James 2:20

2:20-26 James demonstrates from Scripture that genuine faith finds expression in action.

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

Jas 2:20. Θέλεις, Art thou willing?) A question full of character (marked by courtesy); for vain men are in fact unwilling to know, and do not suffer themselves to observe.—κενὲ, vain man) uttering vain and empty words.—χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων νεκρά ἐστιν, without works is dead) This is both illustrated and proved in the following verse.—νεκρὰ,[27] dead) without life and strength to justify and save.

[27] νεκρὰ. Ἀργὴ is the reading of Cov. 4, Gen. and many Latin copies. Baumgarten asserts that this variation of reading ought not to have been numbered among those worthy of mention. I have mentioned it in the margin, which perhaps I should not have done, had not the Vulgate read otiosa. Yet I have added ε. Moreover in the smaller edition I have erased it.

Ἀργή is the reading of BC corrected, Vulg. (otiosa). But νεκρά, of A Memph. inferior MSS. of Vulg. Tisch. and Lachm. read ἀργή.—E.

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

Jam_2:20 introduces the following proof from Scripture, that faith without works is dead, and accordingly cannot have δικαιοῦσθαι as its consequence. The question θέλεις δὲ γνῶναι, expresses the confident assurance of victory over the opponent; the address ὦ ἄνθρωπε κενέ, deep indignation at him. Κενός does not here indicate intellectual defect (Baumgarten = stupid, incapable of thinking; Pott = short-sighted), but the want of true intrinsic worth, in opposition to the imaginary wealth which the opponent fancies he possesses in his dead faith. The word is only here used in the N. T. of persons. The ὦ, placed first, which is frequently used in reproof,see Mat_17:17; Luk_24:25; Rom_9:20 (Winer, p. 165 [E. T. 228]),intensifies the censure. The thought is essentially the same whether νεκρά or ἀργή is read.

ἀργός] equivalent to idle, vain, that which profits and effects nothing,[141] is also used of a capital sum which lies idle, and therefore bears no interest, thus is a dead capital. Not because ἀργή deserves the preference with a view to the sense (Wiesinger), but only because it is difficult to consider it as a gloss, is it to be consideredagainst the authorities which testify for νεκρά (see critical note)as the original reading.

As χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων stands here instead of ἐὰν μὴ ἔργα ἔχῃ (Jam_2:17), the article ἡ is not to be supplied before χωρίς (against Beza, Baumgarten, and others).

[141] It is inaccurate to take ἀργός as equivalent to ἄκαρπος (Frank: unproductive); as this indicates the condition, that, on the contrary, the conduct of the subject. They are united together not as identical, but only as related ideas, in 2Pe_1:8.

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 2:20 . The words of this and the following verses, to the end of Jas 2:23 , belong to the argument commenced by a supposed speaker ἀλλʼ ἐρεῖ τις ; it is all represented as being conducted by one man addressing another, the second person singular being used; with the ὁρᾶτε of Jas 2:24 the writer of the Epistle again speaks in his own name, and, as it were, sums up the previous argument. Θέλεις δὲ γνῶναι : “Dost thou desire to know,” i.e. , by an incontrovertible fact; the writer then, like a skilful disputant, altogether demolishes the position of his adversary by presenting something which was on all hands regarded as axiomatic. As remarked above, the question of Abraham’s faith was a subject which was one of the commonplaces of theological discussion in the Rabbinical schools as well as among Hellenistic-Jews; this is represented as having been forgotten, or at all events, as not having been taken into account, so that the adversary, on being confronted with this fact, must confess that his argument is refuted by something that he himself accepts. It is this which gives the point to ὦ ἄνθρωπε κενέ . For κενέ the Peshiṭtâ has חלשא “feeble,” in its primary sense, but also “ignorant,” which admirably expresses what the writer evidently intends. Both Mayor and Knowling speak of κενός as being equivalent to Raca (Mat 5:22 ), but the two words are derived from different roots, the former from a Grk. root meaning “to be empty,” the latter from a Hebr. one meaning “to spit” [see the writer’s article in the Expositor , July, 1905, pp. 28 ff.]; κενός has nothing to do with Raca . ἀργή : the reading νεκρά is strongly attested; the Corbey MS. makes a pun by reading “vacua,” after having written “o homo vacue”. Ἀργή is not so strong as νεκρά ; cf. Mat 12:36 , πᾶν ῥῆμα ἀργόν .

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

The third reason from the example of Abraham, who no doubt had a true faith: but he in offering his son, showed himself to have that faith which was not void of works, and therefore he received a true testimony when it was said, that faith was imputed to him for righteousness.

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

wilt thou know--"Vain" men are not willing to know, since they have no wish to "do" the will of God. James beseeches such a one to lay aside his perverse unwillingness to know what is palpable to all who are willing to do.

vain--who deceivest thyself with a delusive hope, resting on an unreal faith.

without works--The Greek, implies separate from the works [ALFORD] which ought to flow from it if it were real.

is dead--Some of the best manuscripts read, "is idle," that is, unavailing to effect what you hope, namely, to save you.

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 20. But wilt thou know] Art thou willing to be instructed in the nature of true saving faith? Then attend to the following examples.

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

20 But wilt thou know. We must understand the state of the question, for the dispute here is not respecting the cause of justification, but only what avails a profession of faith without works, and what opinion we are to form of it. Absurdly then do they act who strive to prove by this passage that man is justified by works, because James meant no such thing, for the proofs which he subjoins refer to this declaration, that no faith, or only a dead faith, is without works. No one will ever understand what is said, nor judge wisely of words, except he who keeps in view the design of the writer.

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.

(20) But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?—“Vain,” i.e., empty and useless. Some copies have a word which means idle, fruitless, workless, in place of that translated “dead”; but the sense is the same either way. “If,” says Bishop Beveridge, “I see fruit growing upon a tree, I know what tree it is upon which such fruit grows. And so, if I saw how a man lives, I know how he believes. If his faith be good, his works cannot but be good too; and if his works be bad, his faith cannot but be bad too: for, wheresoever there is a justifying faith, there are also good works; and wheresoever there are no good works, there is no justifying faith.” Works are the natural fruit of faith; and without them it is evident the tree is dead, perhaps at the very roots, ready to be cut down and cast into the fire.

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

20. wilt thou know, O vain man …] The term, as applied to men, is not found elsewhere in the New Testament, but is used with something of the same significance in the LXX. of Jdg_9:4. The idea is primarily that of “emptiness,” and the Greek adjective is almost literally the equivalent of our empty-headed, as a term of contempt. It answers clearly to the Raca of Mat_5:22.

that faith without works is dead] The MSS. vary between “dead” and the adjective rendered “idle” in Mat_12:36; Mat_20:3. The meaning is substantially the same. That which is without life is without the activity which is the one proof of life.

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.

But wilt thou know, O vain man,.... These are the words of the apostle reassuming the argument, that faith without works is dead, useless, and unprofitable; and the man that boasts of his faith, and has no works to show it, he calls a "vain man", an empty one, sounding brass, and a tinkling cymbal; empty vessels make the greatest sound; such are proud boasters, vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind; but are empty of the true knowledge of God, and of the faith of Christ, and of the grace of the Spirit: the Syriac version renders it, "O weak", or "feeble man", as he must needs be, whose faith is dead, and boasts of such a lifeless thing; and the Ethiopic version renders it, "O foolish man", for such an one betrays his ignorance in spiritual things, whatever conceit he has of his knowledge and understanding: the character seems levelled against the Gnostics, who were swelled with a vain opinion of their knowledge, to whom the apostle addresses himself thus. The phrase, "vain man", is a proper interpretation of the word "Raca", or Reka, used in Mat 5:22; see Gill on Mat 5:22, which though not to be said to a man in an angry way, yet may be applied to men of such a character as here described; who were empty of solid good, and yet boasted of their knowledge. "Wilt thou know?" dost thou require proofs,

that faith, without works, is dead? as in Jam 2:17 and that true faith has always works accompanying it, and is shown and known by it? then take the following instances.

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

20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

Ver. 20. But wilt thou know] Interrogatio doeturientis, saith Piscator. A question made by one that is desirous to teach.

Thou vain man] Gr. Thou empty man; for works without faith are nothing else but a nutshell without a kernel, grapes without juice, chaff without grain, saith Mercer in Jon 3:8.

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.

But wilt thou know - Will you have a full demonstration of it; will you have the clearest proof in the case. The apostle evidently felt that the instances to which he was about to refer, those of Abraham and Rahab, were decisive.

O vain man - The reference by this language is to a man who held an opinion that could not be defended. The word “vain” here used (κενε kene) means properly “empty,” as opposed to “full” - as empty hands, having nothing in them; then fruitless, or without utility or success; then false, fallacious. The meaning here, properly, would be “empty,” in the sense of being void of understanding; and this would be a mild and gentle way of saying of one that he was foolish, or that he maintained an argument that was without sense. James means, doubtless, to represent it as a perfectly plain matter, a matter about which no man of sense could have any reasonable doubt. If we must call a man foolish, as is sometimes necessary, let us use as mild and inoffensive a term as possible - a term which, while it will convey our meaning, will not unnecessarily wound and irritate.

That faith without works is dead - That the faith which does not produce good works is useless in the matter of salvation. He does not mean to say that it would produce no effect, for in the case of the demons it did produce trembling and alarm; but that it would be valueless in the matter of salvation. The faith of Abraham and of Rahab was entirely different from this.

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

But wilt thou know? Either this question is in order to teaching, as Joh 13:12; Rom 13:3; and then the sense is: If thou hast a mind to know, I shall instruct thee: or, it is a teaching by way of question, as more emphatical and pressing; and then it is as if he had said, Know, O vain man.

O vain man; an allusion to an empty vessel, which sounds more than one that is full. The carnal professor to whom he speaks is vain, because empty of true faith and good works, though full of noise and boasting.

Objection. Doth not the apostle sin against Christ’s command, Mat 5:22?

Answer.

1. He speaks not of any particular man, but to all in general, of such a sort, viz. who boasted of their faith, and yet did not evidence it by their works.

2. It is not spoken in rash anger, or by way of contempt, but by way of correction and just reproof; see the like spoken by Christ himself, Mat 23:17,19; Lu 24:25 and by Paul, Gal 3:1; 1Co 15:36.

That faith without works is dead; a defective speech, faith without works, for that that which is without works, or, faith, if it be without works. He doth not say, faith is dead without works, lest it should be thought that works were the cause of the life of faith; but faith without works is dead, as Jam 2:17,26; implying, that works are the effects and signs of the life of faith.

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

20. Wilt thou—Willest thou? for it is a matter of will. Thou canst know if it is thy will to know.

Vain man—Literally, empty man; vacant of the truth he might know.

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

Vers. 20-24. (3) Third point: Proof from the example of Abraham that a man is justified by works and not by faith only. Insteusen Gen_15:6 we read of Abraham that "he believed in the Lord; and he accounted it to him for righteousness" (LXX, jEpi) Abram tw Qew kaisqh aujtw eijv dikaiosunhn, quoted by St. Paul in Rom_4:3; Gal_3:6. But years after this we find that God "tested Abraham". (Gen_22:1) To this trial St. James refers as that by which Abraham"s faith was "perfected" (ejteleiwqh), and by which the saying of earlier years found a more complete realization (cf. Ecc 44:20, Ecc 44:21, "Abraham kept the Law of the Most High, and was in covenant with him and when he was proved, he was found faithful. Therefore he assured him by an oath, that he would bless the nations in his seed," etc.).

Faith without works is dead. The Received Text, followed by the A.V, reads nekra, with a, A, C, (3) K, L, Syriac, Vulgate (Clementine). The Revisers, following B, C, (1) if, read ajrgh, "barren" (so Vulgate Amiat. by a correction, otiosa).

Vers. 20-26.

Justification by faith and works.

The meaning of this notable passage has been much contested, because its teaching seems to many minds to contradict the doctrine of justification by faith. It was this apparent antagonism which led Martin Luther for a time to denounce the whole Epistle of James as a mere handful of "straw." Since his day, however, good men have been coming more and. more to see that Paul and James, so far from opposing one another, are in reality presenting different sides of the same great truth. Paul, in Romans and Galatians, fights against self-righteousness; James, in this Epistle, contends against formalism and licentiousness. James"s "faith without works" is not the justifying faith of Rom_3:28 through love;" it is rather the useless faith without love of which Paul speaks in 1Co 13. The two apostles, as we understand the matter, both treat of the samejustification, but they do not contemplate it from the same point of view.

Paul looks at justification metaphysically, in its essence as meaning acceptance with God on the ground of the righteousness of Christ; while James views it practically, in its vital connection with sanctification, and its efflorescence in a holy life. The "works" of James are just the "faith" of Paul developed in action. In the verses before us, James continues his illustration of the operative fruit-bearing nature of justifying faith. He adduces two examples from the Old Testament Scriptures.

I THE EXAMPLE OF ABRAHAM. (Vers. 21-23.) It is remarkable that Paul employs the same illustration in setting forth the doctrine of justification by faith alone; and that he appeals also to the identical Old Testament statement (Gen_15:6) here quoted respecting Abraham"s acceptance. (Ro 4; Gal_3:6, Gal_3:7) Paul says that Abraham was justified by faith before Isaac was born; while James says that he was "justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar" (ver. 21). But James is careful to add, that in this crowning manifestation of his piety the patriarch"s faith co-operated with his works. The confidence which Abraham had reposed in God for so many years was the very life of his obedience to the dreadful command to kill his only son; and. the reflex influence of his victorious passage through such an awful ordeal was that his strong trust in God was still further strengthened and made perfect" (ver. 22). Abraham"s faith alone had been "reckoned unto him for righteousness" ever since the day when he first "went out, not knowing whither he went;" but the longer that he persevered in believing, and kept adding practical virtues to his faith, his original justification was the more confirmed. So, as good works are vitally connected with saving faith being, in fact, wrapped up within it in germ from the beginning Abraham may be said to have been "justified by works." The faith which saved him was a works-producing faith. And he was so greatly distinguished for the fruitfulness of his faith that he became known in Hebrew history as "the friend of God.

II THE EXAMPLE OF RAHAB. (Ver. 25.) Her case seems to have been selected because it was so unlike the preceding. Abraham was a Jew, and the father of the chosen nation; Rahab was a heathen woman. Abraham had for many years received a special training in the school of faith; Rahab had enjoyed no training at all. Abraham was a good and pure man; Rahab had lived a loose and sensual life. Yet this degraded Canaanite obtained "like precious faith" with the illustrious patriarch. The same two Old Testament examples are cited also in Hebrews 11.; and certainly they take rank as the two extreme cases selected for special mention in that chapter. The contrast is useful as showing that, invariably, good works are found flowing from a living faith. The object of Rahab"s belief is expressed in her own words in Jos_2:9-11; and her strenuous exertions for the safety of the two spies, made at the risk of her life, bring her faith into prominence, as "working with her works.

CONCLUSION. In ver. 20 the apostle begins the paragraph with a restatement of his thesis; and in vers. 24 and 26, after presenting the scriptural examples respectively, he introduces a triumphant "Q.E.D" He has shown that the faith which lies only in the cold assent of the intellect to a system of divinity is more like a lifeless corpse than a living man (ver. 26). Truly saving faith consists in such a warm personal trust of the heart as will manifest itself in a life of holy obedience. So the ethical in religion ought never to be divorced from the evangelical. Every Christian minister should preach many sermons on distinctively moral subjects, taking care, however, that such discourses are informed with gospel motives. And every member of the Church should practice in the market-place and the workshop the morality of the Sermon on the Mount not simply because a holy life is the appropriate evidence of faith, but rather because it is the great end in order to which the believer"s faith is reckoned fur righteousness. C.J.

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

But art than willing to know - Indeed thou art not: thou wouldest fain be ignorant of it. O empty man - Empty of all goodness. That the faith which is without works is dead - And so is not properly faith, as a dead carcase is not a man.

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

Our apostle here goes on to prove, that a person is justified by works, that is, by a working faith, from the example of Abraham; and the argument lies thus: "If Abraham of old was justified by a working faith then we cannot be justified without it at this day; but Abraham, the father of the faithful, and the friend of God, was justified by a working faith, therefore faith without works will justify no man. As Abraham was justified, so must we and all others be justified; because the means and method of justification were ever one and the same, and ever will be uniform and alike. But Abraham was justified by a working faith, his faith was full of like, efficacy, and power, in bringing forth obedience unto God; witness his ready compliance with that hard and difficult command, the offering up his son Isaac. Seest thou how faith wrought with his works? that is, how his faith did both direct and assist him in that work. By faith Abraham offered up Isaac, and by works was his faith made perfect Heb 11:17, that is, declared to be perfect; for Abraham was justified five and twenty years before he offered up his son, but his conquering the difficulties of that work, shewed the perfection of this faith: as the goodness of the fruit declares the excellency of the tree, so the furit of obedience evidenced the sincerity of Abraham’s faith."

From hence then it may and must be concluded, that a barren and empty faith is a dead faith;

dead because it may be found in and with a person dead in trespasses and sins;

dead, because it receives not the quickening influences of the Spirit of God;

dead, because it wants operation, which is the effect of like;

dead, because unavailable to eternal life.

Observe farther, the honourable character and noble testimony here given of Abraham, for and upon the account of this faith and obedience; He was called the friend of God. All true believers are God’s friends, as friends they are reconciled to him; as friends they enjoy communion with him, and communications from him; as friends there is a conformity of wills and affections between them, they like and love, they will and chuse the same things; as friends they desire and long for the complete fruition and enjoyment of each other.

Observe lastly, the inference which St. James draws from this instance of Abraham, Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith. By faith only, he means faith that is alone, solitary, and by itself, without works.

Quest. But does not St. James, by affirming, that By works a man is justified, and not by faith only, contradict St. Paul, who says, By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in God’s sight? Rom 3:20

Ans. Not at all,

1. Because they do not speak, ad idem, to the same thing; St. Paul speaks of justification before God, St. James of justification before men: St. Paul speaks of the justification of our person, St. James of the justification of our faith.

2. They do not speak iisdem to the same persons: St. Paul had to do with hypocritical professors, who abused St. Paul’s doctrine of free grace, and took encouragement to sin, affirming, that if they believed, it was sufficient, no matter how they lived; therefore St. James urges the necessity of good works, as evidences of the sincerity of our faith.

The sum of the matter is this, what God has joined none must divide, and what God has divided none must join; he has separated faith and works in the business of justification, according to St Paul, and none must join them in it; and he has joined them in the lives of justified persons, as St. James spake, and there we must not separate them. St. Paul assures us, that works have not a co-efficiency in justification itself; but St. James assures us, that they may and ought to have a co-existency in them that are justified.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20–24. But wilt thou know, etc. “I will show by proof that the faith that justifies produces works by the case of Abraham, the great father of the faithful.” Faith without works is dead. It has no power to make alive unless it has power over the life.

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.

20. ἀργή, supported by BC*, some cursives, O. L. (vacua) and some other versions. On the other hand νεκρά is read in אActs 2, later uncials, the Vulgate and several other versions. But the tendency to bring this verse into agreement with Jas 2:26 probably accounts for νεκρά.

20. ὦ ἄνθρωπε κενέ. A comparison with Mat 5:22 will shew that the first generation of Christians did not observe obedience to the letter, ῥακά in that passage being probably literally equivalent to κενέ here.

ὃτι ἡ πίστις χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων ἀργή ἐστιν. On the surface a verbal argument; for ἀργή (ἀ and ἔργον) is synonymous with χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων. But ἀργή carries with it a moral stigma, πᾶν ῥῆμα ἀργόν (where πονηρόν is a variant), Mat 12:36; οὐκ ἀργοὺς οὐδὲ ἀκάρπους, 2Pe 1:8.

The argument is this: the ἄνθρωπος κενός might appeal to the faith of Abraham as an example of faith without works, faith purely and simply in the One true God. St James shews that even then justification was a result not of an inactive belief but of works in which faith was manifested, and which implies a great deal more than an intellectual assent to a proposition. It implies that grasp of unseen realities and that instinctive love and trust in God which go to form the conception of faith in the Epistle to the Hebrews, the leading and inspiring characteristic of the heroes of Israel.

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.

20-23.] Proof of the uselessness of faith without works, from the example of Abraham: introduced by a severe and triumphant appeal to the objector.

20.] But (passing on to another example which is to prove it even more certainly) wilt thou know (the use of θέλεις serves to shew that the knowledge itself is plain and palpable, and the resisting it can only arise from perversity), O (this interjection is generally found, in the N. T., in conjurations or vituperations: e. g. Rom 2:1, Rom 2:3; Rom 9:20: 1Ti 6:20: Gal 3:1: see also Luk 24:25: Act 13:10) empty (void of knowledge and seriousness: content with a dead and bootless notion: κενὸν ἐκάλεσεν ἄνθρωπον τὸν ψιλῇ τῇ πίστει αὐχοῦντα, μηδὲν τῆς διὰ τῶν ἔργων ὑποστάσεως κεκτημένον εἰς πλήρωσιν, Œc.) man (so in Rom 9:20), that faith (here abstract: all faith, faith αὐτὸ καθʼ αὑτό: not merely πίστις, faith, in any supposed case) separate from works (here again, τὰ ἔργα, abstract; and therefore, in subordination to the former abstract noun, the works which belong to it, which might be expected from it) is idle (bootless, without result: see reff. So Demosth. p. 815, ἀργὰ χρήματα: Isocr. Panegyr. p. 49, § 48, μήτε τυῖς ἰδιώταις μήτε.… ἀργὸν εἶναι τὴν διατριβήν. The idea is much the same if we read νεκρά; but seeing that none read ἀργή in vv. 17, 26, and it was hardly likely that the easy νεκρά here would be changed into the difficult ἀργή, this latter is beyond reasonable doubt the genuine reading)?

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

20-24. The argument from reason of v. 19 is followed by an argument from Scripture. In the great case of Abraham faith and works co-operated to secure justification.

20. θέλεις δὲ γνῶναι. Introducing this new argument: “Do you desire a proof?” Like the similar Rom 13:3 (see Lietzmann, ad loc. in Handbuch zum Neuen Testament, 1906), this can be taken as an affirmative sentence with little difference of meaning.

ὦ ἄνθρωπε κενέ. This address to a single person corresponds with v. 14, v. 19, and v. 22. In v. 24 the writer falls out of the singular into the more natural but less forcible and pungent plural, perhaps because he is there giving a summary statement in conclusion. Direct address in the singular, and in harsh tone, is characteristic of the diatribe, so ὦ ταλαίπωρε, τάλας, σαννίων, μωρέ, πονηρέ, infelix, miser, stulte; cf. Bultmann, p. 14.

κενός means “empty,” i. e. “deficient,” and is used here much like “fool”; cf. the Aramaic רֵיקָא ῥακά, Mat 5:22, also Paul’s ἄφρων, “thou fool,” 1Co 15:36, and ὦ ἄνθρωπε, Rom 2:1, Rom 9:20. See Trench, Synonyms, § xlix, and Mayor3, p. 102. It is used as a common term of disparagement in obvious senses in Hermas, Mand. xi, passim. The strong expression is called out by James’s abhorrence of this sham faith.

The view of Hilgenfeld and others, that the Apostle Paul is meant as the ἄνθρωπος κενός hardly needs to be referred to.

ἀργή, “ineffective,” “barren” (R.V.), “unprofitable,” “unproductive of salvation,” cf. Mat 12:36, 2Pe 1:8, Wisd. 14:5 (with Grimm’s note); this sense is common in classical Greek, where ἀργός is connected with such words as χώρα, γῆ, χρήματα, δόρυ, χρόνος, διατριβή. Cf. νεκρός, vv. 17, 26, in much the same sense.

There is possibly a little play on words here, between χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων and ἀργή (from ἀ-εργης).

ἀργή] BC* minn ff sah.

νεκρά] אAC2KLR minnpler boh syrpesh. hcl. Conformation to v. 26.

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

Vain [κενε] . Lit., empty, without spiritual life.

Dead [νεκρα] . But the best texts read ajrgh, idle; as of money which yields no interest, or of land lying fallow.

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