James 2:26

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Faith is a spiritual thing: works material. Hence, we might expect faith to answer to the spirit: works to the body. But James reverses this. He therefore does not mean that faith answers to the body; but the FROM of faith without the working reality answers to the body without the animating spirit. It does not follow that living faith derives its life from works, as the body derives its life from the animating spirit. Faith apart from [ chooris (G5565)] the spirit of faith, which is LOVE (and love evidences itself in works), is dead, according to Paul also, 1 Corinthians 13:2....

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 James 2:26. _FOR AS THE BODY WITHOUT THE SPIRIT IS DEAD_] There can be no more a _genuine faith_ without _good works_, than there can be a living human body without a soul. WE shall never find a series of disinterested godly living without true faith. And we shall never find true faith without such a life. We may see works of apparent benevolence without faith; their principle is _ostentation_; and, as long as they can have the reward (human applause) which they seek, they may be continued. And yet the experience of all mankind shows how _short-lived_ such works are; they want both _principle_ and _spring_; they endure for a time, but soon wither away. Where true faith is, there is God; his _Spirit_ gives _life_, and his _love_ affords _motives_ to righteous actions. The _use_ of any Divine principle leads

FOR AS THE BODY WITHOUT THE SPIRIT IS DEAD - Margin, “breath.” The Greek word πνεύμα pneuma is commonly used to denote spirit or soul, as referring to the intelligent nature. The meaning here is the obvious one, that the body is animated or kept alive by the presence of the soul, and that when that is withdrawn, hope departs. The body has no life independent of the presence of the soul. SO FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD ALSO - There is as much necessity that faith and works should be united to constitute true religion, as there is that the body and soul should be united to constitute a living man. If good works do not follow, it is clear that there is no true and proper faith; none that justifies and saves. If faith produces no fruit of good living, that fact proves that it is dead, that it has no power, and that it is of no value. This shows that Jam

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

FOR AS THE BODY WITHOUT THE SPIRIT IS DEAD,.... This simile is made use of to illustrate what the apostle had asserted in James 2:17 that as a body, when the spirit or soul is departed from it, or the breath is gone out of it, is dead, and without motion, and useless; which the Jews d express in like manner, פגר גוף בלא רוח, "the body without the spirit", or "breath, is a carcass". SO FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD ALSO: a vain thing, useless and unprofitable, can neither justify, nor save, nor prove that a man is justified, or will be saved. d Ohel. Moed, fol. 15. 1....

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

THE. Omit. SPIRIT. App-101. See Authorized Version m., and compare Genesis 2:7. SO, &C. = so faith also....