James 2:17

Jas 2:17. Ἐὰν μὴ ἔργα ἔχῃ, if it hath not works) If the works which living faith produces in other cases have no existence, it is a proof that faith itself (this is the meaning of καθʼ ἑαυτὴν) has no existence, or that that, which any one boasts of as faith, is dead.—νεκρά ἐστι, is dead) As the mere saying, Take food and drink and a garment, is not meat and drink that satisfies, nor a garment that warms, so the saying, I have faith, is not real faith, which profits his neighbour, and is salutary to the speaker himself. The title dead strikes us with horror. Though the abstract word is used, the concrete is meant. Faith is dead; that is, the man who says that he has faith, has not that life, which is faith itself. A similar[23] change in the attribution of words occurs, ch. Jas 3:4. See the note.—ΚΑΘʼ ἙΑΥΤῊΝ, in respect to [by] itself) And when it has works it is alive, and is discerned to be so, not in respect to [by] the works, but in respect to [by] itself. It does not derive its life from works.

[23] See Append. on HYPALLAGE.

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

Jam_2:17. Application of the similitude. The verse forms one sentence, of which ἡ πίστις is the subject and νεκρὰ ἐστίν is the predicate; neither after πίστις (Pott) nor after ἔργα (Michaelis) is a colon to be put. After ἔχῃ the idea continually (Baumgarten) is not to be supplied. πίστις has here the same meaning as in Jam_2:14.

From the fact that James calls faith dead if it has not works, it is evident that by these works is not meant something which must be added to faith, but something which grows out of faith; the ἔργα here treated of are works of faith, in which are the germs of faith. νεκρά is here not to be explained by operibus destituta, but = inanima, equivalent to a dead body;[134] correctly, de Wette: dead, that is, without the power of life; thus not primarily to be referred to its effects, but to be understood as its internal nature; however, James thus designates a faith without works to prove that it οὐ δύναται σῶσαι and ΟὐΔῈΝ ὨΦΕΛΕῖΤΑΙ.

The more precise statement ΚΑΘʼ ἙΑΥΤΉΝ has been variously understood. Grotius considers it as simply pleonastic; some critics separate it from ΝΕΚΡΆ and take ΚΑΤΆ = against (Möller = ΚΑΘʼ ἙΑΥΤῆς, i.e. sibimet ipsi repugnat; Augusti: contra semet ipsam); others unite it with πίστις (Knapp = fides sola; Baumgarten: in so far as faith is alone). But ΚΑΘʼ ἙΑΥΤῆς belongs evidently, as its position shows, to ΝΕΚΡΆ (de Wette, Schneckenburger, Wiesinger, Lange). It is thus emphatically stated that a faith without works is not only dead in reference to something else, but dead in reference to itself. It serves for the intensification of the idea ΝΕΚΡΆ, yet not so that by it the existence of a ΠΊΣΤΙς without works was denied (against Schneckenburger).

[134] The comparison of faith without works to a dead body is found among the old interpreters in such a manner that it formed a controversy between Catholic and Protestant interpreters; whilst Lorinus says: mortnum corpus verum corpus est, nt sine operibus et charitate fides, Laurentius remarks: sicut homo mortuus non est verus homo, ita nee fides mortua vera fides.

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 2:17 . οὕτως καὶ ἡ πίστις …: just as faith without works is dead, so this spurious, quiescent charity, which is content to leave all to God without any attempt at individual effort, is worthless. καθʼ ἑαυτήν : the Vulgate in semetipsa brings out the force of this; such faith is, in its very essence, dead; cf. the Peshiṭtâ.

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

faith . . . being alone--ALFORD joins "is dead in itself." So BENGEL, "If the works which living faith produces have no existence, it is a proof that faith itself (literally, 'in respect to itself') has no existence; that is, that what one boasts of as faith, is dead." "Faith" is said to be "dead in itself," because when it has works it is alive, and it is discerned to be so, not in respect to its works, but in respect to itself. English Version, if retained, must not be understood to mean that faith can exist "alone" (that is, severed from works), but thus: Even so presumed faith, if it have not works, is dead, being by itself "alone," that is, severed from works of charity; just as the body would be "dead" if alone, that is, severed from the spirit (Jam 2:26). So ESTIUS.

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 17. If it hath not works, is dead] The faith that does not produce works of charity and mercy is without the living principle which animates all true faith, that is, love to God and love to man. They had faith, such as a man has who credits a well-circumstanced relation because it has all the appearance of truth; but they had nothing of that faith that a sinner, convinced of his sinfulness, God's purity, and the strictness of the Divine laws, is obliged to exert in the Lord Jesus, in order to be saved from his sins.

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

17 Is dead, being alone. He says that faith is dead, being by itself, that is, when destitute of good works. We hence conclude that it is indeed no faith, for when dead, it does not properly retain the name. The Sophists plead this expression and say, that some sort of faith is found by itself; but this frivolous caviling is easily refuted; for it is sufficiently evident that the Apostle reasons from what is impossible, as Paul calls an angel anathema, if he attempted to subvert the gospel. (Galatians 1:8.)

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.

(17) Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.—Better, like the margin, is dead in its own self. If to be childless among women were a curse in Israel, so to be barren among God’s graces is the condemnation of faith in Christendom. And St. Paul, in substantial harmony with this assertion of his brother Apostle, declares (Rom_2:13) “Not the hearers of the Law are just before God, but the doers of the Law shall be justified.” There had been no lack of charity under the earlier Jewish teaching; in fact, “righteousness” in many passages of Holy Writ, and in the paraphrases for the unlearned, called the Targums, was explained to be “almsgiving.” But the whole system of Rabbinism seems gradually to have destroyed the spiritual life of its scholars; and amongst them now was fast spreading the doctrine of a sterile faith. In the revival of Monotheism under the sword of the prophet of Mecca, the faith of Abraham once more shone in the creed of his descendants; though, alas! the sons of Ishmael, and not Isaac the chosen: and the Muhammedans tell us still that if fasting and prayer bring the believer to the gates of Paradise, alms will let him in.

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

17. Even so faith, if it hath not works …] This then is St James’s objection to the faith of which he speaks. It is, while alone (literally, by itself), with no promise or potency of life, and it is, therefore, dead, and being so, as we scarcely call a corpse a man, is unworthy of the name of faith. The assent to a dogma, beginning and ending in itself, has no power to justify or save. St Paul’s language in Rom_2:13 shews that he was in substantial agreement with St James.

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.

Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. It is like a lifeless carcass, a body without a soul, Jam 2:26 for as works, without faith, are dead works, so faith, without works, is a dead faith, and not like the lively hope and faith of regenerated persons: and indeed, such who have no other faith than this are dead in trespasses and sins; not that works are the life of faith, or that the life of faith lies in, and flows from works; but, as Dr. Ames observes (b), good works are second acts, necessarily flowing from the life of faith; to which may be added, and by these faith appears to be living, lively and active, or such who perform them appear to be true and living believers.

(b) Medulla Theolog. l. 2. c. 7. sect. 35.

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

17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

Ver. 17. Is dead, being alone] That is, being workless; for life discovers itself by action; so doth true faith by trust in God and love to men. A tree that is not for fruit, is for the fire.

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.

Even so faith; that which they boasted of, and called faith.

Is dead; void of that life, in which the very essence of faith consists, and which always discovers itself in vital actings and good fruits, where it is not hindered by some forcible impediment; in allusion to a corpse, which plainly appears to have no vital principle in it, all vital operations being ceased. It resembles a man’s body, and is called so, but in reality is not so, but a dead carcass.

Being alone; margin, by itself, or in itself; be it what it will, it is but dead: or, as we render it, being alone, i.e. not in conjunction with works, which always it should be.

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

17. Dead—It has no vital existence, being alone, and not embodied in good doing.

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

Being alone (kaq eJauthn); R.V, in itself. But the rendering of the A.V appears to be justified by the LXX in Gen_43:31, Pareqhkan aujtw monw kaiv k.t.l..

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

So likewise that faith which hath not works is a mere dead, empty notion; of no more profit to him that hath it, than the bidding the naked be clothed is to him.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

17. Even so faith. Faith that has no power to bring one to obedience and to sway the life is as worthless as good wishes which end in words. Being alone. It cannot stand alone and be of any avail. Only when it shows its power in works is it of the slightest value.

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.

17. οὕτως καὶ ἡ πίστις κ.τ.λ. The conclusion is drawn by analogy. It is inconceivable that ἔλεος, pity, or compassion, can exist without results, so is the conception of faith without works an impossible one. νεκρὰ καθʼ ἑαυτήν, dead in itself, right through itself, thoroughly dead, ineffective and non-existent. Works are a condition and evidence of life. But these are very different from the works of the law, minute observances each separately meritorious against which St Paul’s argument is directed.

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.

17.] Application of the similitude. So also faith, if it have not (be not accompanied by as its proper result. Here, again, the quasi-identification of the πίστις with the man, and ascription of the ἔργα to it as a possession, shew in what relative places the two stand in the Apostle’s estimate) works, is dead (so Plautus in a remarkably similar passage, Epidic. i. 2. 13, “Nam quid te igitur retulit Beneficum esse orations, si ad rem auxilium emortuum est?”) in itself (not as E.V., “being alone,” καθʼ ἑαυτὴν οὖσα: nor, “against itself” = καθʼ ἑαυτῆς, as Möller, al.; nor is it to be joined to πίστις, “fides sola,” as Knapp and Baumgarten (“in as far as it is alone”): but the words belong to and qualify νεκρά, as De W., Huther, al.; it is dead, not merely “ad rem,” as Plaut. above, but absolutely, καθʼ ἑαυτήν, in itself: has no living root whereby it energizes. Cf. Palm and Rost under ἑαυτοῦ, καθʼ ἑαυτό, an und fur sich).

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

17. οὕτως, making the application of the parable, cf. Luk 15:10, Luk 17:10.

ἐὰν μὴ ἔχῃ ἔργα, cf. vv. 18, 20, 26 ἡ πίστις χωρὶς [τῶν] ἔργων.

Faith is said to “have” works, perhaps in the sense of “attendance or companionship” (Lex.. s. v. ἔχω I, 2, c).

νεκρά, cf. v. 26. The two things which are opposed are not faith and works (as with Paul) but a living faith and a dead faith. The dead faith is also called ἀργή (v. 20); cf. 1:26 μάταιος. It is not denied that faith can exist without works, but it is the wrong kind of faith.

On the figurative use of νεκρός for “inactive and useless,” Rom 6:11, Rom 7:8, Heb 6:1; Heb 9:14, cf. Epict. Diss. iii, 23:28 καὶ μὴν ἂσν μὴ ταῦτα (sc. a conviction of sin) ἐμποιῇ ὁ τοῦ φιλοσόφου λόγος, νεκρός ἐστι καὶ αὐτὸς καὶ ὁ λέγων.

καθʼ ἑαυτήν, “in itself” (R.V.), strengthens νεκρά, “inwardly dead”; not merely hindered from activity, but defective in its own power to act; see 2 Macc. 13:13, Act 28:16, Rom 14:22, and secular references in Lex. s. v.

κατά, II, 1, e, cf. Gen 30:40, Gen 43:31.

Of the various renderings proposed the only other one deserving mention is that of Grotius and others, who give it this meaning of “by itself,” “alone” (ff sola), but interpret, “faith without works is dead, being alone.” This involves a tautology, and in strictness would require the addition of the participle οὖσα.

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

Being alone [καθ εαυτην] . Wrong. Rev., correctly, in itself. The phrase belongs to dead. It is dead, not merely in reference to something else, but absolutely.

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