What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds. And really, this is the only way the objection makes any sense at all. Just as a seed that you plant will necessarily, because of the life that is in it, grow into a tree that bears fruit according to its kind, so genuine saving faith will produce. James does not refer to someone who has genuine faith, but no works, because genuine faith necessarily results in a life of good works. Read james 2 commentary using matthew henry commentary on the whole bible complete. The unity and openness of the early church was shocking to the ancient world. An integrated digital bible study library including complete notes from the niv study bible and the nkjv macarthur study bible is just a step away. To james, the readers were brothers, a term he uses 19 times in the book. Two critical verses for understanding this point are james 2. As james states the basic instruction of this paragraph in 2. The works james requires are not done apart from faith but done in faith, not done instead of faith but done because of faith.
James 2 bible commentary matthew henry concise christianity. Read commentary on this popular bible verse and understand the real meaning behind gods word using john gills exposition. James 2 a living faith in the life of the church a. Testament whedons commentary petts bible commentary constables. James 1 commentary james burton coffman commentaries on. The end quotation mark should not be until the end of james 2. James 2 commentary matthew henry commentary on the whole. The rest of the letter gives practical applications of the two underlying principles of trust in god and working to benefit others in need.
Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. Study james 2 using matthew henrys bible commentary concise to better. Many years ago, christian musician rich mullins summed up this verse in a song called screen door. James takes up the topic of work in detail in the second part of chapter 2.
James 1 commentary, one of over 110 bible commentaries freely available, this commentary, by the leading authority in the church of christ, presents a verse level look at the bible. Partiality and discrimination in the family of god. Commentaries for james chapter 2 favoritism contradicts faith. As this command from james shows, the apostles had to teach the early church to never hold the faith of our lord jesus christ with partiality. In fact, the more one reads the sermon on the mount and the book of james, the more parallels begin to emerge. If you carefully and thoughtfully work through the logic james argument up to this point, and then look at the objection, you must include all of james 2. Simply stated, he wants christians to have faith that works. Study the bible online using commentary on james 2 and more. At first glance, it seems that james is contradicting paul, or vice versa, if james wrote first.
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