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OET (OET-LV) For/Because as the body apart_from spirit dead is, thus also the faith apart_from works dead is.
OET (OET-RV) Just like a body is dead once the spirit has departed, so too faith is dead if it’s not demonstrated by good deeds.
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.
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).
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead: James concluded his discussion of faith and deeds by repeating the statement faith without deeds is dead. He had already made this statement in 2:17. Here, James used a simile to emphasize this statement.
In this simile, James compared faith without deeds to the body without the spirit. The way that they are similar is that both are dead and useless.
Some other ways to translate this simile are:
Just as a person’s body that does not have a spirit is dead, so faith that does nothing is dead! (NCV)
faith without action is as dead as a body without a soul (JBP)
If someone believes/trusts but does not do good deeds, that belief/trust is as useless as a body that has no spirit.
If a person’s spirit has left his body, he cannot do any good deeds because the body has no life. In the same way, if someone believes but does not do any good deeds, his belief has no life.
As the body without the spirit is dead,
Just as a person’s body without his spirit is dead,
If a person’s spirit is gone from his body, that body is dead and useless.
In Greek, this verse is connected to the previous verse with a conjunction. The BSB does not translate this conjunction. Here this conjunction introduces a simile that concludes this section.
Some other ways to indicate that 2:26 is the conclusion are:
So then (GNT)
What we should understand here is this:
In conclusion
the body: The phrase the body refers to a human body.
without the spirit: The phrase the spirit here refers to the inner part of a person that continues to exist after the person has died.
is dead: If possible, translate the word dead with a word or phrase in your language that can refer to a body as well as to faith. For example:
has no life
is dead and useless
so faith without deeds is dead.
so also, the faith of a person who does no good deeds is dead.
In the same way, if a person says that he trusts in Christ/God, but he does not do anything to show/prove it, such trusting is dead/useless.
without deeds: The phrase without deeds also occurs in 2:20b.
dead: The word dead here indicates that the person’s faith has no power to do anything and so is of no use. (Compare 2:17c where the word dead also occurs.) In some languages, the word faith cannot be spoken of as dead. If that is the case in your language, you can:
Use a simile. For example:
as if dead
like a dead thing
Explain the meaning of the word dead here. For example:
useless
powerless
Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-result
γὰρ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὥσπερ Γάρ τό σῶμα χωρίς πνεύματος νεκρόν ἐστίν οὕτως καί ἡ πίστις χωρίς ἔργων νεκρά ἐστίν)
James is using the word For to introduce a general principle that can be deduced from the argument he has been making since [2:14](../02/14.md) that faith needs to be expressed in works. He does not say For, which often means “because,” to indicate that God justified Abraham and Rahab for this reason. Rather, he is using the word For in order to bring his argument to its conclusion. Alternate translation: [These specific cases confirm the general principle that]
τὸ σῶμα χωρὶς πνεύματος νεκρόν ἐστιν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὥσπερ Γάρ τό σῶμα χωρίς πνεύματος νεκρόν ἐστίν οὕτως καί ἡ πίστις χωρίς ἔργων νεκρά ἐστίν)
The word translated spirit can also mean “breath.” Alternate translation: [a body that does not have the breath of life in it is dead]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / personification
ἡ πίστις χωρὶς ἔργων νεκρά ἐστιν
¬the faith (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὥσπερ Γάρ τό σῶμα χωρίς πνεύματος νεκρόν ἐστίν οὕτως καί ἡ πίστις χωρίς ἔργων νεκρά ἐστίν)
James is speaking of faith as if it would be a living thing if it had works but not be alive if it did not have them. Alternate translation: [a person’s faith is not genuine if he does not express it through works]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns
ἡ πίστις χωρὶς ἔργων νεκρά ἐστιν
¬the faith (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὥσπερ Γάρ τό σῶμα χωρίς πνεύματος νεκρόν ἐστίν οὕτως καί ἡ πίστις χωρίς ἔργων νεκρά ἐστίν)
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: [if a person says he believes in God but he does not do what God wants him to do, then he does not really believe in God]
2:26 Good works are as necessary to faith as breath is to a physical body (Gen 2:7). We cannot have one without the other.
OET (OET-LV) For/Because as the body apart_from spirit dead is, thus also the faith apart_from works dead is.
OET (OET-RV) Just like a body is dead once the spirit has departed, so too faith is dead if it’s not demonstrated by good deeds.
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.
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