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2:1 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord
of glory, with respect of persons.
2:2 For if there come unto your
assembly a man with a gold ring, in
goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; 2:3
And ye have respect to him that
weareth the gay clothing, and say unto
him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou
there, or sit here under my
footstool: 2:4 Are ye not then partial in
yourselves, and are become judges of
evil thoughts? 2:5 Hearken, my
beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in
faith, and heirs of the
kingdom which he hath promised to them that
love him? 2:6 But ye have
despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress
you, and draw you before the judgment seats? 2:7 Do not they
blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? 2:8 If ye
fulfil the royal law according to the
scripture, Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself, ye do well: 2:9 But if ye have respect to
persons, ye commit sin, and are
convinced of the law as transgressors.
2:10 For
whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one
point, he is guilty of all.
2:11 For he that said, Do not commit
adultery, said also, Do not kill.
Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a
transgressor of the law.
2:12 So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law
of
liberty.
2:13 For he shall have
judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no
mercy; and mercy
rejoiceth against judgment.
2:14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith,
and have not works? can
faith save him? 2:15 If a brother or sister
be naked, and
destitute of daily food, 2:16 And one of you say unto
them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled;
notwithstanding ye
give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it
profit? 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not
works, is dead, being
alone.
2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me
thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my
works.
2:19 Thou
believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils
also believe, and
tremble.
2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
2:21 Was not Abraham our father
justified by works, when he had
offered Isaac his son upon the altar? 2:22 Seest thou how faith
wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? 2:23 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.
2:24 Ye see then how that by works a man is
justified, and not by
faith only.
2:25 Likewise also was not Rahab the
harlot justified by works, when
she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
2:26 For as the body
without the spirit is dead, so faith without
works is
dead also.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
back to:
James
Book: James
Chapter: 2
Overview:
All professions of
Faith are vain, if not producing
Love and
Justice to others.
(1-13) The necessity of good
Works to prove
the sincerity of
Faith, which otherwise will be of
No more
advantage than the
Faith of devils.
(14-26)
1-13 Those who profess
Faith in
Christ as the
Lord of
Glory,
must not respect persons
On account of mere outward
circumstances and appearances, in a manner not agreeing with
their profession of being disciples of the lowly
Jesus. St.
James does not here encourage rudeness or disorder: civil
respect must be paid; but never such as to influence the
proceedings of Christians in disposing of the offices of the
Church of
Christ, or in passing the censures of the
Church, or
in any matter of religion. Questioning ourselves is of great use
in every part of the holy
Life. Let us be more frequent in this,
and in every thing take occasion to discourse with our souls. As
places of
Worship cannot be built or maintained without expense,
it may be proper that those who contribute thereto should be
accommodated accordingly; but were all persons more
spiritually-minded, the
Poor would be treated with more
attention that usually is the case in worshipping congregations.
A lowly state is most favourable for inward peace and for growth
in
Holiness.
God would give to all believers riches and honours
of this world, if these would do them good, seeing that he has
Chosen them to be rich in
Faith, and made them heirs of his
kingdom, which he promised to bestow
On all who
Love him.
Consider how often riches lead to vice and mischief, and what
great reproaches are thrown upon
God and religion,
By men of
wealth, power, and worldly greatness; and it will make this
Sin
appear very sinful and foolish. The
Scripture gives as a
Law, to
Love our neighbour as ourselves. This
Law is a royal
Law, it
comes from the
King of
Kings; and if Christians act unjustly,
they are convicted
By the
Law as transgressors. To think that
our good deeds will atone for our bad deeds, plainly puts us
upon looking for another
Atonement. According to the
Covenant of
Works, one
Breach of any one command brings a
Man under
condemnation, from which
No obedience, past, present, or future,
can deliver him. This shows us the happiness of those that are
in
Christ. We may serve him without slavish fear.
God's
restraints are not a
Bondage, but our own corruptions are
So.
The doom passed upon impenitent sinners at last, will be
Judgment without
Mercy. But
God deems it his
Glory and joy, to
Pardon and
Bless those who might justly be condemned at his
tribunal; and his
Grace teaches those who partake of his
Mercy,
to copy it in their conduct.
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 not
Faith. There is
No way to show we
really believe in
Christ, but
By being diligent in good
Works,
from
Gospel motives, and for
Gospel purposes. Men may boast to
others, and be conceited of that which they really have not.
There is not only to be assent in
Faith, but consent; not only
an assent to the
Truth of the
Word, but a consent to take
Christ. True believing is not an act of the understanding only,
but a work of the whole
Heart. That a justifying
Faith cannot be
without
Works, is shown from two examples,
Abraham and
Rahab.
Abraham believed
God, and it was reckoned unto him for
Righteousness.
Faith, producing such
Works, advanced him to
Peculiar favours. We see then, ver. 24, how that
By Works a
Man is justified, not
By a bare opinion or profession, or
believing without obeying; but
By having such
Faith as produces
good
Works. And to have to deny his own reason, affections, and
interests, is an action fit to try a believer. Observe here, the
wonderful power of
Faith in changing sinners.
Rahab's conduct
proved her
Faith to be living, or having power; it showed that
she believed with her
Heart, not merely
By an assent of the
understanding. Let us then take heed, for the best
Works,
without
Faith, are dead; they want root and principle.
By Faith
any thing we do is really good; as done in obedience to
God, and
aiming at his acceptance: the root is as though it were dead,
when there is
No Fruit.
Faith is the root, good
Works are the
fruits; and we must see to it that we have both. This is the
Grace of
God wherein we stand, and we should stand to it. There
is
No middle state. Every one must either live
God's friend, or
God's enemy. Living to
God, as it is the consequence of
Faith,
which justifies and will save, obliges us to do nothing against
him, but every thing for him and to him.