James 2:18

ἀλλʼ ἐρεῖ τις : these words, together with the argumentative form of the verses that follow, imply that a well-known subject of controversy is being dealt with. Ἀλλʼ ἐρεῖ τις is a regular argumentative phrase, used of an objection. “Instead of the future the optative with ἄν would be more common in classical Greek, but the latter form is rather avoided by the Hellenistic writers, occurring only eight times in the N.T., thrice in Luke, five times in Acts” (Mayor). ἔχεις : the interrogative here suggested by WH does not commend itself, as the essence of the argument is the setting-up of two opposing and definite standpoints. κἀγὼ : In the N.T. καί “often coalesces with ἐγώ (and its oblique cases), ἐκεῖ, ἐκεῖθεν, ἐκεῖνος, and ἄν; but there are many exceptions, and especially where there is distinct coordination of ἐγώ with another pronoun or a substantive. There is much division of evidence” (WH, Ths N.T. in Greek, II. App., p. 145). δεῖξόν μοι τὴν πίστιν σου …: πίστις is not used quite consistently by the writer; faith which requires works to prove its existence is not the same thing which is spoken of in the next verse as the possession of demons; the difference is graphically illustrated in the account of the Gadarene demoniac; in Luke 8:28 the words, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High God, express a purely intellectual form of faith, which is a very different thing from the attitude of mind implied in the words which describe the whilom demoniac, as, sitting, clothed and in his tight mind, at the feet of Jesus (Luke 8:35). With the whole verse cf. Romans 3:28; Romans 4:6.