James 2:15

2:15-16 Suppose you see: As in 2:2-4, James gives an illustration of “faith” that is useless. • no food or clothing: In first-century Palestine and the Roman world in general, many poverty-stricken persons lacked the bare necessities of life. • stay warm and eat well: This sentence probably expresses a presumption that God would provide the needs of the poor person. The speaker might suppose that what is needed is simply an expression of faith that it will happen. But without participation (action), it is an empty wish.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Jas 2:15. Ἐὰν δὲ, but if) A comparison (the Protasis of which, even by itself, conveys a suitable admonition, and one not foreign to the subject): hence the Epanelepsis,[22] what doth it profit? Jas 2:14; Jas 2:16.

[22] The figure Epanalepsis is the putting of the same word, or words, at the beginning of a preceding clause and at the end of a subsequent clause or member of a sentence. Thus verse 14th begins, and verse 16th ends, with the same words, “What doth it profit?”

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jam_2:15-16. James illustrates the idea that faith is dependent for its proof on works, otherwise if these are wanting it is dead and profits nothing, by an example of compassion, which also, if without the corresponding works, is dead and can profit nothing. The representation of this similitude has the same form as the description of the case mentioned in Jam_2:2-3 : first, the statement of the circumstances, and then of the conduct. The particle δέ (Lachmann, Tischendorf) is not merely transitional (metabasis, Wiesinger), but is to be explained from the fact that in this verse the argument against the opponent brought forward commences (Schneckenburger, de Wette).

Those requiring help are by the name ἀδελφὸς ἢ ἀδελφή characterized as members of the Christian community, in order to bring out more strongly the obligation to active assistance.

By the words γυμνοὶ … τροφῆς their destitute condition is described. There is no need to interpret γυμνός by male vestitus (Laurentius, Wolf, Baumgarten, Gebser, Hottinger, Schneckenburger, de Wette, Theile, Wiesinger); it is rather nudus, naked, but is certainly also so used when there is no absolute nakedness, but when the clothing can hardly be considered as clothing. On λειπόμενοι, see chap. Jam_1:4-5.

ἐφήμερος] in the N. T. ἅπ. λεγ., is neither = diurnus (Morus: quod in unum diem sufficit) nor = hodiernus (Hottinger); but ἡ ἐφήμερος τροφή is = ἡ καθʼ ἡμέραν ἀναγκαῖα τροφή (Pott, Gebser, Schneckenburger, Wiesinger).

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jas 2:15 . In accordance with the very practical nature of the writer, he now proceeds to give an illustration of his thesis which is bound to appeal; he must have been a telling preacher. ἐὰν : the addition of δέ is fairly well attested, but the reading of [56]

[57] where it is omitted is to be preferred. ἀδελφή : the specific mention of “sister” here is noteworthy; it is the one point in this passage which suggests distinctively Christian influence. This is apparently the only place in the Bible in which “sister” is mentioned in this special connection. γυμνοί : Cf. Test. of the Twelve Patriarchs , Zeb. xii. 1 3: “I saw a man in distress through nakedness in winter-time, and had compassion upon him, and stole away a garment secretly from my father’s house (another reading is ‘my house’), and gave it to him who was in distress. Do you, therefore, my children, from that which God bestoweth on you, show compassion and mercy without hesitation to all men, and give to every man with a good heart. And if you have not the wherewithal to give to him that needeth, have compassion for him in bowels of mercy” (Charles). Of course it is not literal nakedness that is meant in the passage before us; in the case of men the Hebrew ערום (= γυμνός ), while often used in a literal sense, is also frequently used in reference to one who was not wearing a כתנת (= χιτών ) and thus appeared only in סדינים , “under-garments,” see Amo 2:6 ; Isa 20:2 f.; Job 22:6 ; Job 24:7-10 . In the case of women, the reference is likewise to the כתנת , though in this case the garment was both longer and fuller than that of men; at the same time, it is improbable that the “sister” would have appeared without a veil, unless, indeed, we are dealing with a venue which is altogether more Western; this is a possibility which cannot be wholly excluded. λειπόμενοι : must be taken with ὑπάρχωσιν as the addition of ὦσιν is poorly attested. ἐφημέρου τροφῆς : “the food for the day”; the words express the dire necessity of those in want. Cf. Mat 6:11 , Τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον , and Nestle’s note on ἐπιούσιος in Hastings’ D.C.G. , ii. 58 a . ἐφήμερος does not occur elsewhere in the N.T. or the Septuagint.

[56] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

[57] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The first reason taken of a similitude: If a man say to one that is hungry, Fill thy belly, and yet giveth him nothing, this shall not be true charity: so if a man say he believeth, and bringeth forth no works of his faith, this shall not be a true faith, but a certain dead thing set out with the name of faith, whereof no man hath to brag, unless he will openly incur reprehension, seeing that the cause is understood by the effects.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The Greek is, "But if," &c.: the "But" taking up the argument against such a one as "said he had faith, and yet had not works," which are its fruits.

a brother, &c.--a fellow Christian, to whom we are specially bound to give help, independent of our general obligation to help all our fellow creatures.

be--The Greek implies, "be found, on your access to them."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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 Mt 25:36; Mt 25:38; Mt 25:43; Mt 25:44, and Joh 21:7. It has the same comparative signification in most languages.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(15) But (the word should be added, for it continues an argument) if a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food—i.e., the food for each day, not that which suffices for one, or for a present distress; the case is rather of worst and direst want, so that the heart untouched by the spectacle of such misery must be hard indeed.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 Act_10:23; Act_11:1; 1Co_5:11. Every Israelite was to see a brother in every child of Abraham (Mat_5:23; Act_2:29; Act_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 Mat_25:36; Mat_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 (Act_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.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,

Ver. 15. If a brother or a sister] As it may befall the best to be, and they are not of the chameleon kind, to live (with Ephraim) upon wind, Hos 12:1, to be fed with fair words, or to be clothed with a suit of compliments. Sion should be taken by the hand, Isa 51:18. And Tyre converted, leaves hoarding and heaping up wealth, and falls to feeding and clothing God’s poor people, Isa 23:18.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 for the welfare of the world, should be accompanied with corresponding action. So it is with faith. It is not enough for salvation without the benevolent and holy acts to which it would prompt, any more than the good wishes and kind words of the benevolent are enough to satisfy the wants of the hungry, and to clothe the naked, without correspondent action. Faith is not and cannot be shown to be genuine, unless it is accompanied with corresponding acts; as our good wishes for the poor and needy can be shown to be genuine, when we have the means of aiding them, only by actually ministering to their necessities. In the one case, our wishes would be shown to be unmeaning and heartless; in the other, our faith would be equally so. In regard to this passage, therefore, it may be observed:

(1) That in fact faith is of no more value, and has no more evidence of genuineness when it is unaccompanied with good works, than such empty wishes for the welfare of the poor would be when unaccompanied with the means of relieving their wants. Faith is designed to lead to good works. It is intended to produce a holy life; a life of activity in the service of the Saviour. This is its very essence; it is what it always produces when it is genuine. Religion is not designed to be a cold abstraction; it is to be a living and vivifying principle.

(2) There is a great deal of that kindness and charity in the world which is expressed by mere good wishes. If we really have not the means of relieving the poor and the needy, then the expression of a kind wish may be in itself an alleviation to their sorrows, for even sympathy in such a case is of value, and it is much to us to know that others feel for us; but if we have the means, and the object is a worthy one, then such expressions are mere mockery, and aggravate rather than soothe the feelings of the sufferer. Such wishes will neither clothe nor feed them; and they will only make deeper the sorrows which we ought to heal. But how much of this is there in the world, when the sufferer cannot but feel that all these wishes, however kindly expressed, are hollow and false, and when he cannot but feel that relief would be easy!

(3) In like manner there is much of this same kind of worthless faith in the world - faith that is dead; faith that produces no good works; faith that exerts no practical influence whatever on the life. The individual professes indeed to believe the truths of the gospel; he may be in the church of Christ; he would esteem it a gross calumny to be spoken of as an infidel; but as to any influence which his faith exerts over him, his life would be the same if he had never heard of the gospel. There is not one of the truths of religion which is bodied forth in his life; not a deed to which he is prompted by religion; not an act which could not be accounted for on the supposition that he has no true piety. In such a case, faith may with propriety be said to be dead.

Being alone - Margin, “by itself.” The sense is, “being by itself:” that is, destitute of any accompanying fruits or results, it shows that it is dead. That which is alive bodies itself forth, produces effects, makes itself visible; that which is dead produces no effect, and is as if it were not.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

If a brother or sister; a Christian man or woman, who are frequently thus called: see 1Co 7:12,15.

Be naked; badly clothed, or destitute of such clothing as is fit for them, Job 22:6; 1Co 4:11.

And destitute of daily food: see Mat 6:11; that which is necessary for the sustaining of life a day to an end. Under these two of nakedness and hunger, he comprehends all the calamities of human life, which may be relieved by the help of others; as food and raiment contain all the ordinary supports and comforts of life, Gen 28:20; Mat 6:25; 1Ti 6:8.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. If—An illustrative case, in which a fellow Christian is to be supplied with necessaries of life. The firm faith that he will be supplied with food without accordant action will leave him to starvation. So a sentimental belief in all the charities, virtues, pieties, and moralities, will do no good to the world or to the believer until resolved into action.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 15, 16. Observe the practical character of the illustration chosen, from works of mercy. (cf. Jam_1:27) Wsi in ver. 15 should be deleted (omitted by B, C, K); also the disjunctive particle de at the commencement of the verse (with a, B).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. If a brother. A practical application is now made of the royal law. Be naked. Insufficiently clothed.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

15. ἀδελφὸς ἢ ἀδελφή, a recurring reminder of the relationship of the disciples to one another.

γυμνοὶ ὑπάρχωσιν κ.τ.λ., comp. Mat 25:35-36. In later Judaism the duty of almsgiving was vividly realised. This is one of the post-exile religious ideas which strongly influenced thought at this period. See Tob 4:8 ff. where the Hebr. text has: ‘Every one who occupieth himself in alms shall behold the face of God, as it is written, I will behold thy face by almsgiving,’ Psa 17:15, almsgiving being as elsewhere substituted for righteousness. So Khasidim, the pious, are those who exercise Khesed, mercy.

St James’s one injunction to St Paul when he recognised his mission to the Gentiles was ‘to remember the poor’: μόνον τῶν πτωχῶν ἵνα μνημονεύωμεν, Gal 2:9, and the Church over which he presided proved its first enthusiasm by acts of charity.

With the Stoics ἔλεος was reckoned among the defects or vices: it was a disturbing element that broke in on the philosophic calm: ὁ ἀπειθῶν τῇ θείᾳ διοικήσει ἔστω ταπεινός, ἔστω δοῦλος λυπείσθω, φθονείτου, ἐλεείτω, Epict. Diss. III. 24. 43. Comp. Virgil’s picture of the happy man; among his blessings is the absence of pity: neqne ille | aut doluit miserans inopem, Georg. II. 498.

τῆς ἐφημέρου τροφῆς, of the day’s supply of food, as distinguished from τῆς καθʼ ἡμέραν τροφῆς. Field, Otium Norv., ἀπῆλθεν ἐκ τῆς οἰκίας μόνος … ἄδουλος, ἄπορος, οὐδὲ τὴν ἐφήμερον ὁ δύστηνος ἐκ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ χρημάτων τροφὴν (ne unius quidem diet viaticum) ἐπαγόμενος, Dion. Hal. Ant. VIII. 41 (Wetstein).

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15.] But (δέ takes up the argument against the person supposed, or against his fautors: and is not, as Wiesinger, merely transitional [it is best rendered in English by beginning the sentence abruptly, not giving any word for it]) if a brother or a sister (the case of a Christian brother or sister is supposed, to bring out more strongly the obligation to help, as a duty) be (found, on your access to them: see, on ὑπάρχω and εἰμί, reff.: and note, Act 16:20) naked (there is no need to interpret γυμνοί “male vestiti,” as so many Commentators: extreme destitution and nakedness in the literal, or almost literal sense, might well go together) and destitute of (reff.: Pind. Isthm. ii. 18, κτεάνων λειφθεὶς ἅμα καὶ φίλων: Soph. Trach. 932, οὔτʼ ὀδυρμάτων ἐλείπετʼ οὐδέν. The usage is confined to St. James in the N. T.) daily food (the food for each day, τῆς καθʼ ἡμέραν ἀναγκαίας τροφῆς: not “quod in unum diem sufficit,” as Morus, nor “for the current day,” as Hottinger),

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15-17. Illustration from the emptiness of words of charity as a substitute for deeds

This is not, like the closely similar verses, 2:2 f., a concrete instance of James’s contention, but a little parable; for another parable to the same purport, cf: 2:26. The illustration is abruptly introduced, as in 3:11, 12.

The comparison has itself a moral significance, and the same thought is found in other literature, e.g. Plautus, Epid. 116 f. nam quid te igitur rettulit beneficum esse oratione si ad rem auxilium emortuomst?

15. ἐάν] Bא 33 69 minn ff m.

ἐὰν δέ] ACKL minnpler vg syrpesh. hel.

ἐὰν γάρ] sah.

γυμνοί, “naked,” in the sense of “insufficiently clad”; cf. Job 22:6 “stripped the naked of their clothing,” Isa 20:2, Isa 20:3, 58:7, Joh 21:7 (without the ἐπενδύτης), Mat 25:36 ff., Act 19:16; see references in L. and S.

The plural after singular subjects connected by ἤ is in accord with the occasional usage of good Greek writers. See Hadley-Allen, § 608; Blass-Debrunner, § 135. Buttmann and Blass ascribe the plural here to the fact that the two nouns are of different genders, but this is not the case in all the examples from secular Greek.

ἐφημέρου τροφῆς, “food for the day,” “the day’s supply of food.”

The word ἐφήμερος is not in the O. T., but this whole phrase is found in Diod. iii, 32; Dion. Hal. viii, 41; Aristides, xlix, ed. Dindorf, p. 537. It is an expression natural to secular Greek, and used here, much like the English “daily bread,” to describe the poor person’s need as urgent; cf. Philo, In Flacc. 17 πένητές ἐσμεν καὶ μόλις τὸ ἐφήμερον εἰς αὐτὰ τὰ ἀναγκαῖα πορίζειν δυνάμεθα, Ps.-Plutarch, An vitios. p. 499 C προσαίτησιν ἐφημέρου Other extracts may be found in Mayor3, p. 97, and Field, Notes on the Translation of the New Testament, 1899, pp. 236 f.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Be [υπαρχωσιν] . The distinction between this word and the simple einai, to be, is very subtle. The verb uJparcw originally means to make a beginning; hence, to begin or to come into being; and, though used substantially as a synonym of einai, of a thing actually existing and at hand, it has a backward look to an antecedent condition which has been protracted into the present. Thus we might paraphrase here, "If a brother or sister, having been in a destitute condition, be found by you in that condition." Einai, on the other hand, would simply state the present fact of destitution. See on 2Pe 1:8.

Destitute [λειπομενοι] . Lit., left behind; and hence lacking, as Rev. Compare ch. 1 4, 5. This usage of the word occurs in James only.

Daily [εφημερου] . Only here in New Testament.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.