James 2:12-17
So speak ye, and so do, as being to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy: and mercy exalteth itself above judgment. What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he have faith, but hath not works? Shall faith be able to save him? And if a brother or sister be naked, and want daily food, and one of you say to them: Go in peace, be you warmed and filled, and yet give them not those things that are necessary for the body; what shall it profit? So faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself
Haydock
Verse 12. By the law of liberty; i.e. by the new law and doctrine of Christ. Wi.
Verse 13. For judgment without mercy, &c. It is an admonition to them to fulfil, as he said before, the royal precepts of the love of God and of our neighbour, which cannot be without being merciful to others. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Mat. v. 7. — And mercy exalteth itself above judgment. Some understand this as a confirmation of God’s infinite mercies, out of Ps. cxliv. 9. where it is said that his “mercies are over all his works;” that is, though all his perfections be equally infinite, yet he is pleased to deal with sinners rather according to the multitude of his mercies than according to the rigour of his justice. Others expound these words of the mercy which men shew to one another, and that he exhorts them to mercy, as a most powerful means to find mercy; and the merciful works done to others will be beneficial to them, and make them escape when they come to judgment. Wi. — Similar to this are the words of old Tobias to his son: “Alms deliver from all sin, and from death, and will not suffer the soul to go into darkness. Alms shall be a great confidence before the most high God, to all them that give it.” Tob. iv. 11, 12. “Blessed are the merciful,” says our divine Judge, “for they shall obtain mercy.” Mat. v. 7. C. — And the definitive sentence of Christians, at the day of judgment will be favourable or not, as they have complied in life with the calls of charity.
Verse 14, &c. Shall faith be able to save him? He now comes to one of the chief points of this epistle, to shew against the disciple of Simon , the magician, that faith alone will not save any one. We may take notice in the first place, that S. James in this very verse, supposes that a man may have faith, a true faith without good works. This also follows from v. 19. where he says: Thou believest that there is one God: thou dost well. And the same is evident by the words Jo. xii. 42. where it is said, that many of the chief men also believed in him, (Christ) …but did not confess it, that they might not be cast out of the synagogue. Now that faith alone is not sufficient to save a man, S. James declares by this example: If any one say to the poor and naked, go in peace, be you warmed and filled, and give them nothing, what shall it profit? Even so faith, if it have not works is dead, &c. i.e. such a faith, though it be not lost and destroyed, yet it remains in a soul that is spiritually dead, when it is not accompanied with charity and grace, which is the life of the soul, and without which faith can never bring us to eternal life. In this sense is to be understood the 20th and 26th verses of this chapter, when faith is again said to be dead without good works. This is also the doctrine of S. Paul, when he tells us that a saving faith is a faith that worketh by charity, Gal. v. 6. When he says, that although faith were strong enough to remove mountains, a man is nothing without charity. 1 Cor. xiii. 2. When he teacheth us again, that not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. S. John teacheth the same (1 Jo. iii. 14.) He that loveth not, remaineth in death. But of this elsewhere. Wi. — Grotius in this place makes a very candid and remarkable profession of his faith, very different from that of his associates in the pretended reformation, called Solifideans: “There are some who say, ‘My works indeed are not as they ought to be,’ but my faith is firm, my salvation is therefore out of danger. This opinion, which has sprung up in this our unhappy age, and recommends itself under the name of reformed doctrine, ought to be opposed by every lover of piety, and all who wish well to their neighbour’s salvation . . . . no faith has ever availed any man, unless it were accompanied by such works as he had time and opportunity to perform.” His words are: “Opera quidem mea non recta sunt, sed fides recta est, ac propterea de salute non periclitor . . . . Renata est hoc infelici sæculo ea sententia et quidem sub nomine repurgatæ doctrinæ, cui omnes qui pietatem et salutem proximi amant, se debent opponere . . . . cœterum nulla cuiquam fides profuit, sine tali opere, quale tempus permittebat,” &c. In vain do we glory in our faith, unless our lives and works bear testimony of the same. Faith without charity is dead, and charity cannot exist without good works. He who bears the fruits of Christian piety, shews that he has the root, which is faith; but the root is dead, when it affords no produce. Works are to faith what the soul is to the body. See the remainder of this chapter.