Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
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James 2:15-19
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871) (public domain).
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.
Other Bible passages linked to this one, most cited first.
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:
Authorship: the book itself or Christian tradition. Approximate dates, as in Carson and Moo, An Introduction to the New Testament, and Longman and Dillard, An Introduction to the Old Testament.