Albert Barnes Commentary James 2:22

"Thou seest that faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect;" — James 2:22 (ASV)

Seest thou. Marginal note: Thou seest. Either rendering is correct, and the meaning is the same. The apostle means to say that this was so plain that they could not help but see it.

How faith wrought with his works. The Greek word used here is sunhrgei, meaning "it co-operated." The word signifies to work together with anyone, to co-operate (1 Corinthians 16:16; 2 Corinthians 6:1); then to aid or help (Mark 16:20); or to contribute to the production of any result where two or more persons or agents are united.

Compare to Romans 8:28. The idea here is that the result in Abraham's case—that is, his salvation or his religion—was secured not by one of these things alone, but that both contributed to it.

The result that was reached, namely, his acceptance with God, could not have been obtained by either one of them separately; instead, both, in some sense, entered into it.

The apostle does not say that, concerning the merit that justifies, they shared equally, for he makes no assertion on that point. He does not deny that in the sight of God, who foresees and knows all things, Abraham was regarded as a justified man the moment he believed. However, the apostle looks at the result as it was—at Abraham as he appeared under the trial of his faith—and says that in that result, one could see the co-operation of faith and good works. Both contributed to the outcome, as they do now in all cases of true religion.

And by works was faith made perfect. This means it was made complete, finished, or entire. It was so carried out as to show its legitimate and fair results. This does not mean that faith itself was defective before this, and that the defect was remedied by good works. Nor does it mean that there is any deficiency in what the right kind of faith can do in the matter of justification, which is to be helped out by good works. Rather, it means that there was that kind of completion a thing has when it is fully developed or fairly carried out.

Seest thou (or, Thou seest); faith wrought with his works .