You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected.
Parallel Translations
-
You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected.
-
Thou seist how that fayth wrought with his dedes and through the dedes was the fayth made parfect:
-
Seest thou not that the faith wrought with his workes? and through the workes was the faith made perfect.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to James 2:22 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Thessalonians 1:3 remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and perseverance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father.
- Hebrews 11:17-19 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 whom it was said, “Your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac,” concluding that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back from the dead.
- Galatians 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love.
- 1 John 2:5 But God’s love has most certainly been perfected in whoever keeps his word. This is how we know that we are in him:
- James 2:18 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.
- 1 John 4:17-18 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 world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 22 By works was faith made perfect By this…
22 By works was faith made perfect By this he again shews, that the question here is not respecting the cause of our salvation, but whether works necessarily accompany faith; for in this sense it is said to have been perfected by works, because it was not idle. It is said to have been perfected by works, not because it received thence its own perfection, but because it was thus proved to be true. For the futile distinction which the Sophists draw from these words, between formed and unformed faith, needs no labored refutation; for the faith of Abram was formed and therefore perfected before he sacrificed his son. And this work was not as it were the finishing, or last work. Formerly things afterwards followed by which Abraham proved the increase of his faith. Hence this was not the perfection of his faith, nor did it then for the first time put on its form. James then understood no other thing, than that the integrity of his faith then appeared, because it brought forth that remarkable fruit of obedience.
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 That the faith was declared to be a true…
That the faith was declared to be a true faith, and that by works.
Was effectual and fruitful with good works.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works,…
22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
Ver. 22. Wrought with his works] Or, was a help to his works, and was her own midwife to bring them forth of herself into the open light, Heb 11:17.
Read full note →
Was faith made perfect] That is, declared to be operative and effectual.
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 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works? He…
Seest thou how faith wrought with his works? He doth not say, works wrought with his faith, as he should have said, if he had intended their concurrence in justification; but
faith wrought with his works, i.e. his faith was not idle, but effectual in producing good works, it being the office and business of faith to respect Christ for sanctification, as well as righteousness, Act 26:18.
Read full note →
And by works was faith made perfect; either:
1. Faith by producing good works is itself encouraged, heightened, improved; and so not made perfect by any communication of the perfection of works to it, but by being stirred up and exercised as to the internal strength and power of it. Or rather:
2. Faith is made perfect by works declaratively, inasmuch as works evidence and manifest the perfection and strength of faith.
Faith is the cause, and works are the effects; but the cause is not perfected by the effect, only its perfection is demonstrated by it, as good fruit doth not make a tree good, but show that it is so. See 2Co 12:9.
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 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works,.... Not…
Seest thou how faith wrought with his works,.... Not to justify him before God; for neither faith nor works are ever said in Scripture to justify any man; but his faith being of the right kind, a faith which works by love, it put him upon doing this work, and many others; for this was done in faith, Heb 11:17 as all good works are, which are properly such; and where there is true faith, it will influence and engage a man to do good works, as it did Abraham.
And by works was faith made perfect? not with an absolute perfection; for though Abraham's faith was very great, yet there were things lacking in it, and he had his fits and times of unbelief; and had he lived till now, his faith, in this sense, would not have been perfect; and he would have had reason to have used the apostle's petition, Luk 17:5 much less would it have been made thus perfect by works; but the sense is, that hereby his faith was declared to be sincere, unfeigned, true, and genuine; just as love is said to be perfected, Jo1 4:17.
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 Thou seest that faith - For by faith Abraham…
Thou seest that faith - For by faith Abraham offered him, Heb. xi, 17. Wrought together with his works - Therefore faith has one energy and operation; works, another: and the energy and operation of faith are before works, and together with them. Works do not give life to faith, but faith begets works, and then is perfected by them. And by works was faith made perfect - Here St. James fixes the sense wherein he uses the word justified; so that no shadow of contradiction remains between his assertion and St. Paul's. Abraham returned from that sacrifice perfected in faith, and far higher in the favour of God. Faith hath not its being from works, (for it is before them,) but its perfection. That vigour of faith which begets works is then excited and increased thereby, as the natural heat of the body begets motion, whereby itself is then excited and increased. See 1 John iii, 22.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 22. Seest thou how faith wrought] Here is…
Verse 22. Seest thou how faith wrought] Here is a proof that faith cannot exist without being active in works of righteousness. His faith in God would have been of no avail to him, had it not been manifested by works; for by works - by his obedience to the commands of God, his faith was made perfect - it dictated obedience, he obeyed; and thus faith ετελειωθη, had its consummation. Even true faith will soon die, if its possessor do not live in the spirit of obedience.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jas 2:22. Seest thou — Or thou seest then,…
Jas 2:22. Seest thou — Or thou seest then, in this instance; how faith wrought together with his works — And animated him to great zeal and self-denial in them. Therefore faith has one energy and operation, works another. And the energy and operation of faith are before works, and together with them. Works do not give life to faith, but faith begets works, and then is completed by them. And by works was faith made perfect — “The command to offer Isaac for a burnt-offering, (Gen 22:2,) appearing directly contrary to the promise, (Gen 21:12,) In Isaac shall thy seed be called, Abraham’s faith was thereby put to the severest trial. Yet it was not staggered by the seeming contrariety of the divine revelation: Abraham reasoned with himself, (Heb 11:19,) that God was able to raise Isaac even from the dead; and firmly believing that he would actually do so, he therefore set himself to obey the divine command without the least gain-saying. James therefore had good reason to say that Abraham’s faith co-operated with his works in procuring him the promises confirmed with an oath, because it was his faith in God which enabled him to perform the difficult works, requisite to the offering of Isaac as a burnt- offering. He had equally good reason to say, by works his faith was perfected, or rendered complete; because, if, when tried, he had refused to obey, his would not have been a complete faith. In this passage, therefore, 1st, James hath declared that faith and works are inseparably connected, as cause and effect, and that good works must flow from faith as their principle.” 2d, He here fixes the sense wherein he uses the word justified; so that no shadow of contradiction remains between his assertion and St. Paul’s. Abraham returned from that sacrifice perfected in faith, and far higher in the favour of God. Faith hath not its existence from works; for it is before them; but its perfection. That vigour of faith which begets works is then excited and increased thereby: as the natural heat of the body begets motion, whereby itself is then excited and increased: see 1Jn 3:22.
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 Seest thou - Margin, “Thou seest.” Either rendering is…
Seest thou - Margin, “Thou seest.” Either rendering is correct, and the sense is the same. The apostle means to say that this was so plain that they could not but see it.
How faith wrought with his works - συνήργει sunērgei. Cooperated with. The meaning of the word is, “to work together with anyone; to co operate,” 1Co 16:16; 2Co 6:1; then to aid, or help, Mar 16:20; to contribute to the production of any result, where two or more persons or agents are united. Compare Rom 8:28. The idea here is, that the result in the case of Abraham, that is, his salvation, or his religion, was secured, not by one of these things alone, but that both contributed to it. The result which was reached, to wit, his acceptance with God, could not have been obtained by either one of them separately, but both, in some sense, entered into it. The apostle does not say that, in regard to the merit which justifies, they came in for an equal share, for he makes no affirmation on that point; he does not deny that in the sight of God, who foresees and knows all things, he was regarded as a justified man the moment he believed, but he looks at the result as it was, at Abraham as he appeared under the trial of his faith, and says that in that result there was to be seen the co-operation of faith and good works. Both contributed to the end, as they do now in all cases where there is true religion.
Read full note →
(By the somewhat unhappy term “merit,” the author clearly means nothing more than “principle,” as is obvious from his acute and evangelical comment on the verse; as well as from the admirable reconciliation of Paul and James below.)
And by works was faith made perfect - Made complete, finished, or entire. It was so carried out as to show its legitimate and fair results. This does not mean that the faith in itself was defective before this, and that the defect was remedied by good works; or that there is any deficiency in what the right kind of faith can do in the matter of justification, which is to be helped out by good works; but that there was that kind of completion which a thing has when it is fully developed, or is fairly carried out.
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 Or, "thou seest."
Or, "thou seest."
how--rather, "that." In the two clauses which follow, emphasize "faith" in the former, and "works" in the latter, to see the sense [BENGEL].
Read full note →
faith wrought with his works--for it was by faith he offered his son. Literally, "was working (at the time) with his works."
by works was faith made perfect--not was vivified, but attained its fully consummated development, and is shown to be real. So "my strength is made perfect in weakness," that is, exerts itself most perfectly, shows how great it is [CAMERON]: so Jo1 4:17; Heb 2:10; Heb 5:9. The germ really, from the first, contains in it the full-grown tree, but its perfection is not attained till it is matured fully. So Jam 1:4, "Let patience have her perfect work," that is, have its full effect by showing the most perfect degree of endurance, "that ye may be perfect," that is, fully developed in the exhibition of the Christian character. ALFORD explains, "Received its realization, was entirely exemplified and filled up." So Paul, Phi 2:12, "Work out your own salvation": the salvation was already in germ theirs in their free justification through faith. It needed to be worked out still to fully developed perfection in their life.
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 22. Faith wrought… works—As remarked in our notes on…
22. Faith wrought… works—As remarked in our notes on the passages referred to in our last note, Abraham was a believer years before the offering of Isaac, and justified. That act of self-surrendering faith by which a man enters into reconciliation with God was performed years before. Yet every signal external act of faith was a renewal of the first. Abraham’s justification came, as Paul says, from his faith alone. Yet the faith which alone justifies is never really alone: it ever combines with works.
Faith made perfect—Had Abraham died at the instant of his first justification he would have been completely justified by faith alone. But his faith would have wanted its proper counterpart in actual works, and so have been in a sense imperfect. Yet it was saving in its quality, being of such a nature and power as would generate works but for the cessation of life. In other words, it was such a self-surrender to, trust in, and oneness of heart and spirit with, God, as would have poured forth works in accord with God’s will. Or, to vary the statement, on condition of such self-surrendering faith a full flow of the divine Spirit is poured into the heart, inspiring a life and course of action accordant with the divine will. When, then, this internal faith is answered to by the correspondent act and course of life, it becomes completed, made perfect.
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 22. Seest thou how faith wrought with his works…
22. Seest thou how faith wrought with his works …?] Better, perhaps, not as a question, Thou seest that … Attention is called, not as the English “how” suggests, to the manner of co-operation, but only to the fact. The tense of the verb emphasises the continued co-operation of Abraham’s faith with his works. The one was all along working together with the other. What St James presses is, not that works can justify without faith, but that faith cannot justify unless it includes “the promise and the potency” of the life that shews itself in acts.
by works was faith made perfect?] Here the tense is changed to that which denotes completion in a single act. It was “by works” (i. e. out of, as from the originating cause) that faith was brought to its completion. The interpretation which sees in the words nothing more than that faith was shewn to be perfect, must be rejected as one of the afterthoughts of controversy. It may be added, however, as pointing to the true reconciliation of St James and St Paul, that the very form of the statement implies that the faith existed prior to the works by which it was made perfect.
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 (22) Seest thou how . . .?—Better taken simply,…
(22) Seest thou how . . .?—Better taken simply, and not as a question, Thou seest how, &c.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 22. Seest thou how faith wrought. Abraham's faith was…
22. Seest thou how faith wrought. Abraham's faith was a working faith. By works was faith made perfect. The element of works is essential to make it complete. Without works it is an imperfect, “a dead faith.” It must have energy to avail. Abraham's faith “wrought.”
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.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain (See Scofield "Mat 5:48").
perfect
(See Scofield "Mat 5:48").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 2:22 This verse explains 2:21 so it won’t be…
2:22 This verse explains 2:21 so it won’t be misunderstood: Abraham was not justified by his actions alone; instead, his faith and his actions worked together. This describes the full scope of Abraham’s faithful response to God throughout his life (see Gen 12:1-4; 18:1-27).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.