For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Parallel translations
- WEB For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.
- BSB As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
- NKJV For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
- NASB For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
- NLT Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.
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
Just as a body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead. Works are to faith what the animating spirit is to the body.
Overview
James concludes with a striking analogy: a faith that produces no works is as lifeless as a corpse. Works do not save, but their presence shows that faith is alive, just as breath shows that a body lives. The whole passage guards against a hollow profession and calls for the active, fruitful faith that the gospel produces.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Jas 2:20But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
- Jas 2:17Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
- Jas 2:14What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
- Eccl 12:7Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
- Ps 104:29Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.
- Acts 7:59–60And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
- Job 34:14–15If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath;
- Isa 2:22Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?
- Luke 23:46And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.
- Ps 146:4His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 2:26 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.