James 1:20

1:20 For human ¹  anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness. ² 

James 3:11

3:11 A spring does not pour out fresh water and bitter water from the same opening, does it?

James 4:17

4:17 So whoever knows what is good to do ³  and does not do it is guilty of sin. ⁴ 

James 5:6

5:6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person, although he does not resist you. ⁵ 

James 1:26

1:26 If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile.

James 2:17

2:17 So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead being by itself.

James 3:15

3:15 Such ⁶  wisdom does not come ⁷  from above but is earthly, natural, ⁸  demonic.

James 2:14

Faith and Works Together

2:14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, ⁹  if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can this kind of faith ¹⁰  save him? ¹¹ 

James 3:2

3:2 For we all stumble ¹²  in many ways. If someone does not stumble ¹³  in what he says, ¹⁴  he is a perfect individual, ¹⁵  able to control the entire body as well.

James 1:25

1:25 But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, ¹⁶  and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out – he ¹⁷  will be blessed in what he does. ¹⁸ 

James 1:13

1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, ¹⁹  and he himself tempts no one.

James 2:16

2:16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm and eat well,” but you do not give them what the body needs, ²⁰  what good is it?

James 2:24

2:24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

James 1:8

1:8 since he is a double-minded individual, ²¹  unstable in all his ways.

James 1:23

1:23 For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone ²²  who gazes at his own face ²³  in a mirror.

James 2:20

2:20 But would you like evidence, ²⁴  you empty fellow, ²⁵  that faith without works is useless? ²⁶ 

James 1:17

1:17 All generous giving and every perfect gift ²⁷  is from above, coming down ²⁸  from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change. ²⁹ 

James 4:5

4:5 Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says, ³⁰  “The spirit that God ³¹  caused ³²  to live within us has an envious yearning”? ³³ 

¹ tn The word translated “human” here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But it sometimes is used generically to mean “anyone,” “a person” (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 2), and in this context, contrasted with “God’s righteousness,” the point is “human” anger (not exclusively “male” anger).

² sn God’s righteousness could refer to (1) God’s righteous standard, (2) the righteousness God gives, (3) righteousness before God, or (4) God’s eschatological righteousness (see P. H. Davids, James [NIGTC], 93, for discussion).

³ tn Or “knows how to do what is good.”

⁴ tn Grk “to him it is sin.”

⁵ tn Literally a series of verbs without connectives, “you have condemned, you have murdered…he does not resist.”

⁷ tn Grk “This.”

⁸ tn Grk “come down”; “descend.”

⁹ tn Grk “soulish,” which describes life apart from God, characteristic of earthly human life as opposed to what is spiritual. Cf. 1 Cor 2:14; 15:44-46; Jude 19.

⁹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

¹⁰ tn Grk “the faith,” referring to the kind of faith just described: faith without works. The article here is anaphoric, referring to the previous mention of the noun πίστις (pisti") in the verse. See ExSyn 219.

¹¹ sn The form of the question in Greek expects a negative answer.

¹¹ tn Or “fail.”

¹² tn Or “fail.”

¹³ tn Grk “in speech.”

¹⁴ tn The word for “man” or “individual” is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But it sometimes is used generically to mean “anyone,” “a person,” as here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 2).

¹³ tn Grk “continues.”

¹⁴ tn Grk “this one.”

¹⁵ tn Grk “in his doing.”

¹⁵ tn Or “God must not be tested by evil people.”

¹⁷ tn Grk “what is necessary for the body.”

¹⁹ tn Grk “a man of two minds,” continuing the description of the person in v. 7, giving the reason that he cannot expect to receive anything. The word for “man” or “individual” is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But it sometimes is used generically to mean “anyone,” “a person,” as here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 2).

²¹ tn The word for “man” or “individual” is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” However, as BDAG 79 s.v. 2 says, here it is “equivalent to τὶς someone, a person.”

²² tn Grk “the face of his beginning [or origin].”

²³ tn Grk “do you want to know.”

²⁴ tn Grk “O empty man.” Here the singular vocative ἄνθρωπε (anqrwpe, “man”) means “person” or even “fellow.” Cf. BDAG 82 s.v. ἄνθρωπος 8 which views this as an instance of rhetorical address in a letter; the pejorative sense is also discussed under the previous heading (7).

²⁵ tc Most witnesses, including several important ones (א A C² P Ψ 33 Ï sy bo), have νεκρά (nekra, “dead”) here, while Ì⁷⁴ reads κενή (kenh, “empty”). Both variants are most likely secondary, derived from ἀργή (argh, “useless”). The reading of the majority is probably an assimilation to the statements in vv. 17 and 26, while Ì⁷⁴’s reading picks up on κενέ (kene) earlier in the verse. The external evidence (B C* 323 945 1739 sa) for ἀργή is sufficient for authenticity; coupled with the strong internal evidence for the reading (if νεκρά were original, how would ἀργή have arisen here and not in vv. 17 or 26?), it is strongly preferred.

²⁵ tn The first phrase refers to the action of giving and the second to what is given.

²⁶ tn Or “All generous giving and every perfect gift from above is coming down.”

²⁷ tn Grk “variation or shadow of turning” (referring to the motions of heavenly bodies causing variations of light and darkness).

²⁷ tn Grk “vainly says.”

²⁸ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²⁹ tc The Byzantine text and a few other mss (P 33 Ï) have the intransitive κατῴκησεν (katwkhsen) here, which turns τὸ πνεῦμα (to pneuma) into the subject of the verb: “The spirit which lives within us.” But the more reliable and older witnesses (Ì⁷⁴ א B Ψ 049 1241 1739 al) have the causative verb, κατῴκισεν (katwkisen), which implies a different subject and τὸ πνεῦμα as the object: “The spirit that he causes to live within us.” Both because of the absence of an explicit subject and the relative scarcity of the causative κατοικίζω (katoikizw, “cause to dwell”) compared to the intransitive κατοικέω (katoikew, “live, dwell”) in biblical Greek (κατοικίζω does not occur in the NT at all, and occurs one twelfth as frequently as κατοικέω in the LXX), it is easy to see why scribes would replace κατῴκισεν with κατῴκησεν. Thus, on internal and external grounds, κατῴκισεν is the preferred reading.

³⁰ tn Interpreters debate the referent of the word “spirit” in this verse: (1) The translation takes “spirit” to be the lustful capacity within people that produces a divided mind (1:8, 14) and inward conflicts regarding God (4:1-4). God has allowed it to be in man since the fall, and he provides his grace (v. 6) and the new birth through the gospel message (1:18-25) to counteract its evil effects. (2) On the other hand the word “spirit” may be taken positively as the Holy Spirit and the sense would be, “God yearns jealously for the Spirit he caused to live within us.” But the word for “envious” or “jealous” is generally negative in biblical usage and the context before and after seems to favor the negative interpretation.