James 2:21

Was not Abraham our father justified by works The close correspondence of phraseology with Romans 4:2 at first seems to favour the view that St James is correcting or modifying St Paul's statement It is obvious, however, that the agreement equally admits of the explanation that St Paul is correcting or modifying the language of St James. He presses the fact that "Abraham believed God," and that this "was counted to him for righteousness," i. e. that he was justified prior to any act but that of simple trust. And the impression left by a careful study of the passage referred to is that St Paul is there referring to something that had been urged, as having a high authority, against his teaching that a man is justified by faith. It is clear, at all events, that no inference can be drawn from the two passages in favour of the assumption that the Epistle of St James was later than that of St Paul to the Romans.

The use of the word "justify" shews that its meaning is to "acquit" or "count as righteous" (Matthew 12:37; Acts 13:39; Sir 26:29; Sir 23:11).

The preposition used in the Greek points to "works" as being the source rather than the instrument of justification.

when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Better, when he offered Isaac, the two acts being thought of, not as successive, but simultaneous. It is remarkable that the only scriptural references, after Genesis 22, to the sacrifice of Isaac, are found in Wis 10:5 and Hebrews 11:17. It is hardly likely that the latter could have been known to St James, the internal evidence pointing to a later date; but the former, whether, as some have supposed, by the same author as the Epistle to the Hebrews, or written fifty or sixty years earlier, might well have come under his notice. In relation to St Paul's teaching, as noticed above, it must be remembered that the one writer speaks of the beginning of Abraham's course, the other of its consummation. St James might well urge that if Abraham had not shewn his faith by his works, up to the crowning work of the sacrifice of his son, it would have proved that his faith too was dead.