James 2:15

If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, Greek, 'But if,' etc., taking up the argument against, one who 'said he had faith, yet had not works.' A BROTHER ... - a fellow-Christian, whom we are specially bound to help, independent of our general obligation to help all fellow-creatures. BE, [ huparchoosin (G5225): denoting a condition in which one is supposed to be: eimi (G1510), simply to be] - 'be found.'...

15_If a brother_, or, _For if a brother_. He takes an example from what was connected with his subject; for he had been exhorting them to exercise the duties of love. If any one, on the contrary, boasted that he was satisfied with faith without works, he compares this shadowy faith to the saying of one who bids a famished man to be filled without supplying him with the food of which he is destitute. As, then, he who sends away a poor man with words, and offers him no help, treats him with mockery, so they who devise for themselves faith without works, and without any of the duties of religion, trifle with God. (114)...

14-26 Those are wrong who put a mere notional belief of the gospel for the whole of evangelical religion, as many now do. No doubt, true faith alone, whereby men have part in Christ's righteousness, atonement, and grace, saves their souls; but it produces holy fruits, and is shown to be real by its effect on their works; while mere assent to any form of doctrine, or mere historical belief of any facts, wholly differs from this saving faith. A bare profession may gain the good opinion of pious people; and it may procure, in some cases, worldly good things; but what profit will it be, for any to gain the whole world, and to lose their souls? Can this faith save him? All things should be accounted profitable or unprofitable to us, as they tend to forward or hinder the salvation of our souls. This place of Scripture plainly shows that an opinion, or assent to the gospel, without works, is n...

Verse 15. _IF A BROTHER OR SISTER BE NAKED_] That is, ill-clothed; for γυμνος, _naked_, has this meaning in several parts of the New Testament, signifying bad clothing, or the want of some particular article of dress. See Matthew 25:36; Matthew 25:38; Matthew 25:43; Matthew 25:44, and John 21:7. It has the same _comparative_ signification in most languages....

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.” 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 fo...

EXPOSITION JAMES 2:1 WARNING AGAINST RESPECT OF PERSONS. JAMES 2:1 The translation is doubtful, two renderings being possible. (1) That of the A.V. and R.V., "Hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons." (2) That of the R.V. margin and Westcott and Hort, "Do ye, in accepting persons, hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory?" According to this view, the section commences with a question, as does the following one, James 2:14. According to the former view, which is on the whole prefe

IF A BROTHER OR SISTER,.... A Christian man or woman, a fellow member of a church of Christ; for this relation is to be understood in a spiritual sense, though it does not exclude such who are in this relation in a natural sense: BE NAKED; or clothed in rags, or in very mean and sordid apparel, such as will neither keep them warm, nor clean and decent; for they must not be supposed to be entirely naked, but to be in a very uncomfortable and indecent garb: AND DESTITUTE OF DAILY FOOD; have not food sufficient for the day; or aught to support nature with, and yield them proper refreshment and nourishment....

II. THE ROYAL LAW: FAITH AND WORKS CHAPTER 2 _ 1. The faith of Christ with respect to persons (James 2:1)_ 2. The royal law (James 2:6) 3. Faith must be manifested by works (James 2:14) James 2:1 Here we have the synagogue mentioned, sufficient evidence that these Jewish believers were still gathering together in the Jewish fashion, and were not an ecclesia, an assembly, gathered out. The Epistle to the Hebrews, written many years after the Epistle of James, exhorted them to leave the camp behind and go outside of it (Hebrews 13:13

The surface contradiction between James and Paul, which made Luther call this an epistle of straw, and the Tü bingen critics hail it as a Judaist's attack upon Paulinism, troubles no one now, simply because faith is seen to be used in entirely different senses. It is _creed_ here, personal _trust_ there. James, who is most probably prior in time, teaches that orthodoxy defined in true Jewish fashion as acceptance of the _Shema_ (James 2:19; Deuteronomy 6:4) can never save until it has its logical outcome in conduct. Paul makes trust vital, just because nothing else can produce conduct after the mind of God. James 2:14 belongs naturally to the doctrine of Saying and Doing. To repeat a creed and not live up to

RESPECT OF PERSONS (James 2:1) _ 2:1 My brothers, you cannot really believe that you have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, and yet continue to have respect of persons._ Respect of persons is the New Testament phrase for undue and unfair partiality; it means pandering to someone, because he is rich or influential or popular. It is a fault which the New Testament consistently condemns. It is a fault of which the orthodox Jewish leaders completely acquitted Jesus. Even they were bound to admit that there was no respect of persons with him (Luke 20:21; Mark 12:14; Matthew 22:16). After his vision of the sheet with the clean