The Pulpit Commentary on James 2:20-24

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

(3) Third point: Proof from the example of Abraham that a man is justified by works and not by faith only. In Genesis 15:6 we read of Abraham that "he believed in the Lord; and he accounted it to him for righteousness" (LXX.

, ἐπίστευσεν αβραμ τῷ θεῷ καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην, quoted by St. Paul in Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6). But years after this we find that God "tested Abraham" (Genesis 22:1). To this trial St.

James refers as that by which Abraham's faith was "perfected" ( ἐτελειώθη), and by which the saying of earlier years found a more complete realization (cf. Ecclesiasticus 44:20, 21, "Abraham … kept the Law of the Most High, and was in covenant with him … and when he was proved, he was found faithful.

Therefore he assured him by an oath, that he would bless the nations in his seed," etc).

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