the Week of Proper 12 / Ordinary 17
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THE MESSAGE
James 2:17
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- BridgewayEncyclopedias:
- CondensedDevotionals:
- DailyParallel Translations
In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.
Euen so faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone.
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
In the same way, faith by itself—that does nothing—is dead.
Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
So too, faith by itself, if it is not complemented by action, is dead.
Faith that doesn't lead us to do good deeds is all alone and dead!
Thus, faith by itself, unaccompanied by actions, is dead.
So also faith, if it have not works, is dead by itself.
It is the same with faith. If it is just faith and nothing more—if it doesn't do anything—it is dead.
Euen so the faith, if it haue no woorkes, is dead in it selfe.
Even so faith, without works, is dead, by itself.
So it is with faith: if it is alone and includes no actions, then it is dead.
Thus also faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.
So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead being by itself.
So too, faith, if it does not have works [to back it up], is by itself dead [inoperative and ineffective].
Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself.
Even so faith without works is dead.
Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.
In the same way, faith by itself, if it does not have any works, is dead.
Thus also the faith that hath not works is dead, (being) alone.
So also faith alone, without works, is dead.
Euen so, fayth, yf it haue not deedes, is dead in it selfe:
Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself.
Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.
So likewise faith, if it hath not works, is dead in itself.
So also faith, if it is unaccompanied by obedience, has no life in it--so long as it stands alone.
So also feith, if it hath not werkis, is deed in it silf.
Even so faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead in itself.
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead being by itself.
Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
So you see, faith by itself isn't enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
A faith that does not do things is a dead faith.
So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
So, also, faith, if it have not works, is dead, by itself.
So faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself.
So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
Eve so fayth yf it have no dedes is deed in it selfe.
so also the faith, if it may not have works, is dead by itself.
Euen so faith, yf it haue no dedes, is deed in it selfe.
just so faith, if it be not operative, is intirely lifeless.
Faith without works is like a saddle without a horse.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
so: James 2:14, James 2:19, James 2:20, James 2:26, 1 Corinthians 13:3, 1 Corinthians 13:13, 1 Thessalonians 1:3, 1 Timothy 1:5, 2 Peter 1:5-9
alone: Gr. by itself
Reciprocal: Ezekiel 18:11 - that Matthew 7:24 - whosoever Luke 6:49 - that heareth 1 Corinthians 15:2 - unless Colossians 2:13 - dead Philemon 1:6 - the communication
Cross-References
Heaven and Earth were finished, down to the last detail.
A river flows out of Eden to water the garden and from there divides into four rivers. The first is named Pishon; it flows through Havilah where there is gold. The gold of this land is good. The land is also known for a sweet-scented resin and the onyx stone. The second river is named Gihon; it flows through the land of Cush. The third river is named Hiddekel and flows east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
God said, "It's not good for the Man to be alone; I'll make him a helper, a companion." So God formed from the dirt of the ground all the animals of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the Man to see what he would name them. Whatever the Man called each living creature, that was its name. The Man named the cattle, named the birds of the air, named the wild animals; but he didn't find a suitable companion.
God put the Man into a deep sleep. As he slept he removed one of his ribs and replaced it with flesh. God then used the rib that he had taken from the Man to make Woman and presented her to the Man.
God said, "Who told you you were naked? Did you eat from that tree I told you not to eat from?"
He told the Man: "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree That I commanded you not to eat from, ‘Don't eat from this tree,' The very ground is cursed because of you; getting food from the ground Will be as painful as having babies is for your wife; you'll be working in pain all your life long. The ground will sprout thorns and weeds, you'll get your food the hard way, Planting and tilling and harvesting, sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk, Until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried; you started out as dirt, you'll end up dirt."
Look at what I've done for you today: I've placed in front of you Life and Good Death and Evil.
I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live. And love God , your God, listening obediently to him, firmly embracing him. Oh yes, he is life itself, a long life settled on the soil that God , your God, promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Saul said, "Yes. Jonathan most certainly will die. It's out of my hands—I can't go against God, can I?"
The king said, "Death, Ahimelech! You're going to die—you and everyone in your family!"
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. It is like a lifeless carcass, a body without a soul, James 2:26 for as works, without faith, are dead works, so faith, without works, is a dead faith, and not like the lively hope and faith of regenerated persons: and indeed, such who have no other faith than this are dead in trespasses and sins; not that works are the life of faith, or that the life of faith lies in, and flows from works; but, as Dr. Ames observes b, good works are second acts, necessarily flowing from the life of faith; to which may be added, and by these faith appears to be living, lively and active, or such who perform them appear to be true and living believers.
b Medulla Theolog. l. 2. c. 7. sect. 35.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
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.â 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.
(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, âby itself.â The sense is, âbeing by itself:â 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.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse 17. If it hath not works, is dead — The faith that does not produce works of charity and mercy is without the living principle which animates all true faith, that is, love to God and love to man. They had faith, such as a man has who credits a well-circumstanced relation because it has all the appearance of truth; but they had nothing of that faith that a sinner, convinced of his sinfulness, God's purity, and the strictness of the Divine laws, is obliged to exert in the Lord Jesus, in order to be saved from his sins.
