Passage Research
James 2 — Sermon Preparation
Showing favoritism is condemned as a violation of the royal law, and faith that produces no works is shown to be dead. Below is a research summary for James 2, drawn from openly licensed scholarly databases — original-language morphology, classic sermons from the church fathers through the Puritans, and ancient geography data.
- 26
- verses
- 414 / 164
- Greek words / lemmas
- 36
- classic sermon excerpts
- 6
- preachers & commentators
James 2 in the Greek
Distinctive vocabulary of this chapter, based on original-language morphology.
| Greek | Transliteration | Strong's | Count | KJV renderings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| πίστις | pístis | G4102 | 13 | assurance, belief, believe, faith |
| ἔργον | érgon | G2041 | 12 | deed, doing, labour, work |
| πτωχός | ptōchós | G4434 | 4 | beggar, poor |
| νόμος | nómos | G3551 | 5 | law |
| ἐσθής | esthḗs | G2066 | 3 | apparel, clothing, raiment, robe |
| δικαιόω | dikaióō | G1344 | 3 | free, justify, be righteous |
| ἀδελφός | adelphós | G80 | 4 | brother |
How preachers through history handled this text
36 public-domain excerpts on James 2, from the church fathers to the Puritans.
“Those are wrong who put a mere notional belief of the gospel for the whole of evangelical religion, as many now do. No doubt, true faith alone, whereby men have part in Christ's righteousness, atonement, and grace, saves their souls; but it produces holy fruits, and is shown to be real by its effect on their works; while mere assent to any form of doctrine, or mere historical belief of any facts, wholly differs from this saving faith. A bare profession may gain the good opinion of pious people; …”
— Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise), on James 2:14–27 (Public Domain)
Need the complete sermon prep report on this passage?
Greek exegesis, historical background, current scholarship, sermon outlines, illustrations — a complete PDF report on James 2, delivered within 24 hours.