So also faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of
obedience to back it up), by itself is destitute of power (inoperative,
dead). But someone will say [to you then], You [say you] have faith,
and I have [good] works. Now you show me your [alleged] faith apart from any [good]
works [if you can], and I by [good] works [of obedience] will show you my
faith. Was not our forefather Abraham [shown to be] justified (made
acceptable to God) by [his] works when he brought to the altar as an offering his
[own] son Isaac? You see that [his] faith was cooperating with his works, and
[his] faith was completed and reached its supreme expression
[when he implemented it] by [good] works. And [so] the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham
believed in (adhered to, trusted in, and relied on) God, and this was accounted to
him as righteousness (as conformity to God’s will in thought and deed), and he was
called God’s friend. You see that a man is justified (pronounced righteous before
God) through what he does and not alone through faith [through works of obedience as
well as by what he believes]. For as the human body apart from the spirit is lifeless, so
faith apart from [its] works of obedience is also dead. (James 2:17, 18, 21-24, 26 AMP)
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