What James 2:14-26 Means

James 2:17 Direct teaching

So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

James 2:26 Direct teaching

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

James 2:14 Direct teaching

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?

James 2:18 Direct teaching

But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

James 2:20 Direct teaching

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

James 2:24 Direct teaching

You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

Clement of Rome, Connection to James 2:17 Supporting witness

What shall we do, then, brethren? Shall we become slothful in well-doing, and cease from the practice of love? God forbid! But rather let us hasten with all energy and readiness of mind to perform every good work.

Hermas, The Shepherd (Pastor) Supporting witness

...hteousness is with you. These are the deeds of the angel of righteousness. Trust him, then, and his works. “Now look at the works of the angel of iniquity. First, he is angry, bitter, and foolish, and his works are evil and destroy the servants of God. So when he rises into your heart, know him by his works.” And I said to him, “How, sir, I will recognize him, I do not know.” “Listen and understand,” he said. “When anger comes on you, or harshness, know that he is in you. You will also know this is the case when you are attacked by a desire for many dealings, and for the richest delicacies, and drunken feasting, and various luxuries, and improper things, and by a craving for women, and by overreaching, and pride, and blustering, and whatever is like these. When these rise into your heart, know that the angel of iniquity is in you. Now that you know his works, depart from him, and do not trust him in any way, because his deeds are evil and useless to the servants of God. “These, then, are the actions of both angels. Understand them, and trust the angel of righteousness. But depart from the angel of iniquity, because his instruction is bad in every deed. For even if a man is most

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness

So that when we hear, Your faith has saved you, we do not understand Him to say absolutely that those who have believed in any way whatever shall be saved, unless also works follow.

Hippolytus, Exegetical Fragments Supporting witness

And in like manner, the Gentiles by faith in Christ prepare for themselves eternal life through good works.

Origen, Commentary on John Supporting witness

...and image of truly pleasing God. The passage that declares that before God no living being shall be justified shows that, compared with God and the righteousness that is in Him, no one will be justified, not even the most complete saints. We might take an illustration from elsewhere and say that no candle can give light before the sun. This does not mean that the candle gives no light, but only that it does not when the sun shines brighter than it. In the same way, every living being will be justified, only not before God, when compared with those who are below and who are in the power of darkness. To them the light of the saints will shine. Here, perhaps, we have the key to the meaning of that verse, Matthew 5:16, "Let your light shine before men." He does not say, "Let your light shine before God." If he had said that, he would have given a command impossible to fulfill, as if he had told those lights that have souls to let their light shine before the sun. Therefore it is not only the ordinary crowd of the living who will not be justified before God, but even those among the living who stand out above the rest. Or rather, to speak more truly, the whole righteousness of the li

James 2:22 Direct teaching

You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works;

James 2:25 Direct teaching

Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?

Genesis 15:6 Supporting witness

And Abram believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.

Clement of Rome, Connection to Genesis 15:6 Background

And Abram believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Background

...is taken away from them, because the elect are saved by instruction, purification, and the doing of good works. Accordingly, Abraham, who through hearing believed the voice that promised under the oak in Mamre, "I will give this land to you, and to your seed," was either elect or not. But if he was not, how did he immediately believe, as if by nature? And if he was elect, their hypothesis is destroyed, since even before the coming of the Lord an election was found, and that election was saved: "For it was reckoned to him for righteousness." Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:3 For if anyone, following Marcion, should dare to say that the Creator (Δημιουργόν) saved the man who believed in him even before the coming of the Lord, with the elect being saved with their own proper salvation, then the power of the good Being will be overshadowed, since only late, and after the Creator spoken of by them with favorable words, it attempted to save, and did so by instruction and by imitating him. But if, being such, the good Being saves according to them, then he is neither saving what is his own, nor is he attempting salvation with the consent of the one who formed creation, but by force or by fraud.

Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Background

...and the law, after many generations, that those who lived between the times of Abraham and Moses be justified by circumcision, and those after Moses be justified by both circumcision and additional ordinances like the Sabbath, sacrifices, libations, and offerings—God will be spoken poorly of unless you demonstrate, as I have already said, that God, who foreknew, was aware that your nation would deserve expulsion from Jerusalem, and no one would be allowed to enter it. (For you are distinguished only by physical circumcision, as I mentioned before. Abraham was declared righteous by God not because of circumcision, but because of faith. Before he was circumcised, it was said of him: ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Therefore, we, in the absence of physical circumcision, believing God through Christ, and having the beneficial circumcision of the heart, hope to be seen as righteous and pleasing to God, having already received His testimony through the prophets' words.) Furthermore, God will be slandered unless you show that you were commanded to observe the Sabbath and present offerings, and that the Lord allowed a place to be called by God's na

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book IV Background

...arly taught when he says in the Epistle to the Galatians: “So, the one who gives you the Spirit and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law or by hearing with faith? Just as Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Know therefore, that those who are of faith are the children of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, announced beforehand to Abraham that in him all nations would be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.” For these reasons, the apostle declared that this man was not only the prophet of faith but also the father of those who believe in Jesus Christ among the Gentiles, because his faith and ours are the same: he believed in future things as if they were already accomplished, because of the promise of God; and similarly, we also, because of the promise of God, see through faith that inheritance stored up for us in the future kingdom.

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Background

But Abraham was not justified by works, but by faith.

James, Connection to Genesis 15:6 Background

Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. [Genesis 15:6] Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

Galatians 2:16 Supporting witness

knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

Romans 3:28 Supporting witness

For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Romans 4:5 Supporting witness

But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

Romans 4:2 Supporting witness

For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book III Supporting witness

But we believe that, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are to be saved, even as they.” After him James spoke as follows: “Men, brethren, Simon hath declared how God did purpose to take from among the Gentiles a people for His name.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book III Supporting witness

... there might have been someone who would have raised objections to their baptism. The apostles with James allowed the Gentiles to act freely, yielding us to the Spirit of God. However, they themselves, while knowing the same God, continued in the ancient observances. So, even Peter, fearing possible reproof from them, although he formerly ate with the Gentiles because of the vision and the Spirit who had rested upon them, withdrew and didn't eat with them when certain persons came from James. Paul said Barnabas did the same. Thus, the apostles, whom the Lord made witnesses of every action and doctrine—for we frequently find Peter, James, and John present with Him—carefully acted according to the dispensation of the Mosaic law, showing that it was from one and the same God. They certainly would not have done this, as I have already mentioned, if they had learned from the Lord that there existed another Father besides the one who established the dispensation of the law.

Archelaus, Disputation with Manes Supporting witness

...w was prepared and given through Moses for the salvation of very many. For if we hold that a man is justified without the works of the law, and if Abraham was counted righteous, how much more will those obtain righteousness who have fulfilled the law that contains the things useful for men? And since you have mentioned only three passages of Scripture, in which the apostle has declared that the law is a ministry of death, and that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, and that the law is the strength of sin, you may now bring forward others of the same kind, and produce whatever passages seem to you to be written against the law, as much as you wish.

Tertullian, Against Marcion Supporting witness

...gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ. It was so that from then on man might be justified by the liberty of faith, not by servitude to the law, because "the just shall live by his faith," Habakkuk 2:4. Now although the prophet Habakkuk first said this, yet you have the apostle here confirming the prophets, just as Christ did. Therefore, the object of the faith by which the just man shall live will be that same God to whom the law also belongs, by doing which no man is justified. Since, then, the curse in the law and the blessing in faith are equally found, you have both conditions set forth by the Creator: "Behold," says He, "I have set before you a blessing and a curse," Deuteronomy 11:26. You cannot establish a diversity of authors because there happens to be a diversity of things; for the diversity itself is proposed by one and the same author. Why, however, Christ was made a curse for us, Galatians 3:13, is declared by the apostle himself in a way that greatly helps our side, as being the result of the Creator's appointment. But it by no means follows that, because the Creator said long ago, "Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree," Christ belonged to a

Tertullian, Against Marcion Supporting witness

The object, therefore, of the faith whereby the just man shall live, will be that same God to whom likewise belongs the law, by doing which no man is justified.

Tertullian, Against Marcion Supporting witness

For the rest, the apostle must (be permitted to) go on with his own statement, wherein he says that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith: Galatians 2:16 faith, however, in the same God to whom belongs the law also.

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Supporting witness

...rwards be revealed, so that the law became our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith; but after that faith has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster." Do you not hear that we are no longer under that law which came with fear, but under the Word, the master of free choice? Then he added the statement, free from all partiality: "For you are all the children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:26-28 There are not, then, in the same Word some illuminated people, that is, gnostics, and some natural men. But all who have abandoned the desires of the flesh are equal and spiritual before the Lord. And again he writes in another place: "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free, and we have all drunk of one cup." 1 Corinthians 12:13 Nor would it be absurd to use the expressions of those who call the remembrance of better things the filtration of the spirit, understanding by filtration t

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness

...out this husband, who is the Word, formerly desolate of the bridegroom. Now "the just shall live by faith," which is according to the covenant and the commandments, since these, which are two in name and time, given according to the divine arrangement, being one in power, the old and the new, are given through the Son by one God. As the apostle also says in the Epistle to the Romans, "For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith," teaching the one salvation which from prophecy to the Gospel is perfected by one and the same Lord. "This charge," he says, "I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on you, that by them you may war the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience; which some, having put away concerning faith, have made shipwreck," 1 Timothy 1:18-19, because by unbelief they defiled the conscience that comes from God. Accordingly, faith may no longer, with reason, be disparaged in an offhand way as simple and common, as something ordinary and available to anyone. For if it were a merely human habit, as the Greeks supposed, it would have been extinguished. But if it grows, and there is no place where it is no