Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary James 2:14

"What doth it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but have not works? can that faith save him?" — James 2:14 (ASV)

James first states his proposition in two questions, both of which declare that faith not accompanied by good deeds is of no saving value. The two questions set up the hypothetical case of a person who “claims to have” genuine saving faith. James does not say that the person actually has faith. The question “Can such faith save him?” is so structured in the Greek text that it expects a negative answer: “This faith [i.e., faith not accompanied by deeds] can’t save him, can it?” Faith that saves requires faith that proves itself in the deeds it produces. These deeds do not earn merit before God; rather, genuine faith is a concomitant of regeneration and therefore affects the believer’s behavior. Faith that does not issue in regenerate actions is superficial and spurious.