Anakalypsis / Unveiling the Word

James 2:26

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

KJV

ὥσπερ γὰρ τὸ σῶμα χωρὶς πνεύματος νεκρόν ἐστιν, οὕτως καὶ ἡ πίστις χωρὶς ἔργων νεκρά ἐστιν.

Greek NT

Sicut enim corpus sine spiritu mortuum est, ita et fides sine operibus mortua est.

Vulgate

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.

ASV

For even as the body without the spirit is dead: so also faith without works is dead.

Douay-Rheims

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In the original Greek

12 distinct Greek words appear in this verse.

γάρ
gar
conjunction · 1036×
εἰμί
eimi
verb · 2461×
καί
kai
conjunction · 8973×
νεκρός
nekros
adjective · 128×
οὕτω
outo
adverb · 208×
πίστις
pistis
noun · 243×
πνεῦμα
pneuma
noun · 379×
σῶμα
soma
noun · 141×
χωρίς
choris
adverb · 41×
ἔργον
ergon
noun · 169×
ὁ
o
article · 19778×
ὥσπερ
osper
adverb · 36×

Textual variants

2 variant units attested by manuscript witnesses and modern critical editions.

trivial
SBLGNT: γὰρ | Treg/NIV/RP: γὰρ
  • γὰρ — SBLGNT
  • γὰρ — Tregelles, Reader's GNT (NA27), Robinson-Pierpont
source: sblgnt-apparatus
notable
SBLGNT: χωρὶς | WH/NIV: χωρὶς | Treg/RP: + τῶν
  • χωρὶς — SBLGNT
  • χωρὶς — Westcott-Hort, Reader's GNT (NA27)
  • + τῶν — Tregelles, Robinson-Pierpont
source: sblgnt-apparatus

Themes

Historic Christian voices

10 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…
§1815The gift of faith remains in one who has not sinned against it.80 But "faith apart from works is dead":81 when it is deprived of hope and love, faith does not fully unite the believer to Christ and does not make him a living member of his Body.
If anyone saith that by faith alone the impious is justified, in such wise as to mean that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification, and that it is not in any way necessary that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will — let him be anathema.
Gracious and holy affections have their exercise and fruit in Christian practice. This is the chief of all the signs of grace. Holy practice is the principal evidence of the truth of grace, both to the consciences of Christians themselves and to the observation of others. Men's deeds are the best interpreters of their words and profession.
We confess one baptism for the remission of sins and for life eternal. For baptism declares the Lord's death. We are indeed buried with the Lord through baptism Colossians 2:12, as says the divine Apostle. So then, as our Lord died once for all, we also must be baptized once for all, and baptized according to the Word of the Lord, In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and …
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 15:2 — By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
  • Col 2:13 — And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
  • Eccl 12:7 — Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
  • Ezek 18:21 — But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
  • Jas 2:14 — What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
  • Jas 2:14 — What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
  • Jas 2:17 — Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
  • Jas 2:17 — Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
  • Jas 2:20 — But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
  • Jas 2:20 — But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
  • John 7:31 — And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?
  • Luke 8:13 — They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
  • Ps 104:29 — Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.
  • Rev 3:1 — And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.