Daniel's Literal Translation and Commentary
By faith alone?
"24 You see that by works a man is being made righteous and not by commitment alone." (DLT: torahtimes.org, James 2:24).
The first definition of πιστις in BDAG is "1a. faithfulness, reliability, fidelity, commitment " and the second "trust, confidence, faith "; James may be using the term in a weakened form meaning "belief" or "confidence" only. Now belief in what God commands is righteousness, but it is but the beginning of righteousness. If the implication of obedience is left out of faithfulness and commitment, then it becomes a dead πιστις.
The phrase "is being made righteous" is the present tense (progressive) from δικαιουται. The present tense indicates that righteousness through obedience is a thing in progress that is not compelte.
This is the only place in the entire Scriptures where the words εκ πιστεως μονον (by *faith alone) are used, but it is used on a negative sense—in fact James denies it employing the absolute negative ουκ. Yet incredibly Churches have these very words written into their doctrinal statements and these same Christians proudly recite the phrase. Nothing could be closer to the mystery of iniquity unleashed by John Calvin and Martin Luther. And methinks that Christians have been badly informed about the reformation. It was not these two that made it prosper. It was simply the Spirit of God who unchained the bible from the pulpit. The reformation happened in spite of Calvin and Luther, who in my opinion represent a new angle in lawlessness. (DLC: torahtimes.org, James 2:24)
Daniel's Literal Translation and Commentary: (http://www.torahtimes.org/translation/jam0224.html)
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