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For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.
Verse Takeaways
1
Faith and Works: Inseparable
Commentators explain that James's final analogy is stark and clear: just as a body without a spirit is a lifeless corpse, faith without works is equally dead and useless. The two are inseparable for a living Christian faith. As one scholar notes, while works don't give life to faith, their absence proves that faith is not truly alive.
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James
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6
18th Century
Presbyterian
For as the body without the spirit is dead. The Greek word pneuma is commonly used to denote spirit or soul, as…
Apart from the spirit (χωρις πνευματος). "Apart from breath" (the breath of life). It is not easy to tell when one is dead, but th…
19th Century
Anglican
As the body without the spirit . . .—A closing simile of much force, As the body without the spirit, so faith without works.
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The argument of vv.18–25 concludes with a statement that cites the human body as an illustration. “The body without the spirit” is nothing but a co…
17th Century
Reformed Baptist
For as the body without the spirit is dead This simile is made use of to illustrate what the apostle had asserted in…
Those who substitute a mere intellectual belief in the gospel for the entirety of evangelical religion, as many do today, are mistaken. Undoubtedly…
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