James 2:15

If a brother or sister The words are not necessarily used in the sense in which they imply the profession of faith in Christ as they are, e. g., in Acts 10:23; Acts 11:1; 1 Corinthians 5:11. Every Israelite was to see a brother in every child of Abraham (Matthew 5:23; Acts 2:29; Acts 3:17). All that can be said is that where the reader of the Epistle was a Christian, he would feel that the words brought before him those who were of the same society or brotherhood.

naked, and destitute of daily food The picture drawn is one of extremest destitution, and, like the teaching of the whole passage, reminds us of Matthew 25:36; Matthew 25:43. What was the faith worth which could witness that suffering and not be stirred to help? The words are applicable to all times and countries, but it gives them a special interest to remember that the Church over which St James presided had suffered, and was probably, at the very time he wrote, suffering, from the famine foretold by Agabus (Acts 11:28-30). The Gentile disciples had, we read, done their best to alleviate the distress of the Churches of Judæa. St James's language, addressed to the Jews and Jewish Christians of the dispersion, would seem to imply that they had shewn less forwardness, and had wrapt themselves up in the self-satisfaction of professing the orthodox faith of the sons of Abraham, while the Gentile converts whom they despised were setting an example of self-denying charity.