James 2:23

There is some little looseness in the way the O.T. is used in these verses; in James 2:21 mention is made of the work of offering up Isaac, whereby, it is said (James 2:22), faith is perfected; then it goes straight on (James 2:23) to say that the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, “Abraham believed …”; this reads as though the quotation were intended to refer to the offering up of Isaac, the proof of perfected faith; but as a matter of fact the quotation refers to Abraham's belief in Jehovah's promise to the effect that the seed of Abraham was to be as numerous as the stars of heaven. In the O.T., that is to say, there is no connection between the quotation from Genesis 15:6 and the offering-up of Isaac. This manipulation of Scripture is strongly characteristic of Jewish methods of exegesis. ἐπίστευσεν δὲ Ἀβραὰμ …: the N.T. = Septuagint, which differs from the Hebrew in reading τῷ Θεῷ instead of τῷ κυρίῳ, and the passive ἐλογίσθη for the active. Faith, according to Jewish teaching, was a good deed which was bound to bring its reward; it was one of those things which demanded a reward; the phrase זכות אמונה (“the merit of faith, i.e., “trustfulness”) occurs in Beresh. Rabba, chap. 74, where it is parallel to זכות תורה (“the merit of [keeping] the Law”); merit, that is to say, is acquired by trusting God, just as merit is acquired by observing the precepts of the Torah; the man who has acquired sufficient merit is in a state of Zecûth, i.e., in that state of righteousness, attained by good works, wherein he is in a position to claim his reward from God. Very pointed, in this connection, are the reiterated words of Christ in Matthew 6:5; Matthew 6:16, “Verily, I say unto you, they have received their reward”. φίλος θεοῦ : Cf. 2 Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8; Dan. 3:35 (Septuagint); in Sir 6:17 the Septuagint reads: ὁ φοβοίμενος Κύριον εὐθύνει φιλίαν αὐτοῦ, ὅτι κατʼ αὐτὸν οὕτως καὶ ὁ πλησίον αὐτοῦ; the Hebrew has: “For as He Himself is, so is His friend, and as is His name, so are his works” (“works” must refer, most likely, to the “friend,” not to God); the Syriac runs: “They that fear God show genuine friendship, for as He Himself is, so are His friends, and as is His name, so are His works”. In the Book of Jubilees, xix. 9, it says in reference to Abraham; “For he was found faithful (believing), and was written down upon the heavenly tablets as the friend of God”; this is repeated in xxx. 20, but from what is said in the next verse it is clear that all those who keep the covenant can be inscribed as “friends” upon these tablets. Deissmann (Bibelstudien, pp. 159 f.) points out that at the court of the Ptolemies φίλος was the title of honour of the highest of the royal officials. In Wis 7:27 the “friends of God” is an expression for the “righteous”. The phrase φίλος Θεοῦ, therefore, while in the first instance probably general in its application, became restricted, so that finally, as among the Arabs, “the friend of God,” Khalil Allah, or simply El Khalil, became synonymous with Abraham. Irenæus, iv. 16, iv. 34, 4, refers to Abraham as “the friend of God,” but he does not mention our Epistle; if a reference to this was intended it is the earliest trace of an acquaintance with it. See, further, an interesting note of Nestle's in the Expository Times, xv. pp. 46 f.; cf. Genesis 18:17 where the Septuagint reads, οὐ μὴ κρύψω ἀπὸ Ἀβραὰμ τοῦ παιδός μου ἃ ἐγὼ ποιῶ, which is quoted by Philo with τοῦ φίλου μου instead of τοῦ π. μου. In the MS., 69 φίλος in the verse before us is rendered δοῦλος (see critical note above).