James 2:14-26 What does it profit, my brothers, though a man say he has faith, and have not works? can faith save him?… If a man would have an evidence that the sun hath just risen within our hemisphere, though it be not within his view as yet, he will see it better by looking west than by looking east; for, before he can see the body of the sun, he may see the light of it shining upon some high tower or mountain; and so by looking west he will see the sun has risen, or is rising in the east. So, when the world would have an evidence of your being a believer, they will not look to your faith, but to your works, and the rays and beams that flow from faith. And to look towards your works is to look away quite contrary to your faith; for as faith and works are contrary in the matter of justification, so faith renounces all works in point of dependence, though it produces them in point of performance. There. fore, seeing the world will not look to your heart, which they cannot see, but to your life, and will not look to your faith, which God only sees, but to your works which the world may see; Oh, take care that it be a working faith: "Show me thy faith by thy works." (R. Erskine.) Parallel Verses KJV: What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?WEB: What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him? |
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