See in Reader
1006 B
General Information:
Here James describes how someone may argue against his teaching and how he would respond.
Yet someone may say
James describes a hypothetical situation where someone objects to his teaching. James seeks to correct his audience's understanding of faith and works. (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-hypo)
"You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works
Here it is implied that "works" refers to things people do because they believe in God, such as obeying God and doing good to others. This can be restated to remove the abstract nouns "faith" and "works." Alternate translation: "'It is acceptable that you believe in God and that I do something as a result of my belief in God.' Prove to me that you can believe in God without doing anything, and I will prove to you that I believe in God by what I do" (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-explicit and rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-abstractnouns)