and falls to feeding and clothing God’s poor people, Isa 23:18.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv15–17 If a brother or sister; a Christian man or…
If a brother or sister; a Christian man or woman, who are frequently thus called: see 1Co 7:12,15.
Be naked; badly clothed, or destitute of such clothing as is fit for them, Job 22:6; 1Co 4:11.
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And destitute of daily food: see Mat 6:11; that which is necessary for the sustaining of life a day to an end. Under these two of nakedness and hunger, he comprehends all the calamities of human life, which may be relieved by the help of others; as food and raiment contain all the ordinary supports and comforts of life, Gen 28:20; Mat 6:25; 1Ti 6:8.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv15–17 If a brother or sister,.... A Christian man or…
If a brother or sister,.... A Christian man or woman, a fellow member of a church of Christ; for this relation is to be understood in a spiritual sense, though it does not exclude such who are in this relation in a natural sense:
be naked; or clothed in rags, or in very mean and sordid apparel, such as will neither keep them warm, nor clean and decent; for they must not be supposed to be entirely naked, but to be in a very uncomfortable and indecent garb:
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and destitute of daily food; have not food sufficient for the day; or aught to support nature with, and yield them proper refreshment and nourishment.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v17 So likewise that faith which hath not works is…
So likewise that faith which hath not works is a mere dead, empty notion; of no more profit to him that hath it, than the bidding the naked be clothed is to him.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv15–17 Verse 15. If a brother or sister be naked]…
Verse 15. If a brother or sister be naked] That is, ill-clothed; for γυμνος, naked, has this meaning in several parts of the New Testament, signifying bad clothing, or the want of some particular article of dress. See Mt 25:36; Mt 25:38; Mt 25:43; Mt 25:44, and Joh 21:7. It has the same comparative signification in most languages.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v15 If a brother or sister be naked ... -…
If a brother or sister be naked ... - The comparison in these verses is very obvious and striking. The sense is, that faith in itself, without the acts that correspond to it, and to which it would prompt, is as cold, and heartless, and unmeaning, and useless, as it would be to say to one who was destitute of the necessaries of life, depart in peace.” In itself considered, it might seem to have something that was good; but it would answer none of the purposes of faith unless it should prompt to action. In the case of one who was hungry or naked, what he wanted was not good wishes or kind words merely, but the acts to which good wishes and kind words prompt. And so in religion, what is wanted is not merely the abstract state of mind which would be indicated by faith, but the life of goodness to which it ought to lead. Good wishes and kind words, in order to make them what they should be for the welfare of the world, should be accompanied with corresponding action. So it is with faith. It is not enough for salvation without the benevolent and holy acts to which it would prompt, any more than the good wishes and kind words of the benevolent are enough to satisfy the wants of the hungry, and to clothe the naked, without correspondent action. Faith is not and cannot be shown to be genuine, unless it is accompanied with corresponding acts; as our good wishes for the poor and needy can be shown to be genuine, when we have the means of aiding them, only by actually ministering to their necessities. In the one case, our wishes would be shown to be unmeaning and heartless; in the other, our faith would be equally so. In regard to this passage, therefore, it may be observed:
(1) That in fact faith is of no more value, and has no more evidence of genuineness when it is unaccompanied with good works, than such empty wishes for the welfare of the poor would be when unaccompanied with the means of relieving their wants. Faith is designed to lead to good works. It is intended to produce a holy life; a life of activity in the service of the Saviour. This is its very essence; it is what it always produces when it is genuine. Religion is not designed to be a cold abstraction; it is to be a living and vivifying principle.
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(2) There is a great deal of that kindness and charity in the world which is expressed by mere good wishes. If we really have not the means of relieving the poor and the needy, then the expression of a kind wish may be in itself an alleviation to their sorrows, for even sympathy in such a case is of value, and it is much to us to know that others feel for us; but if we have the means, and the object is a worthy one, then such expressions are mere mockery, and aggravate rather than soothe the feelings of the sufferer. Such wishes will neither clothe nor feed them; and they will only make deeper the sorrows which we ought to heal. But how much of this is there in the world, when the sufferer cannot but feel that all these wishes, however kindly expressed, are hollow and false, and when he cannot but feel that relief would be easy!
(3) In like manner there is much of this same kind of worthless faith in the world - faith that is dead; faith that produces no good works; faith that exerts no practical influence whatever on the life. The individual professes indeed to believe the truths of the gospel; he may be in the church of Christ; he would esteem it a gross calumny to be spoken of as an infidel; but as to any influence which his faith exerts over him, his life would be the same if he had never heard of the gospel. There is not one of the truths of religion which is bodied forth in his life; not a deed to which he is prompted by religion; not an act which could not be accounted for on the supposition that he has no true piety. In such a case, faith may with propriety be said to be dead.
Being alone - Margin, “by itself.” The sense is, “being by itself:” that is, destitute of any accompanying fruits or results, it shows that it is dead. That which is alive bodies itself forth, produces effects, makes itself visible; that which is dead produces no effect, and is as if it were not.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv15–17 The Greek is, "But if," &c.: the "But" taking…
The Greek is, "But if," &c.: the "But" taking up the argument against such a one as "said he had faith, and yet had not works," which are its fruits.
a brother, &c.--a fellow Christian, to whom we are specially bound to give help, independent of our general obligation to help all our fellow creatures.
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be--The Greek implies, "be found, on your access to them."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv15, 17 15. If—An illustrative case, in which a fellow Christian…
15. If—An illustrative case, in which a fellow Christian is to be supplied with necessaries of life. The firm faith that he will be supplied with food without accordant action will leave him to starvation. So a sentimental belief in all the charities, virtues, pieties, and moralities, will do no good to the world or to the believer until resolved into action.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv15–17 15. If a brother or sister …] The words…
15. If a brother or sister …] The words are not necessarily used in the sense in which they imply the profession of faith in Christ as they are, e. g., in Act_10:23; Act_11:1; 1Co_5:11. Every Israelite was to see a brother in every child of Abraham (Mat_5:23; Act_2:29; Act_3:17). All that can be said is that where the reader of the Epistle was a Christian, he would feel that the words brought before him those who were of the same society or brotherhood.
naked, and destitute of daily food] The picture drawn is one of extremest destitution, and, like the teaching of the whole passage, reminds us of Mat_25:36; Mat_25:43. What was the faith worth which could witness that suffering and not be stirred to help? The words are applicable to all times and countries, but it gives them a special interest to remember that the Church over which St James presided had suffered, and was probably, at the very time he wrote, suffering, from the famine foretold by Agabus (Act_11:28-30). The Gentile disciples had, we read, done their best to alleviate the distress of the Churches of Judæa. St James’s language, addressed to the Jews and Jewish Christians of the dispersion, would seem to imply that they had shewn less forwardness, and had wrapt themselves up in the self-satisfaction of professing the orthodox faith of the sons of Abraham, while the Gentile converts whom they despised were setting an example of self-denying charity.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv15–17 (15) But (the word should be added, for it…
(15) But (the word should be added, for it continues an argument) if a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food—i.e., the food for each day, not that which suffices for one, or for a present distress; the case is rather of worst and direst want, so that the heart untouched by the spectacle of such misery must be hard indeed.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv15–17 Vers. 15, 16. Observe the practical character of the…
Vers. 15, 16. Observe the practical character of the illustration chosen, from works of mercy. (cf. Jam_1:27) Wsi in ver. 15 should be deleted (omitted by B, C, K); also the disjunctive particle de at the commencement of the verse (with a, B).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv15–17 15. If a brother. A practical application is now…
15. If a brother. A practical application is now made of the royal law. Be naked. Insufficiently clothed.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v15 2:15-16 Suppose you see: As in 2:2-4, James gives…
2:15-16 Suppose you see: As in 2:2-4, James gives an illustration of “faith” that is useless. • no food or clothing: In first-century Palestine and the Roman world in general, many poverty-stricken persons lacked the bare necessities of life. • stay warm and eat well: This sentence probably expresses a presumption that God would provide the needs of the poor person. The speaker might suppose that what is needed is simply an expression of faith that it will happen. But without participation (action), it is an empty wish.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.