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What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can that faith save him?
Verse Takeaways
1
A Claim Isn't Reality
Commentators unanimously agree that James is not questioning true, saving faith. Instead, he is challenging someone who merely "says" they have faith. The focus is on a hollow, verbal profession that lacks the evidence of a changed life. The question, "Can that faith save him?" expects a clear "no."
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James
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7
18th Century
Presbyterian
What does it profit, my brethren, though a man say he has faith? The apostle here returns to the subject referred to in James 1:22-27: the…
What doth it profit? (τ οφελοσ; ). Rhetorical question, almost of impatience. Old word from οφελλω, to increase, in N.T. only here…
19th Century
Anglican
What does it (or, is the) profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith and does not have works?
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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 …
16th Century
Protestant
What does it profit? He proceeds to commend mercy. And as he had threatened that God would be a severe and very dreadful Judge to us unles…
17th Century
Reformed Baptist
What does it profit, my brethren The apostle having finished his discourse on respect of persons, and the arguments …
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Those who substitute a mere intellectual belief in the gospel for the entirety of evangelical religion, as many do today, are mistaken. Undoubtedly…
