James 2:26

26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

James 2:26 Meaning and Commentary

James 2:26

For as the body without the spirit is dead
This simile is made use of to illustrate what the apostle had asserted in ( James 2:17 James 2:20 ) that as a body, when the spirit or soul is departed from it, or the breath is gone out of it, is dead, and without motion, and useless; which the Jews ^F4 express in like manner, (xwr alb Pwg rgp) , "the body without the spirit", or "breath, is a carcass".

So faith without works is dead also:
a vain thing, useless and unprofitable, can neither justify, nor save, nor prove that a man is justified, or will be saved.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 Ohel. Moed, fol. 15. 1.

James 2:26 In-Context

24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith.

25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?

26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.