Abraham · noun — nominative singular masculine, a proper name
our
ἡμῶνhēmōn
G2257
of (or from) us
father
πατὴρpatēr
G3962
a "father" (literally or figuratively · noun — nominative singular masculine
justified
ἐδικαιώθηedikaiōthē
G1344
to render (i.e. show or regard as) just or innocent · verb — aorist passive indicative, 3rd person singular
by
ἐξex
G1537
literal or figurative · preposition
works
ἔργωνergōn
G2041
toil (as an effort or occupation) · noun — genitive plural neuter
offered
ἀνενέγκαςanenegkas
G399
to take up (literally or figuratively) · verb — aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine
Isaac
ἸσαὰκIsaak
G2464
Isaac (i.e. Jitschak) · noun — accusative singular masculine, a proper name
his
αὐτοῦautou
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
son
υἱὸνhuion
G5207
a "son" (sometimes of animals) · noun — accusative singular masculine
upon
ἐπὶepi
G1909
properly · preposition
altar
θυσιαστήριον;thusiastērion
G2379
a place of sacrifice · noun — accusative singular neuter
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Genesis 22:16-18 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
Genesis 22:9-12 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son,…
John 8:39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abrah…
Matthew 12:37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
Romans 4:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the…
Joshua 24:3 And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and…
Psalms 143:2 And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.
Isaiah 51:2 Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on James 2:14–end
In this latter part of the chapter, the apostle shows the error of those who rested in a bare profession of the Christian faith, as if that would save them, while the temper of their minds and the tenour of their lives were altogether disagreeable to that holy religion which they professed. To let them see, therefore, what a wretched foundation they built their hopes upon, it is here proved at large that a man is justified, not by faith only, but by works. Now,
I. Upon this arises a very great question, namely, how to reconcile Paul and James. Paul, in his epistles to the Romans and Galatians, seems to assert the directly contrary thing to what James here lays down, saying if often, and with…
Abraham . . . justified by works--evidentially, and before men (see on Jam 2:18). In Jam 2:23, James, like Paul, recognizes the Scripture truth, that it was his faith that was counted to Abraham for righteousness in his justification before God.
when he had offered--rather, "when he offered" [ALFORD], that is, brought as an offering at the altar; not implying that he actually offered him.
Adam Clarke on James 2:21
Was not Abraham our father - Did not the conduct of Abraham, in offering up his son Isaac on the altar, sufficiently prove that he believed in God, and that it was his faith in him that led him to this extraordinary act of obedience?
John Gill on James 2:21
Was not Abraham our father justified by works,.... Not as the causes of his justification, that is denied, Romans 4:2 but as effects of it, showing the truth of his faith, and the reality of his justification: he had both faith and works, and the former were known by the latter; and even the faith which he had expressed years ago was manifested, demonstrated, and confirmed to be true and genuine, by the instance of his obedience to God, here produced; by which it appeared he was a true believer, a justified person, approved of God, and loved by him. Now if this was the case of Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, yea, the father of the faithful, of all that believe, he is, and must be a…
The Church Fathers
Let us cleave then to His blessing, and consider what are the means of possessing it. Let us think over the things which have taken place from the beginning. For what reason was our father Abraham blessed? Was it not because he wrought righteousness and truth through faith? Isaac, [James 2:21] with perfect confidence, as if knowing what was to happen, cheerfully yielded himself as a sacrifice. [Genesis 22:6-10] Jacob, through reason of his brother, went forth with humility from his own land, and came to Laban and served him; and there was given to him the sceptre of the twelve tribes of Israel.
On the one hand, the blessed James says that Abraham was justified by works when he bound Isaac his son on the altar, but on the other hand Paul says that he was justified by faith, which appears to be contradictory. However, this is to be understood as meaning that Abraham believed before he had Isaac and that Isaac was given to him as a reward for his faith. Likewise, when he bound Isaac to the altar, he did not merely do the work which was required of him, but he did it with the faith that in Isaac his seed would be as numberless as the stars of heaven, believing that God could raise him from the dead.
Now someone might object to this and say: "Did Paul not use Abraham as an example of someone who was justified by faith, without works? And here James is using the very same Abraham as an example of someone who was justified, not by faith alone, but also by works which confirm that faith." How can we answer this? And how can Abraham be an example of faith without works, as well as of faith with works, at the same time? But the solution is ready to hand from the Scriptures. For the same Abraham is at different times an example of both kinds of faith. The first is prebaptismal faith, which does not require works but only confession and the word of salvation, by which those who believe in Christ are justified. The second is postbaptismal faith, which is combined with works. Understood in this way, the two apostles do not contradict one another, but one and the same Spirit is speaking through both of them.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Isaac — Laughter. (1) Israel, or the kingdom of the ten tribes (Amos 7:9, 16). (2.) The only son of Abraham by Sarah. He was the longest lived of the three patriarchs (Gen. 21:1-3). He was circumcised when…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
James 2:20-26
20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
20 Vis autem scire, O homo inanis! quod fides absque operibus mortua sit?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
21 Abraham pater noster, nonne ex operibus justificatus est, quum filium suum Isaac super altare?
22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
22 Vides quod fides cooperata fuerit ejus operibus, et ex operibus fides perfecta fuerit?
23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
23 Atque…
