But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead? Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected. So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God.
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James 2:20-23 sits inside this longer paragraph.
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 works is dead? Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected. So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. You see then that by works, a man is justified, and not only by faith. In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works, in that she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.
Parallel Translations
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But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead?
Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected.
So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God.
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Wilt thou vnderstonde o thou vayne man that fayth with out dedes is deed?
Was not Abraham oure father iustified thorow workes when he offered Isaac his sonne vpo the aultre?
Thou seist how that fayth wrought with his dedes and through the dedes was the fayth made parfect:
and the scripture was fulfilled which sayth: Abraham beleved God and it was reputed vnto him for rightewesnes: and he was called the frede of God.
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But wilt thou vnderstand, O thou vaine man, that the faith which is without workes, is dead?
Was not Abraham our father iustified through workes, when he offred Isaac his sonne vpon the altar?
Seest thou not that the faith wrought with his workes? and through the workes was the faith made perfect.
And the Scripture was fulfilled which sayeth, Abraham beleeued God, and it was imputed vnto him for righteousnesse: and hee was called the friende of God.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (2)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (57)
- Genesis 15:6 (v23) He believed in Yahweh, who credited it to him for righteousness.
- Isaiah 41:8 (v23) “But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham my friend,
- 2 Chronicles 20:7 (v23) Didn’t you, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it to the offspring of Abraham your friend…
- Galatians 3:6 (v23) Even as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.”
- Romans 4:22-24 (v23) Therefore it also was “credited to him for righteousness.” Now it was not written that it was accounted to him for his sake alone, but for…
Show all 55 cross-references
- Genesis 22:16-18 (v21) and said, “ ‘I have sworn by myself,’ says Yahweh, ‘because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, that I…
- Exodus 33:11 (v23) Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. He turned again into the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a…
- Romans 4:3-6 (v23) For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the reward is…
- 1 Thessalonians 1:3 (v22) remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and perseverance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and…
- James 2:17 (v20) Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.
- John 15:13-15 (v23) Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you. No…
- James 2:26 (v20) For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.
- Proverbs 12:11 (v20) He who tills his land shall have plenty of bread, but he who chases fantasies is void of understanding.
- Hebrews 11:17-19 (v22) By faith, Abraham, being tested, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had gladly received the promises was offering up his one and only son, to…
- Genesis 22:9-12 (v21) They came to the place which God had told him of. Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, bound Isaac his son, and laid…
- Galatians 5:6 (vv20, 22) For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love.
- Romans 11:2 (v23) God didn’t reject his people, which he foreknew. Or don’t you know what the Scripture says about Elijah? How he pleads with God against…
- Galatians 3:22 (v23) But the Scripture imprisoned all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
- 1 John 2:5 (v22) But God’s love has most certainly been perfected in whoever keeps his word. This is how we know that we are in him:
- Job 16:21 (v23) that he would maintain the right of a man with God, of a son of man with his neighbor!
- John 8:39 (v21) They answered him, “Our father is Abraham.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.
- Romans 1:21 (v20) Because knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, and didn’t give thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart…
- Romans 4:10-11 (v23) How then was it counted? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. He received the…
- Galatians 3:8-10 (v23) The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all…
- Psalms 94:8-11 (v20) Consider, you senseless among the people; you fools, when will you be wise? He who implanted the ear, won’t he hear? He who formed the eye,…
- Matthew 12:37 (v21) For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
- Romans 4:16 (v21) For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace, to the end that the promise may be sure to all the offspring, not to that…
- Romans 9:17 (v23) For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name…
- Galatians 6:3 (v20) For if a man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
- James 2:18 (vv21–22) 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.
- Joshua 24:3 (v21) I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his offspring, and gave him…
- Job 11:11-12 (v20) For he knows false men. He sees iniquity also, even though he doesn’t consider it. An empty-headed man becomes wise when a man is born as a…
- Psalms 143:2 (v21) Don’t enter into judgment with your servant, for in your sight no man living is righteous.
- Isaiah 51:2 (v21) Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, I blessed him, and made him many.
- Jeremiah 2:5 (v20) Yahweh says, “What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after worthless vanity,…
- Matthew 3:9 (v21) Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these…
- Matthew 25:31-40 (v21) “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. Before him all…
- Luke 1:73 (v21) the oath which he swore to Abraham our father,
- Luke 16:24 (v21) He cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue!…
- Luke 16:30 (v21) “He said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’
- John 8:53 (v21) Are you greater than our father, Abraham, who died? The prophets died. Who do you make yourself out to be?”
- Acts 7:2 (v21) He said, “Brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in…
- Romans 3:20 (v21) Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
- Romans 4:1 (v21) What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh?
- Romans 4:12 (v21) He is the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father…
- 1 Corinthians 15:35-36 (v20) But someone will say, “How are the dead raised?” and, “With what kind of body do they come?” You foolish one, that which you yourself sow…
- Colossians 2:8 (v20) Be careful that you don’t let anyone rob you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elements of the…
- 1 Timothy 1:6 (v20) from which things some, having missed the mark, have turned away to vain talking,
- Titus 1:10 (v20) For there are also many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision,
- James 1:26 (v20) If anyone among you thinks himself to be religious while he doesn’t bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is…
- James 2:24 (v21) You see then that by works, a man is justified, and not only by faith.
- 1 John 4:17-18 (v22) In this love has been made perfect among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, even so we are in this…
- Mark 12:10 (v23) Haven’t you even read this Scripture: ‘The stone which the builders rejected was made the head of the corner.
- Mark 15:27 (v23) With him they crucified two robbers; one on his right hand, and one on his left.
- Luke 4:21 (v23) He began to tell them, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
55 distinct cross-references across this passage (57 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (23 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv20–23 20 But wilt thou know. We must understand the…
20 But wilt thou know. We must understand the state of the question, for the dispute here is not respecting the cause of justification, but only what avails a profession of faith without works, and what opinion we are to form of it. Absurdly then do they act who strive to prove by this passage that man is justified by works, because James meant no such thing, for the proofs which he subjoins refer to this declaration, that no faith, or only a dead faith, is without works. No one will ever understand what is said, nor judge wisely of words, except he who keeps in view the design of the writer.
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 vv20–23 The third reason from the example of Abraham, who…
The third reason from the example of Abraham, who no doubt had a true faith: but he in offering his son, showed himself to have that faith which was not void of works, and therefore he received a true testimony when it was said, that faith was imputed to him for righteousness.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv20–23 20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that…
20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Ver. 20. But wilt thou know] Interrogatio doeturientis, saith Piscator. A question made by one that is desirous to teach.
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Thou vain man] Gr. Thou empty man; for works without faith are nothing else but a nutshell without a kernel, grapes without juice, chaff without grain, saith Mercer in Jon 3:8.
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 vv20–23 But wilt thou know? Either this question is in…
But wilt thou know? Either this question is in order to teaching, as Joh 13:12; Rom 13:3; and then the sense is: If thou hast a mind to know, I shall instruct thee: or, it is a teaching by way of question, as more emphatical and pressing; and then it is as if he had said, Know, O vain man.
O vain man; an allusion to an empty vessel, which sounds more than one that is full. The carnal professor to whom he speaks is vain, because empty of true faith and good works, though full of noise and boasting.
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Objection. Doth not the apostle sin against Christ’s command, Mat 5:22?
Answer.
1. He speaks not of any particular man, but to all in general, of such a sort, viz. who boasted of their faith, and yet did not evidence it by their works.
2. It is not spoken in rash anger, or by way of contempt, but by way of correction and just reproof; see the like spoken by Christ himself, Mat 23:17,19; Lu 24:25 and by Paul, Gal 3:1; 1Co 15:36.
That faith without works is dead; a defective speech, faith without works, for that that which is without works, or, faith, if it be without works. He doth not say, faith is dead without works, lest it should be thought that works were the cause of the life of faith; but faith without works is dead, as Jam 2:17,26; implying, that works are the effects and signs of the life of faith.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v20 Our apostle here goes on to prove, that a…
Our apostle here goes on to prove, that a person is justified by works, that is, by a working faith, from the example of Abraham; and the argument lies thus: "If Abraham of old was justified by a working faith then we cannot be justified without it at this day; but Abraham, the father of the faithful, and the friend of God, was justified by a working faith, therefore faith without works will justify no man. As Abraham was justified, so must we and all others be justified; because the means and method of justification were ever one and the same, and ever will be uniform and alike. But Abraham was justified by a working faith, his faith was full of like, efficacy, and power, in bringing forth obedience unto God; witness his ready compliance with that hard and difficult command, the offering up his son Isaac. Seest thou how faith wrought with his works? that is, how his faith did both direct and assist him in that work. By faith Abraham offered up Isaac, and by works was his faith made perfect Heb 11:17, that is, declared to be perfect; for Abraham was justified five and twenty years before he offered up his son, but his conquering the difficulties of that work, shewed the perfection of this faith: as the goodness of the fruit declares the excellency of the tree, so the furit of obedience evidenced the sincerity of Abraham’s faith."
From hence then it may and must be concluded, that a barren and empty faith is a dead faith;
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dead because it may be found in and with a person dead in trespasses and sins;
dead, because it receives not the quickening influences of the Spirit of God;
dead, because it wants operation, which is the effect of like;
dead, because unavailable to eternal life.
Observe farther, the honourable character and noble testimony here given of Abraham, for and upon the account of this faith and obedience; He was called the friend of God. All true believers are God’s friends, as friends they are reconciled to him; as friends they enjoy communion with him, and communications from him; as friends there is a conformity of wills and affections between them, they like and love, they will and chuse the same things; as friends they desire and long for the complete fruition and enjoyment of each other.
Observe lastly, the inference which St. James draws from this instance of Abraham, Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith. By faith only, he means faith that is alone, solitary, and by itself, without works.
Quest. But does not St. James, by affirming, that By works a man is justified, and not by faith only, contradict St. Paul, who says, By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in God’s sight? Rom 3:20
Ans. Not at all,
1. Because they do not speak, ad idem, to the same thing; St. Paul speaks of justification before God, St. James of justification before men: St. Paul speaks of the justification of our person, St. James of the justification of our faith.
2. They do not speak iisdem to the same persons: St. Paul had to do with hypocritical professors, who abused St. Paul’s doctrine of free grace, and took encouragement to sin, affirming, that if they believed, it was sufficient, no matter how they lived; therefore St. James urges the necessity of good works, as evidences of the sincerity of our faith.
The sum of the matter is this, what God has joined none must divide, and what God has divided none must join; he has separated faith and works in the business of justification, according to St Paul, and none must join them in it; and he has joined them in the lives of justified persons, as St. James spake, and there we must not separate them. St. Paul assures us, that works have not a co-efficiency in justification itself; but St. James assures us, that they may and ought to have a co-existency in them that are justified.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv20–23 But wilt thou know, O vain man,.... These are…
But wilt thou know, O vain man,.... These are the words of the apostle reassuming the argument, that faith without works is dead, useless, and unprofitable; and the man that boasts of his faith, and has no works to show it, he calls a "vain man", an empty one, sounding brass, and a tinkling cymbal; empty vessels make the greatest sound; such are proud boasters, vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind; but are empty of the true knowledge of God, and of the faith of Christ, and of the grace of the Spirit: the Syriac version renders it, "O weak", or "feeble man", as he must needs be, whose faith is dead, and boasts of such a lifeless thing; and the Ethiopic version renders it, "O foolish man", for such an one betrays his ignorance in spiritual things, whatever conceit he has of his knowledge and understanding: the character seems levelled against the Gnostics, who were swelled with a vain opinion of their knowledge, to whom the apostle addresses himself thus. The phrase, "vain man", is a proper interpretation of the word "Raca", or Reka, used in Mat 5:22; see Gill on Mat 5:22, which though not to be said to a man in an angry way, yet may be applied to men of such a character as here described; who were empty of solid good, and yet boasted of their knowledge. "Wilt thou know?" dost thou require proofs,
that faith, without works, is dead? as in Jam 2:17 and that true faith has always works accompanying it, and is shown and known by it? then take the following instances.
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 vv20–23 But art than willing to know - Indeed thou…
But art than willing to know - Indeed thou art not: thou wouldest fain be ignorant of it. O empty man - Empty of all goodness. That the faith which is without works is dead - And so is not properly faith, as a dead carcase is not a man.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv20–23 Verse 20. But wilt thou know] Art thou willing…
Verse 20. But wilt thou know] Art thou willing to be instructed in the nature of true saving faith? Then attend to the following examples.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv21–23 Jas 2:21. Was not, &c. — As if he…
Jas 2:21. Was not, &c. — As if he had said, Take an instance of this in the most celebrated of all the patriarchs, our father Abraham. Was not he justified by works — Did not his works manifest the truth and liveliness of his faith; when — In consequence of the full persuasion he had of a divine command to do it; he offered Isaac his son upon the altar? — Intending, in obedience to what he apprehended to be the will of God, actually to have slain him, and to have trusted in God to accomplish the promise of a numerous seed to descend from him, by raising him from the dead: see notes on Heb 11:17-19. St. Paul says Abraham was justified by faith, (Rom 4:2, &c.,) yet St. James does not contradict him. For he does not speak of the same justification. St. Paul speaks of that which Abraham received many years before Isaac was born, Gen 15:6; St. James of that which he did not receive till he had offered up Isaac on the altar. He was justified, therefore, in St. Paul’s sense; that is, accounted righteous by faith, antecedent to his works. He was justified in St. James’s sense, that is, made righteous by works, subsequent to his faith: so that St. James’s justification by works is the fruit of St. Paul’s justification by faith.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv20–23 But wilt thou know - Will you have a…
But wilt thou know - Will you have a full demonstration of it; will you have the clearest proof in the case. The apostle evidently felt that the instances to which he was about to refer, those of Abraham and Rahab, were decisive.
O vain man - The reference by this language is to a man who held an opinion that could not be defended. The word “vain” here used (κενε kene) means properly “empty,” as opposed to “full” - as empty hands, having nothing in them; then fruitless, or without utility or success; then false, fallacious. The meaning here, properly, would be “empty,” in the sense of being void of understanding; and this would be a mild and gentle way of saying of one that he was foolish, or that he maintained an argument that was without sense. James means, doubtless, to represent it as a perfectly plain matter, a matter about which no man of sense could have any reasonable doubt. If we must call a man foolish, as is sometimes necessary, let us use as mild and inoffensive a term as possible - a term which, while it will convey our meaning, will not unnecessarily wound and irritate.
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That faith without works is dead - That the faith which does not produce good works is useless in the matter of salvation. He does not mean to say that it would produce no effect, for in the case of the demons it did produce trembling and alarm; but that it would be valueless in the matter of salvation. The faith of Abraham and of Rahab was entirely different from this.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v21 Was not Abraham....justified by works? We may observe, that…
Was not Abraham....justified by works? We may observe, that St. James here brings the very same examples of Abraham and Rahab, which it is likely he knew some had miscontrued in St. Paul, as if the great apostle of the Gentiles had taught that faith alone was sufficient to salvation. But St. Paul neither excludes good works done by faith, when he commends faith, excluding only the works of the law of Moses, as insufficient to a true justification. See Romans iii. 27. And St. James by requiring good works does not exclude faith, but only teacheth that faith alone is not enough. This is what he clearly expresseth here in the 22nd and in the 24th verse. Man, says he, is justified, and not by faith only. And (ver. 22.) seest thou that faith did co-operate with Abraham’s works, and by works faith was made perfect. In fine, we must take notice, that when St. James here brings example of Abraham offering his son Isaac, to shew that he was justified by works, his meaning is not that Abraham then began first to be justified, but that he then received an increase of his justice. He was justified at least from his first being called, and began then to believe and to do good works. It is true his faith was made perfect, and his justice increased, when he was willing to sacrifice his son. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv20–23 wilt thou know--"Vain" men are not willing to know,…
wilt thou know--"Vain" men are not willing to know, since they have no wish to "do" the will of God. James beseeches such a one to lay aside his perverse unwillingness to know what is palpable to all who are willing to do.
vain--who deceivest thyself with a delusive hope, resting on an unreal faith.
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without works--The Greek, implies separate from the works [ALFORD] which ought to flow from it if it were real.
is dead--Some of the best manuscripts read, "is idle," that is, unavailing to effect what you hope, namely, to save you.
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 vv20–23 20. Wilt thou—Willest thou? for it is a matter…
20. Wilt thou—Willest thou? for it is a matter of will. Thou canst know if it is thy will to know.
Vain man—Literally, empty man; vacant of the truth he might know.
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 vv20–23 20. wilt thou know, O vain man …] The…
20. wilt thou know, O vain man …] The term, as applied to men, is not found elsewhere in the New Testament, but is used with something of the same significance in the LXX. of Jdg_9:4. The idea is primarily that of “emptiness,” and the Greek adjective is almost literally the equivalent of our empty-headed, as a term of contempt. It answers clearly to the Raca of Mat_5:22.
that faith without works is dead] The MSS. vary between “dead” and the adjective rendered “idle” in Mat_12:36; Mat_20:3. The meaning is substantially the same. That which is without life is without the activity which is the one proof of life.
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 vv20–23 (20) But wilt thou know, O vain man, that…
(20) But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?—“Vain,” i.e., empty and useless. Some copies have a word which means idle, fruitless, workless, in place of that translated “dead”; but the sense is the same either way. “If,” says Bishop Beveridge, “I see fruit growing upon a tree, I know what tree it is upon which such fruit grows. And so, if I saw how a man lives, I know how he believes. If his faith be good, his works cannot but be good too; and if his works be bad, his faith cannot but be bad too: for, wheresoever there is a justifying faith, there are also good works; and wheresoever there are no good works, there is no justifying faith.” Works are the natural fruit of faith; and without them it is evident the tree is dead, perhaps at the very roots, ready to be cut down and cast into the fire.
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 vv20, 23 Vers. 20-24. (3) Third point: Proof from the example…
Vers. 20-24. (3) Third point: Proof from the example of Abraham that a man is justified by works and not by faith only. Insteusen Gen_15:6 we read of Abraham that "he believed in the Lord; and he accounted it to him for righteousness" (LXX, jEpi) Abram tw Qew kaisqh aujtw eijv dikaiosunhn, quoted by St. Paul in Rom_4:3; Gal_3:6. But years after this we find that God "tested Abraham". (Gen_22:1) To this trial St. James refers as that by which Abraham"s faith was "perfected" (ejteleiwqh), and by which the saying of earlier years found a more complete realization (cf. Ecc 44:20, Ecc 44:21, "Abraham kept the Law of the Most High, and was in covenant with him and when he was proved, he was found faithful. Therefore he assured him by an oath, that he would bless the nations in his seed," etc.).
Faith without works is dead. The Received Text, followed by the A.V, reads nekra, with a, A, C, (3) K, L, Syriac, Vulgate (Clementine). The Revisers, following B, C, (1) if, read ajrgh, "barren" (so Vulgate Amiat. by a correction, otiosa).
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Vers. 20-26.
Justification by faith and works.
The meaning of this notable passage has been much contested, because its teaching seems to many minds to contradict the doctrine of justification by faith. It was this apparent antagonism which led Martin Luther for a time to denounce the whole Epistle of James as a mere handful of "straw." Since his day, however, good men have been coming more and. more to see that Paul and James, so far from opposing one another, are in reality presenting different sides of the same great truth. Paul, in Romans and Galatians, fights against self-righteousness; James, in this Epistle, contends against formalism and licentiousness. James"s "faith without works" is not the justifying faith of Rom_3:28 through love;" it is rather the useless faith without love of which Paul speaks in 1Co 13. The two apostles, as we understand the matter, both treat of the samejustification, but they do not contemplate it from the same point of view.
Paul looks at justification metaphysically, in its essence as meaning acceptance with God on the ground of the righteousness of Christ; while James views it practically, in its vital connection with sanctification, and its efflorescence in a holy life. The "works" of James are just the "faith" of Paul developed in action. In the verses before us, James continues his illustration of the operative fruit-bearing nature of justifying faith. He adduces two examples from the Old Testament Scriptures.
I THE EXAMPLE OF ABRAHAM. (Vers. 21-23.) It is remarkable that Paul employs the same illustration in setting forth the doctrine of justification by faith alone; and that he appeals also to the identical Old Testament statement (Gen_15:6) here quoted respecting Abraham"s acceptance. (Ro 4; Gal_3:6, Gal_3:7) Paul says that Abraham was justified by faith before Isaac was born; while James says that he was "justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar" (ver. 21). But James is careful to add, that in this crowning manifestation of his piety the patriarch"s faith co-operated with his works. The confidence which Abraham had reposed in God for so many years was the very life of his obedience to the dreadful command to kill his only son; and. the reflex influence of his victorious passage through such an awful ordeal was that his strong trust in God was still further strengthened and made perfect" (ver. 22). Abraham"s faith alone had been "reckoned unto him for righteousness" ever since the day when he first "went out, not knowing whither he went;" but the longer that he persevered in believing, and kept adding practical virtues to his faith, his original justification was the more confirmed. So, as good works are vitally connected with saving faith being, in fact, wrapped up within it in germ from the beginning Abraham may be said to have been "justified by works." The faith which saved him was a works-producing faith. And he was so greatly distinguished for the fruitfulness of his faith that he became known in Hebrew history as "the friend of God.
II THE EXAMPLE OF RAHAB. (Ver. 25.) Her case seems to have been selected because it was so unlike the preceding. Abraham was a Jew, and the father of the chosen nation; Rahab was a heathen woman. Abraham had for many years received a special training in the school of faith; Rahab had enjoyed no training at all. Abraham was a good and pure man; Rahab had lived a loose and sensual life. Yet this degraded Canaanite obtained "like precious faith" with the illustrious patriarch. The same two Old Testament examples are cited also in Hebrews 11.; and certainly they take rank as the two extreme cases selected for special mention in that chapter. The contrast is useful as showing that, invariably, good works are found flowing from a living faith. The object of Rahab"s belief is expressed in her own words in Jos_2:9-11; and her strenuous exertions for the safety of the two spies, made at the risk of her life, bring her faith into prominence, as "working with her works.
CONCLUSION. In ver. 20 the apostle begins the paragraph with a restatement of his thesis; and in vers. 24 and 26, after presenting the scriptural examples respectively, he introduces a triumphant "Q.E.D" He has shown that the faith which lies only in the cold assent of the intellect to a system of divinity is more like a lifeless corpse than a living man (ver. 26). Truly saving faith consists in such a warm personal trust of the heart as will manifest itself in a life of holy obedience. So the ethical in religion ought never to be divorced from the evangelical. Every Christian minister should preach many sermons on distinctively moral subjects, taking care, however, that such discourses are informed with gospel motives. And every member of the Church should practice in the market-place and the workshop the morality of the Sermon on the Mount not simply because a holy life is the appropriate evidence of faith, but rather because it is the great end in order to which the believer"s faith is reckoned fur righteousness. C.J.
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 vv20–23 20–24. But wilt thou know, etc. “I will show…
20–24. But wilt thou know, etc. “I will show by proof that the faith that justifies produces works by the case of Abraham, the great father of the faithful.” Faith without works is dead. It has no power to make alive unless it has power over the life.
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.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v21 Jas_2:22. Made perfect.—Or, “a complete, and therefore acceptable, thing.”
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
Jas_2:22. Made perfect.—Or, “a complete, and therefore acceptable, thing.”
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Jas_2:23. Imputed.—“Was accounted as equivalent to righteousness.” His willingness to do, joined with the effort to do, was reckoned as if the thing was actually done.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Jas_2:21-24
The Imputation of Righteousness.—St. James’s point in this paragraph seems to be this—Abraham did not gain the righteousness of an actual obedience of God’s will. He did not actually carry through the Divine command, and sacrifice his son on the altar. But he did fully purpose obedience; he did make every effort to carry his obedient purpose through. He was stopped, not by any change in his purpose, but by a new revelation of the Divine will; and it was therefore perfectly right that the intention and effort should be recognised as the righteousness which would have accrued to him if the sacrifice had been carried through. What St. James suggests is this—Would it have been reckoned as righteousness if Abraham had only thought about obeying, only talked about obeying, only resolved to obey, and had made no effort? It was that “rising up early in the morning, saddling his ass, cleaving the wood, carrying the fire and knife, journeying to Moriah, laying the wood in order, binding Isaac, laying him on the altar, and raising the knife to slay his son”—proving the reality of his faith, which was counted to him for righteousness. And here is a truth full of encouragement for us. Constantly we find that we cannot accomplish what we plan. Again and again we have to mourn that “our purposes are broken off.” Abraham was not permitted to do what he would. David was not permitted to carry through that which was in his heart. But incomplete works, which are incomplete through orderings of Divine Providence, not through our moral weakness, suffice to show God the reality, the activity, of our faith, and can be the basis on which righteousness is imputed to us. To prove faith obedience is necessary, but the obedience may be providentially stopped. The active effort to obey suffices; the precise result is unimportant. In Abraham there was faith in God’s command; but it was only known and shown by the works of obedience which he so resolutely endeavoured to perform.
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
Jas_2:22. Perfect, or All-round, Faith.—A thing is perfect when all its capacities are healthily developed, and are finding healthy exercise. Physical training aims to secure a perfect body, by nourishing into harmonious efficiency every organ, every sense, every power. Faith may be thought of as having its capacities, spheres, relations, possibilities, of service.
1. It has the sphere of the mental and moral life of the individual, and needs to get its full influence there.
2. It has its sphere of the relationship with God, and it needs to make full response to all the claims of God.
3. It has its sphere in its earth surroundings, with their various relationships and calls for influence; and it must be exercised into a wise efficiency of service in all that sphere. Perfect faith is all-round, efficient faith, fully responding in the faith spheres of self, God, and others.
Jas_2:23. El Khalil, the Friend of God.—Khalil-Allah, the “friend of God,” is the fuller form of Abraham’s title. In many ways it has a peculiar significance. The ancestor of the chosen people is not, as in the legends of Greece and Rome, or even of Germany, a god, or a demi-god, or the son of a god; he is a mere man. The interval between the human and Divine is never confounded. Close as are the communications with Deity, yet the Divine essence is always veiled, the man is never absorbed into it. Abraham is “the friend,” but he is nothing more. He is nothing more, but he is nothing less. He is “the friend of God.” The title includes a double meaning. He is “beloved of God.” In him was exemplified the fundamental truth of all religion,—that God has not deserted the world; that His work is carried on by His chosen instruments; that good men are not only His creatures and His servants, but His friends. And not only was Abraham beloved by God, but God was “beloved by him”; not only was God the friend of Abraham, but Abraham was the “friend of God.” To expand this truth is to see what was the religion, the communion with the Supreme, which raised Abraham above his fellow-men.—Dean Stanley.
Jas_2:21-22; Jas_2:24. Faith and Works.—The truths revealed by the gospel are not merely verbal statements, but great facts concerning the spiritual world, which exist quite independently of the words by which they are related to us in the New Testament. And the same spiritual truths are presented to us in Holy Scripture from different points of view. This is especially the case with the relation between the faith and works of a Christian, as set forth by St. Paul and St. James. If we dwell merely on the words they use, we may think they contradict each other. If we seek for their whole scope and meaning, we shall find that they are only treating the same subject from different points of view. Probably the epistle of St. James was written before that to the Romans. St. Paul tells us that pardon of our past sins and reconciliation to God are not earned by any works done in order to merit them. “To him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt”; but the pardon of our past sins is the gift of God—it is simply an act of “grace,” or free mercy on the part of God towards sinful men. St. James tells us that Abraham, in the hour of trial, when he had offered up Isaac, was justified by his works also, or by the evidence which his works gave to angels and to men of the reality of his faith in God. St. James never says that Abraham was not justified by faith. He uses the word “works” in a sense wholly distinct from that of St. Paul. When St. James speaks of a man being “justified by works,” he means works which are the result of loving faith—works which are wrought by the Spirit of Christ in His faithful followers, works which evidence their faith and are ever tending to perfect it. St. Paul means by “works” the doing of certain outward things in order to purchase salvation. He speaks not of works wrought by the Holy Spirit, but of the “works of the flesh,” and directs us to seek that great inward change which is the gift of God.—Robert Barclay.
Jas_2:24. Justification by Works.—Of all questions the first and greatest is, “How shall a man be just before God?” Many differences of opinion. Text a deduction from a preceding argument. We should carefully examine the argument.
I. The apostle’s argument.—
1. Whence did it arise? He was reproving an evil in the early Church—the showing partiality to the richer members, oppressing and holding in contempt the poorer (Jas_2:1). This gives a clue to the whole. Hold not the true faith in so erroneous and unworthy a manner.
2. Trace the steps of his argument. This partiality is contrary to the law and the gospel. He appeals to the whole Church. No person can be saved so holding the faith of Christ. How vain pretences to love would be if it were as inoperative as this faith! (Jas_2:15-16). He confirms these assertions by an appeal to the Scriptures themselves. Whatever degrees of faith people might pretend to, they can never be accepted by God unless their faith works by love.
II. The conclusion drawn from it.—
1. The future judgment will proceed on grounds of perfect equity. God dispenses rewards and punishments not on arbitrary but strictly equitable grounds. God will judge men not by their faith, which He alone can see, but by their works, which all can see.
2. Faith is of no value unless attested by works. Faith at first sees Christ as Saviour from guilt and condemnation. It does not rest there; it lays hold on Him for sanctification, and for righteousness.
A common objection.—St. Paul’s sentiments and declarations on this subject are directly opposed to those of St. James. St. Paul is proving that a man is not to seek salvation by any righteousness of his own, but simply by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; whereas St. James is proving that a man who professes to have faith in Christ must show forth his faith by his works. St. Paul endeavours to convince the self-justiciary; St. James the Antinomian. St. Paul—works are nothing without faith; St. James—faith is nothing without works.
A few words—
1. Of caution.
(1) Do not separate faith and works. If your faith be strong enough to remove mountains, yet if it work not by love, it is but “sounding brass and tinkling cymbal.”
(2) Do not confound the two. You must lay Christ as your foundation first, and afterward raise on Him the superstructure of good works. Faith will honour Christ as the only Saviour of mankind, and works will honour Him as Lord and Master.
2. Of encouragement. All difficulties in the subject vanish before a broken and contrite heart; not all verbal difficulties, perhaps, but all doubts on the main subject. No righteousness but that of Christ can ever avail for our acceptance before God; and holiness is no less necessary for our final enjoyment of His favours. He will not “despise the contrite heart.”—Charles Simeon, M.A.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v23
James
GOD’S FRIENDS
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Jas 2:23.
When and by whom was he so called? There are two passages in the Old Testament in which an analogous designation is applied to the patriarch, but probably the name was one in current use amongst the people, and expressed in a summary fashion the impression that had been made by the history of Abraham’s life. A sweet fate to have that as the brief record of a character, and to be known throughout the ages by such an epitaph. As many of us are aware, this name, ‘the Friend,’ has displaced the proper name, Abraham, on the Lips of all Mohammedan people to this day; and the city of Hebron, where his corpse lies, is commonly known simply as ‘the Friend.’
‘My object in this sermon is a very simple one. I merely wish to bring out two or three of the salient elements and characteristics of friendship as exercised on the human level, and to use these as a standard and test of our religion and relation to God.
But I may just notice, for a moment, how beautiful and blessed a thought it is which underlies this and similar representations of Scripture - viz., that the bond which unites us to God is the very same as that which most sweetly and strongly ties men to one another, and that, after all, religion is nothing more or less than the transference to Him of the emotions which make all the sweetness of human life and society.
Now, I shall try to bring out two or three points which are included in that name, ‘the Friend of God,’ and to ask ourselves if they apply to our relations to Him.
I. First, friends trust and love one another.
Mutual confidence is the mortar which binds the stones in society together, into a building. It makes the difference between the herding together of beasts and the association of men. No community could keep together for an hour without mutual confidence, even in regard of the least intimate relationships of life. But it is the very life-blood of friendship. You cannot say, ‘A.B. is my friend, but I do not trust him.’ If suspicion creeps in, like the foul malaria of tropical swamps, it kills all friendship. Therefore ‘he was called the Friend of God’ is by James deduced from the fact that ‘he believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness.’ You cannot make a friend of a man that you do not know where to have. There may be some vague reverence of, or abject reluctant submission to, ‘the unknown God,’ the something outside of ourselves that perhaps makes for righteousness; but for any vivid, warm throb of friendship there must be, first, a clear knowledge, and then a living grappling of that knowledge to my very heart, by my faith. Unless I trust God I cannot be a friend of God’s. If you and I are His friends we trust Him, and He will trust us. For this friendship is not one-sided, and the name, though it may be ambiguous as to whether it means one whom I love or one who loves me, really includes both persons to the compact; and there are analogous, if not identical, emotions in each. So that, if I trust God, I may be sure that God trusts me, and, in His confidence, leaves a great deal to me; and so ennobles and glorifies me by His reliance upon me.
But whilst we know that this belief in God was the very nerve and centre of Abraham’s whole character, and was the reason why he was called the friend of God, we must also remember that, as James insists upon here, it was no mere idle assent, no mere intellectual conviction that God could not tell lies, which was dignified by the name of belief, but that it was, as James insists upon in the context, a trust which proved itself to be valid, because it was continually operative in the life. ‘Faith without works is dead.’ ‘And Abraham, our father, was he not justified by works?’
And so the Epistle to the Hebrews, if you will remember, traces up to his faith all the chief points in his life. ‘By faith he went out from the land where he dwelt; by faith he dwelt in tabernacles,’ in the promised land, believing that it should be his and his seed’s; ‘by faith’ he offered up his son on the altar.
Thus we come to this, that the heavenly and the earthly friend, like friends on the low levels of humanity, love each other because they trust each other, I have said that the words ‘My friend’ may either mean one whom I love or one who loves me, but that the two things are in the present connection inseparable. Only let us remember where the sweet reciprocation and interchange of love begins. ‘We love Him because He first loved us.’ ‘When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.’ And so we have to turn to that heavenly Friend, and feel that as life itself, so the love which is the life of life, has its beginning in Him, and that never would our hearts have turned themselves from their alienation, unless there had poured down upon them the attractive outflow of His great love. It was an old fancy that, wherever a tree was struck by lightning, all its tremulous foliage turned in the direction from which the bolt had come. When the merciful flash of God’s great love strikes a heart, then all its tendrils turn to the source of the life-giving light, and we love back again, in sweet reverberation to the primal and original love. Dear brethren, I lay upon your heart and mine this thought, that friends trust and love each other. Do we trust and love our God?
II. Friends have frank, familiar intercourse with one another.
Let us turn to the illuminatlve example in our text, and remember God’s frankness with Abraham. ‘Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I will do?’ Let us cap that-as we can, marvellous and great as the utterance is - by another one, ‘I call you not servants, but friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I declare unto you.’ So much for God’s frankness. What about Abraham’s frankness with God? Remember how he remonstrated with Him; how he complained to Him of His dealings; how he persisted with importunity, which would have been presumptuous but for the friendship which underlay it, and warranted the bold words. And let us take the simple lesson that if we are friends and lovers of God, we shall delight in intercourse with Him. It is a strange kind of religion that does not care to be with God, that would rather think about anything else than about Him, that is all unused to quiet, solitary conversation and communion with Him, but it is the religion of, I wonder, how many of us to-day. He would be a strange friend that never crossed your threshold if you could help it; that was evidently uncomfortable in your presence, and ill at ease till he got away from you, and that when he came was struck dumb, and had not a word to say for himself, and did not know or feel that he and you had any interests or subjects in common. Is that not a good deal like the religion of hosts of professing Christians? ‘He was called the friend of God,’ and he never, all his days, if he could help it, thought about Him or went near Him!
If we are friends of God, we shall have no secrets from Him. There are very few of those who are dearest to us to whom we could venture to lay bare all the depths of our hearts. There are black things down in the cellars that we do not like to show to any of our friends. We receive them upstairs, in the rooms for company. But you should take God all through
the house. And if there is the trust and the love that l have been speaking about, we shall not be afraid to spread out all our foulness, and our meanness, and our unworthy thoughts of, and acts towards, Him, before His ‘pure eyes and perfect judgment,’ and say, ‘Nobody but my best friend could look at such a dungheap, but I spread it before Thee. Look at it, and Thou wilt cleanse it; look at it, and it will melt away. Look at it, and in the knowledge that Thou knowest, my knowledge of it will be less of a torment, and my bosom will be cleansed of its perilous stuff.’
Tell God all, if you mean to be a friend of His. And do not be afraid to tell Him your harsh thoughts of Him, and your complaints of Him. He never resents anything that a man who loves Him says about Him, if he says it to Him. What He resents - if I might use the word - is our huddling up grudges and murmurings and questionings in our own hearts, and saying never a word to the friend against whom they offend. Out with it all, brethren! Complaints, regrets, questionings, petitions, hot wishes, take them all to Him; and be sure that instead of their breaking, they will, if spoken, cement the friendship which is disturbed by secrecy on our parts.
If we are God’s lovers, He will have no secrets from us. ‘The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His covenant.’ There is a strange wisdom and insight, sometimes amounting even to prophetic anticipation, which creeps into a simple heart that is knit closely to God. But whether the result of our friendship with Him be such communication of such kinds of insight or no, we may be sure of this, that, if we trust Him, and love Him, and are frank with Him, He will in so far be frank with us, that He will impart unto us Himself, and in the knowledge of His love we shall find all the knowledge that we need.
III. Friends delight to meet each other’s wishes.
Let us go back to our story again. The humble, earthly friend of God did as God bade him, substantially all his life, from the day when he made the ‘ Great Refusal,’ and left behind him home and kindred and all, until the day when he went up the sides of Moriah to offer there his son. Abraham met God’s wishes because Abraham trusted and loved God.
And what about the Divine Friend? Did He not meet Abraham’s wishes? You remember that wonderful scene, which presents, in such vivid and dramatic form, the everlasting truth that the man who bows his will to God, bows God’s will to his, when he pleaded for Sodom, and won his case by persistence and importunity of lowly prayer. And these historical notices on both sides are for us the vehicles of the permanent truth that, if we are God’s lovers and friends, we shall find nothing sweeter than bowing to His will and executing His commandments. As I dare say I have often said to you, the very mark and signature of love is that it delights to divine and fulfil the desires of the beloved, and that it moulds the will of each of the parties into conformity with the will of the other.
Ah, dear brethren I what a commentary our religion is. upon such thoughts! To how many of us is the very notion of religion that of a prohibition of things that we would much like to do, and of commands to do things that we had much rather not do? All the slavery of abject submission, of reluctant service, is clean swept away, when we understand that friendship and love find their supreme delight in discovering and in executing the will of the beloved. And surely if you and I are the friends of God, the cold words, ‘duty,’ ‘must,’ ‘should,’ will be struck out of our vocabulary and will be replaced by ‘delight,’ ‘cannot but; ‘will.’ For friends find the very life - I was going to say the voice-of their friendship in mutual obedience.
And God, the heavenly Friend, will do what we wish. In that very connection did Jesus Christ put the two thoughts of friendship with Him and His executing His disciple’s behests; saying in one breath, ‘Ye are My friends if ye do whatsoever I command you,’ and in the next, ‘Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.’ This conformity of will, so that there is but one will in, the two hearts, which is the very consummation and superlative degree of human friendship and love, applies as truly to the friendship between man and God.
IV. Friends give gifts to each other.
Let us go back to our story. What did Abraham give God? ‘Forasmuch as he hath not withheld his only son from Me, I know that he fears Me.’ And what does God give to His friends? ‘He that spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up to the death for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?’ Abraham’s gift of his son to God was but a feeble shadow of God’s gift of His Son to men. And if the surrender on the part of the human friend was the infallible token of his love, surely the surrender on the part of the heavenly Friend is no less the infallible sign of His love to all the world. Generalise these thoughts and they come to this.
If we are God’s lovers God will give us Himself, in so far as we can receive Him; and all other gifts in so far as they are good and needful. If we are God’s friends and lovers we shall give Him, in glad surrender, our whole selves. And, remember, if you feel that you have separate interests from Him, if you keep things and do not let Him say, ‘These are mine’; if you grudge sacrifice, and will not hear of self-surrender, and are living lives centred in, ruled by, devoted to, self, you have little reason to call yourself a Christian. ‘Ye are My friends if ye’ - not only ‘do whatsoever I command you,’ but ‘if you give yourself to Me.’ Yield yourselves to God, and in the giving of yourselves to Him, you will get back yourselves glorified and blessed by the gift. There is no friendship if self shuts out the friend from participation in what is the other’s. As long as ‘mine’ lies on this side of a high wall, and ‘thine’ on the other, there is but little friendship. Down with the wall, and say about everything ‘Ours’; and then you have a right to say ‘I am the friend of God.’
V. Lastly, and but a word. Friends stand up for each other.
‘I am thy shield; fear not, Abraham,’ said God, when His friend was in danger from the vengeance of the Eastern kings whom he had defeated; and all through life the same strong arm was cast around him. Abraham, on his part, had to stand up for God amidst his heathen neighbours.
If we are God’s ‘friends and lovers He will take up our cause. Be sure that if God be for us, it matters not who is against us. If we are God’s friends and lovers we have to take up His cause. What would you think of a man who, in going away to a far-off country, said to some friend, ‘I wish you would look after so and so for me as long as I am gone’; and the friend would say ‘Yes!’ and never give a thought nor lift a finger to discharge the obligation? God trusts His reputation to you Christian people; He has interests in this world that you have to look after. You have to defend Him as really as He has to defend you. And it is the dreadful contradiction of religious people’s profession of religion that they often care so little, and do so little to promote the cause, to defend the name, to adorn the reputation, and to further what I may venture to call the interests, of their heavenly Friend in the world.
Dear brother, looking at these things, can you venture to say that you are a friend of God? If you cannot, what are you? Our relations to men admit of our dividing them into three - friends, enemies, nothings. We may love, we may hate, we may be absolutely indifferent and ignorant. I am afraid the
three states cannot be transferred exactly to our relations to God. If not His friend, what are you? Have you only a far-off, bowing acquaintance with Him? Well, then, that is because you have neglected, if you have not spurned, His offered friendship. And, oh! how much you have lost! No human heart is a millionth part so sweet, and so capable of satisfying you as God’s. All friendship here has its limits, its changes, its end. God’s is boundless, immutable, eternal All things are the friends of God’s friend; and all things are arrayed against him who rejects God’s friendship.
I beseech you, let Him woo you to love Him; and yield your hearts to Him. ‘If when we were "enemies," we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son,’ much more, being friends, all the fulness of His love and the sweetness of His heart will be poured upon us through the living Christ.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv21–23 (See Scofield "Rom 4:2").
justified
(See Scofield "Rom 4:2").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v21 The example of Abraham and Rahab:
The example of Abraham and Rahab:
v. 21. Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works when he had offered Isaac, his son, upon the altar?
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v. 22. Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
v. 23. And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness; and he was called the friend of God.
v. 24. Ye see, then, how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
v. 25. Likewise also, was not Rahab, the harlot, justified by works when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way?
v. 26. Far as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
In bringing examples from the Old Testament to illustrate his argument, the apostle first refers to an incident in the life of Abraham: Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works when he sacrificed his son Isaac upon the altar? Gen 22:9. Abraham had received the command from God to take his only son, Isaac, to make a three days’ journey with him to a certain mountain, and there to offer him up as a sacrifice upon an altar to be built by him. The fact that Abraham carried out the commandment of God without remonstrance was a proof of his faith, Heb 11:17; in other words, his work in sacrificing his son was evidence that justifying, saving faith was living in his heart. It follows, then: Thou seest that his faith was manifested as being one with his works, and that out of works faith was completed. Abraham’s faith was active in his works, in all the matters connected with this sacrifice, the two being thus joined in their efficacy, and his faith receiving its final, definite proof by his works. That is, any one seeing Abraham perform this work as he was commanded to do by the Lord could not doubt for as much as a minute that true faith lived in his heart.
That this is the argument of the writer is shown in the next verse: And there was fulfilled the scripture which says, Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to Him for righteousness, and he was called a friend of God. The order to be observed in estimating faith is this: Abraham performed the very difficult task which was assigned to him; this work he could perform only by faith; by virtue of this saving faith the righteousness of the Messiah was imputed to him, or, his faith was accounted to him for righteousness, Gen 15:6; Rom 4:3. Moreover, on the strength of this evidence of faith the Old Testament ascribed to Abraham the honoring title of the friend of God, 2Ch 20:7; Isa 41:8. From this standpoint, also, the conclusion is correct: You see that out of works a man is justified, and not out of faith alone. Good works are not necessary to earn salvation, but they are necessary for evidence as to the existence of faith in the heart of a man; for where they are to be found, there one may conclude that true faith lives in the heart, and so the works indirectly justify a person.
The example of Rahab is also adduced: So likewise Rahab, the harlot: was she not justified out of works when she received the messengers and sent them out by a different way? The act of Rahab in hiding the spies that came to her house was an act of faith, Heb 11:31. It was this faith that prompted her to hide the messengers and to aid them in escaping from the city. This good work proved the existence of saving faith in her heart, and she was thus justified on the basis of the deed which manifested the condition of her heart. Thus the apostle, from the standpoint which he here desires to impress upon his readers, is right in concluding: For just as the body without breath is dead, so faith without works is dead. A corpse may have the appearance of a live human being in every way, all the members and organs being present and apparently able to function. But while the breath of life, the soul, is lacking, that body is dead and will remain dead. Thus also a person may boast that he possesses faith, and he may even be among those that hear the Word of God. But if the evidence of good works is lacking, such faith is spurious, hypocritical, valueless. Genuine faith is never without good works.
Summary
The apostle warns his readers against an unchristian partiality, asserting that the will of God demands charity toward all men alike; he shows that faith requires the correlate of brotherly love and adduces the example of Abraham and Rahab to indicate how faith gave evidence of its existence in good works.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v21 General Information:
General Information:
Since these are Jewish believers, they know the story of Abraham, about whom God had told them long ago in his word.
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Was not Abraham our father justified ... on the altar?
This rhetorical question is used to rebut the foolish man's arguments from James 2:18, who refuses to believe that faith and works go together. AT: "Abraham our father was certainly justified ... on the altar." (See: Rhetorical Question)
justified by works
James speaks of works as if they were objects that one can own. AT: "justified by doing good deeds" (See: Metaphor)
father
Here "father" is used in the sense of "ancestor."
You see
The word "you" is singular, referring to the hypothetical man. James is addressing his whole audience as if they were one person.
You see
The word "see" is a metonym. AT: "You understand" (See: Metonymy)
faith worked with his works, and that by works his faith was fully developed
James speaks as if "faith" and "works" are things that can work together and help each other. AT: "because Abraham believed God, he did what God commanded. And because Abraham did what God commanded, he believed God completely"
The scripture was fulfilled
This can be stated in active form. AT: "This fulfilled the scripture" (See: Active or Passive)
it was counted to him as righteousness
"God regarded his faith as righteousness." Abraham's faith and righteousness were treated as if they were able to be counted as having value. (See: Metaphor)
You see
James again addresses his audience directly by using the plural form of "you."
it is by works that a man is justified, and not only by faith
"actions and faith are what justify a person, and not only faith." James speaks of works as if they were objects to obtain. (See: Active or Passive and Metaphor)
translationWords
Abraham
ancestor
just
works
sacrifice
Isaac
altar
word of God
righteous
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv20, 22, 23 2:20-26 James demonstrates from Scripture that genuine faith finds…
2:20-26 James demonstrates from Scripture that genuine faith finds expression in action.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.