“Yes, a man will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith.”
— WEB
James 2:18
Cited in 3 topics on this site.
Translations sourced from the public-domain WEB, KJV, and ASV. See all sources.
“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.”
— KJV
“Yea, a man will say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith apart from [thy] works, and I by my works will show thee [my] faith.”
— ASV
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Commentary
"But some one will say": so the Greek. This verse continues the argument from Jam 2:14, Jam 2:16. One may say he has faith though he have not works. Suppose one were to say to a naked brother, "Be warmed," without giving him needful clothing. "But someone (entertaining views of the need of faith having works joined to it) will say (in opposition to the 'say' of the professor)." show me thy faith without thy works--if thou canst; but thou canst not SHOW, that is, manifest or evidence thy alleged (Jam 2:14, "say") faith without works. "Show" does not mean here to prove to me, but exhibit to me. Faith is unseen save by God. To show faith to man, works in some form or other are needed: we are justified judicially by God (Rom 8:33); meritoriously, by Christ (Isa 53:11); mediately, by faith (Rom 5:1); evidentially, by works. The question here is not as to the ground on which believers are justified, but about the demonstration of their faith: so in the case of Abraham. In Gen 22:1 it is written, God did tempt Abraham, that is, put to the test of demonstration the reality of his faith, not for the satisfaction of God, who already knew it well, but to demonstrate it before men.
— Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary (public domain)
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