James 2:22

22 You see that Abraham's faith and what he did worked together. His faith was shown to be genuine by what he did.

James 2:22 Meaning and Commentary

James 2:22

Seest thou how faith wrought with his works
Not to justify him before God; for neither faith nor works are ever said in Scripture to justify any man; but his faith being of the right kind, a faith which works by love, it put him upon doing this work, and many others; for this was done in faith, ( Hebrews 11:17-19 ) as all good works are, which are properly such; and where there is true faith, it will influence and engage a man to do good works, as it did Abraham.

And by works was faith made perfect?
not with an absolute perfection; for though Abraham's faith was very great, yet there were things lacking in it, and he had his fits and times of unbelief; and had he lived till now, his faith, in this sense, would not have been perfect; and he would have had reason to have used the apostle's petition, ( Luke 17:5 ) much less would it have been made thus perfect by works; but the sense is, that hereby his faith was declared to be sincere, unfeigned, true, and genuine; just as love is said to be perfected, ( 1 John 4:17 ) .

James 2:22 In-Context

20 You fool! Do you have to be shown that faith which does nothing is useless?
21 Didn't our ancestor Abraham receive God's approval as a result of what he did when he offered his son Isaac as a sacrifice on the altar?
22 You see that Abraham's faith and what he did worked together. His faith was shown to be genuine by what he did.
23 The Scripture passage came true. It says, "Abraham believed God, and that faith was regarded by God to be his approval of Abraham." So Abraham was called God's friend.
24 You see that a person receives God's approval because of what he does, not only because of what he believes.
GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved. Used by permission.