Anakalypsis / Unveiling the Word

James 2:20

But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

KJV

θέλεις δὲ γνῶναι, ὦ ἄνθρωπε κενέ, ὅτι ἡ πίστις χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων ἀργή ἐστιν;

Greek NT

Vis autem scire, o homo inanis, quoniam fides sine operibus mortua est ?

Vulgate

But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is barren?

ASV

But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

Douay-Rheims

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In the original Greek

13 distinct Greek words appear in this verse.

γινώσκω
ginosko
verb · 222×
δέ
de
conjunction · 2781×
εἰμί
eimi
verb · 2461×
θέλω
thelo
verb · 208×
κενός
kenos
adjective · 18×
πίστις
pistis
noun · 243×
χωρίς
choris
adverb · 41×
ἀργός
argos
adjective · 8×
ἄνθρωπος
anthropos
noun · 549×
ἔργον
ergon
noun · 169×
ὁ
o
article · 19778×
ὅτι
oti
conjunction · 1299×
ὦ
o
interjection · 17×

Textual variants

1 variant unit attested by manuscript witnesses and modern critical editions.

minor
SBLGNT: ἀργή | WH/Treg/NIV: ἀργή | RP: νεκρά
  • ἀργή — SBLGNT
  • ἀργή — Westcott-Hort, Tregelles, Reader's GNT (NA27)
  • νεκρά — Robinson-Pierpont
source: sblgnt-apparatus

Historic Christian voices

8 passages from patristic writers, Reformers, and church catechisms citing this verse.

§162Faith is an entirely free gift that God makes to man. We can lose this priceless gift, as St. Paul indicated to St. Timothy: "Wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting conscience, certain persons have made shipwreck of their faith."44 To live, grow and persevere in the faith until the end we must nourish it with the word of God; we must beg the Lo…
What is faith? In what power of the soul does it reside? Is its form charity? Are living formata faith and lifeless informis faith one identically? Is faith a virtue? Is it one virtue? Its relation to the other virtues Its certitude as compared with the certitude of the intellectual virtues Article 1. Whether this is a fitting definition of faith: "Faith is the substance of thi…
An almost Christian has a dead faith — a faith which does not purify the heart, does not work by love, and does not overcome the world. He assents to the truths of the Gospel in his understanding, but his heart is not changed by them. The devils also believe and tremble, but they are not saved by their belief.
We believe that no one is saved without faith. And by faith we mean the right notion that is in us concerning God and divine things. Which being joined with a living hope in God and a fervent love, or rather being formed by charity, justifieth us in Christ. And without this faith it is impossible to please God. But we affirm that this faith which justifieth is not the faith of…
We believe a man to be not simply justified through faith alone, but through faith which worketh through love, that is to say, through faith and works. Not that the foundation and certainty of our salvation resteth upon works; for no man can do the works of God — for Christ hath said, "Without me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5) — but that faith without works is dead, and worketh…

Cross-references

  • 1Cor 15:14 — And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
  • Gal 6:3 — For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
  • Jas 1:26 — If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.
  • Jas 2:17 — Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
  • Jas 2:26 — For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
  • Jas 2:26 — For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
  • Job 11:12 — For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt.
  • John 13:17 — If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.
  • Mark 7:7 — Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
  • Matt 7:21 — Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
  • Matt 7:26 — And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
  • Matt 15:9 — But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
  • Mic 6:8 — He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
  • Prov 12:11 — He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding.
  • Ps 94:8 — Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?
  • Rev 2:26 — And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
  • Rom 1:21 — Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
  • Rom 2:1 — Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.
  • Rom 3:20 — Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.