YAC 2:24 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 2:14–26: Faith without good deeds is useless

In this section, James emphasized that true faith in Jesus is a matter of both believing and doing good deeds. There is no such thing as faith without good deeds to go with it. It is the good deeds that demonstrate that there is true faith. Faith without good deeds is not true faith at all.

James used examples from the lives of Rahab and Abraham to show that faith and good deeds always go together.

Some other possible headings for this section are:

Faith and good deeds

If you really believe/trust you will also do good deeds

Real faith is proved by good deeds.

Paragraph 2:20–26

In this paragraph, James gave two examples to show his readers that faith without deeds is useless. He used the examples of Abraham and Rahab from the Old Testament. He argued that it was because of their deeds that both Abraham and Rahab were declared righteous by God.

Throughout section 2:14–26, James was contrasting faith without deeds (for example, 2:14, 2:17, 2:18) with faith demonstrated by deeds (2:18). In this paragraph, when James said that Abraham was declared to be righteous “by deeds,” it does not mean by deeds alone. It is implied that Abraham had faith and that this faith was demonstrated by deeds. You may want to put some of this information in the translation or in a footnote. Some suggestions are in the notes on “for what he did” (2:21b) and “by his deeds” (2:24b).

2:24a

As you can see,

You^(plur) see/understand that
Therefore/So, this shows us^(incl) that

As you can see: The clause As you can see introduces James’ final conclusion from the life of Abraham in 2:21–23. Some ways to introduce this conclusion are:

So you see (NLT)

Therefore, we can see/understand that

you: In Greek, James switches to the plural pronoun you. Up to this point, James used the singular pronoun you.

2:24b

a man is justified by his deeds

a person is considered righteous because of his good deeds,
it is on account of what people do that they are declared to be righteous.
God declares us^(incl) righteous/straight because of our good/obedient actions which show that we trust him.

a man is justified by his deeds: This clause indicates that God declares a person righteous on the basis of faith that is demonstrated by his good deeds.

The Greek verb that the BSB here translates as justified is the same verb that is used in 2:21b. Use the same expression here as in 2:21b. For example:

a person is declared right with God because of the good deeds he does

we are considered righteous/straight because of what we do

It is on the basis of what someone does that God declares that he is a righteous/good person

The difference between this verse and 2:21b is that 2:21b refers to a particular time in the past when God declared that Abraham was righteous. This verse is a general statement about how God declares that people are righteous. Translate this in the way that is most natural in your language for expressing statements that are true for everyone.

This clause is also passive. Some ways to translate it are:

Use a passive verb. For example:
a person is justified by works (NET)
Use an active verb. For example:
God declares a person righteous because of the good deeds he does

See also righteous, meaning 2, in the Glossary.

by his deeds: The Greek phrase that the BSB here translates as by his deeds is the same Greek phrase as in 2:21b. There the BSB translates it as “by what he did.” See the note there for advice on translating the implied information.

2:24c

and not by faith alone.

and not by his faith/belief only.
They are not declared righteous if they have belief/trust only.
He does not consider us^(incl) just/straight if we only trust but do not have any good deeds.

not by faith alone: Here James left some words implicit. In some languages, it may be necessary to supply this implicit information. For example:

he is not declared righteous by faith alone

The phrase faith alone means “faith by itself” or “faith that does not have any good deeds accompanying it.”Many people have found this verse difficult, because at first sight it appears to contradict Paul who says, “For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law.” (Romans 3:28, RSV).However, if we look at the context closely, we see that James and Paul are talking about different things. Paul’s argument in Romans 3 and 4 is intended to show that God justifies Gentiles in the same way as he justifies Jews, on the basis of their faith, not their obedience to the laws of Moses. This means in practice that the fact that many Gentiles have not obeyed the law of Moses (especially in the matter of circumcision) is not a barrier to stop them joining the church.Notice that Paul speaks of works of law not just works. James’ argument has nothing to do with the problem of allowing Gentiles to become members of the church, but it is the problem of those in the church who say they have faith but do not do the deeds that should result from their faith. So for James, works (“deeds”) means “deeds done in obedience to God”. Notice also that James is not against faith, he is against faith without deeds. It does not mean that someone can be justified by good deeds instead of faith.

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

not by faith without any good deeds

he is not declared righteous if he only has faith

God does not consider him just/straight if he only believes but does not have any good deeds

In this phrase, the emphasis is on the word alone.

Notice that the contrast is between “by what he does” in 2:24b and by faith alone here. Try to make this contrast clear in your translation.

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ὁρᾶτε

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ὁρᾶτε ὅτι ἐξ ἔργων δικαιοῦται ἄνθρωπος καί οὐκ ἐκ πίστεως μόνον)

Here, to see represents to understand. Alternate translation: [So you should understand]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / you

ὁρᾶτε

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ὁρᾶτε ὅτι ἐξ ἔργων δικαιοῦται ἄνθρωπος καί οὐκ ἐκ πίστεως μόνον)

James returns here to the plural usage that he follows in most of the letter. So in your translation, use the plural form of “You” if your language marks that distinction. Other languages may have other ways of indicating the shift back to plural here. Alternate translation: [So all of you should understand]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / gendernotations

ἄνθρωπος

˓a˒_person

James is using the term man in a generic sense that could mean any person, male or female. Alternate translation: [a person]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

δικαιοῦται

˓is_being˒_justified

If your language does not use this passive form, you can express this with an active form. Alternate translation: [becomes right with God] or [comes to have a right relationship with God]

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

ἐξ ἔργων & καὶ οὐκ ἐκ πίστεως μόνον

by works & (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ὁρᾶτε ὅτι ἐξ ἔργων δικαιοῦται ἄνθρωπος καί οὐκ ἐκ πίστεως μόνον)

If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the abstract nouns faith and works by stating the ideas behind them with equivalent expressions. Alternate translation: [by what he does and not just by what he believes]

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

ἐξ ἔργων & καὶ οὐκ ἐκ πίστεως μόνον

by works & (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ὁρᾶτε ὅτι ἐξ ἔργων δικαιοῦται ἄνθρωπος καί οὐκ ἐκ πίστεως μόνον)

See the discussion in Part 2 of the General Introduction to James about how a person is justified before God. James is not saying that we need to add works to our faith in order to be justified. Rather, James is speaking of works that are an expression and proof of the saving faith that a person already has. You could indicate this explicitly if it would be helpful to your readers, particularly if they might misunderstand and think that James is saying that we have to add works to our faith in order for God to consider us righteous. Alternate translation: [by what he does as an expression of what he believes, and not just by what he believes]

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.

Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.