But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Parallel translations
- WEB But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead?
- BSB O foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is worthless?
- ESV Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
- NKJV But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
- NASB But are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless?
- NLT How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
James presses the foolish person to recognize that faith without works is barren. A workless faith is profitless and ineffective.
Overview
Addressing his objector as a "vain" or empty-headed person, James drives home that faith divorced from works is useless. He is about to prove this from Scripture with the examples of Abraham and Rahab. The verse insists that authentic faith is productive, never sterile or inactive.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Jas 2:17Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
- Jas 2:26For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
- Prov 12:11He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding.
- Rom 1:21Because 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.
- Ps 94:8–11Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?
- Gal 6:3For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
- Jas 1:26If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.
- 1 Cor 15:35–36But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
- 1 Tim 1:6From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling;
- Col 2:8Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
- Titus 1:10For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision:
- Jer 2:5Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?
- Job 11:11–12For he knoweth vain men: he seeth wickedness also; will he not then consider it?
- Gal 5:6For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The wisdom from above and the royal law of love are the life of those who belong to 'our glorious Lord Jesus Christ' — faith in him made visible in works.
How James 2:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.