OceanSide church of Christ

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JAMES 2:14

Victor M. Eskew

 

What doth it profit, my brother, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works?  Can faith save him?

 

1.    Profit

A.   Strong (3786):  (to heap up, that is, accumulate or benefit); gain

B.    Thayer:  advantage, profit

C.   Vine:  to increase…hence, advantage, profit…lit. ‘What (is) the profit?’

 

2.    Brother

A.   Strong (80):  a brother

B.    Thayer:  a brother, whether of the same two parents or only of the same father or mother…a fellow believer, united to another by the bond of affection, brother in Christ, Christians, as those who are exalted to the same heavenly office

C.   Vine:  a brother or near kinsman…believers

 

3.    Faith

A.   Strong (4102):  persuasion…moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; ab-stractly constancy in such profession

B.    Thayer:  conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervor born of faith and joined with it…relating to Christ, a strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God

C.   Vine:  primarily, firm persuasion, a conviction based upon hearing…is used in the NT always of faith in God or Christ, or things spiritual

 

4.    Works

A.   Strong (2041):  to work; toil (as an effort or occupation) by implication or act

B.    Thayer:  an act, deed, thing done

C.   Vine:  work, employment, task…denotes every activity undertaken for Christ’s sake…in James, as the effect of faith

 

5.    Save

A.   Strong (4982):  to save, that is, deliver

B.    Thayer:  to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction…to deliver from the penalties of the Messianic judgment

C.   Vine:  to save…of the future deliverance of believers at the Second Coming of Christ for His saints, being delivered from the wrath of God to be executed