Meaning, commentary and cross references
James 2:26
“For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.”In other translations
KJV · King James Version
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
NIV · New International Version
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
WEB · World English Bible
For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.
What does James 2:26 mean?
John Gill · Exposition of the Entire Bible, on James 2:26
For as the body without the spirit is dead,.... This simile is made use of to illustrate what the apostle had asserted in James 2:17 that as a body, when the spirit or soul is departed from it, or the breath is gone out of it, is dead, and without motion, and useless; which the Jews (d) express in like manner, , "the body without the spirit", or "breath, is a carcass". So faith without works is dead also: a vain thing, useless and unprofitable, can neither justify, nor save, nor prove that a man is justified, or will be saved. (d) Ohel.
John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63). Public domain. Digital text: Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org).
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible, on James 2:14–26
And now, upon the whole matter, the apostle draws this conclusion, As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also, Jam 2:26. These words are read differently; some reading them, As the body without the breath is dead, so is faith without works: and then they show that works are the companions of faith, as breathing is of life. Others read them, As the body without the soul is dead, so faith without works is dead also: and then they show that as the body has no action, nor beauty, but becomes a loathsome carcass, when the soul is gone, so a bare profession without works is useless, yea, loathsome and offensive. Let us then take head of running into extremes in…
Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706–21; Romans–Revelation completed by Nonconformist ministers). Public domain. Digital text: Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org).
John Calvin · Commentaries, on James 2:20–26
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. 26 Quemadmodum enim corpus sine anima mortuum est, ita et fides sine operibus mortua est. 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…
John Calvin, Commentaries (Calvin Translation Society English text). Public domain. Digital text: Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org).
Context: James 2:23–26 (WEB)
23So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. 24You see then that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith. 25In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.
Cross references
- James 2:20
But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead?
- James 2:17
Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.
- James 2:14
What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him?
- Ecclesiastes 12:7
and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
- Acts 7:59–60
They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
- Job 34:14–15
If he set his heart on himself, if he gathered to himself his spirit and his breath,
- Psalms 104:29
- Luke 23:46
Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” Having said this, he breathed his last.