James 2:14

Faith and Works Together

2:14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, ¹  if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can this kind of faith ²  save him? ³ 

James 2:17

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

[2:14]  ¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[2:14]  ² 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.

[2:14]  ³ sn The form of the question in Greek expects a negative answer.