James 2:17

Even so faith, if it hath not works, &c.— See the preceding note. St. Paul (says Dr. Heylin,) had used the term faith as it was understood in the Jewish schools; (and still in our own schools, where it is said, "Objectum formale fidei, est veritas prima;") and as our Lord often used it, particularly when he condemned the Pharisees for their neglect of it, though a principal point of their own law: but some Christian professors soon let go the primitive sense of the word, and meant by it only an historical belief of the gospel. St. James, judiciously avoiding to dispute about words, uses the term in the signification which theygave it;—and this perhaps is the reason why here, when he proposes the subject, he says not "what advantage is it for a man to have faith, if he has not works;" but "what advantage is it for a man to say that he has faith, &c.?"—And then, to shew the absurdity of supposing that there could be a salutary faith without good works, he puts a parallel case in the duty of charity; James 2:15,

We may, and we sometimes do, call a dead corpse a man; but very improperly: and as the carcase differs from a living man, so the nominal faith differs from that which is real and salutary.