DHK,
First, you are incorrect about James 2:20. The word is not nekros it is ἀργή (argē). It means useless.
Second, your exegesis is flawed. James 2:17 literally means that faith is dead by its own standards. Nekros, always a physical term, is used for effect. One could interpret it in the vernacular "faith, if it has no works, is like a corpse. It is that dead."
Verse 26 is a play on words. Just the like the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. James bring σῶμα (soma) into the sentence. Soma is a physical body. Nekros is a dead body. The connect is clearly made. Even when a corpse is not the object it adds emphasis to the object, in this case faith.
Spiritually Dead or Spiritually Separated?
Discussion in 'Calvinism & Arminianism Debate' started by Reformed, Feb 25, 2015.
Page 3 of 4
-
-
James 2:20 θελεις δε γνωναι ω ανθρωπε κενε οτι η πιστις χωρις των εργων νεκρα εστιν
νεκρα from nekros or "corpse".
A body without a spirit is dead because they are separated from each other. That is what happens at death. The spirit separates from the body.
So when works are absent from "faith" the faith is dead. It does not stand alone.
The key verse is where James says:
Show me your faith without your works and I will show you my faith by my works. Our works demonstrate our faith. They go together in the Christian life. The them of the book of James is practical Christian living. In daily living in the believer's life there is no such thing as walking a walk of faith without works. -
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ktqoxo7uy38rqw1/arge.JPG?dl=0
The critical text interprets this word correctly. -
I quoted from the KJV, and looked up resource material from which the KJV is based on, the TR. It is obvious you would come to the same results if you used a simple Strong's concordance in some of your own research. Much or our resource material such as concordances, and other material is based either on the TR or the KJV. -
-
Iconoclast Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
DHK
-
James 2:20 θελεις δε γνωναι ω ανθρωπε κενε οτι η πιστις χωρις των εργων νεκρα εστιν
His opinion doesn't change it. -
Argos is used as 'dead' in James 2:20...
argos: inactive, idle
Original Word: ἀργός, ή, όν
Part of Speech: Adjective
Transliteration: argos
Phonetic Spelling: (ar-gos')
Short Definition: idle, lazy, thoughtless
Definition: idle, lazy, thoughtless, unprofitable, injurious.
Faith w/o works is lazy, idle, unprofitable, useless, worthless, &c. Nekros wasn't used in James 2:20... -
From Eph. 2:1, nekros is used to describe 'dead'...
Definition
properly:
one that has breathed his last, lifeless
deceased, departed, one whose soul is in heaven or hell
destitute of life, without life, inanimate
metaph.
spiritually dead
destitute of a life that recognises and is devoted to God, because given up to trespasses and sins
inactive as respects doing right
destitute of force or power, inactive, inoperative
http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/kjv/nekros.html -
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
--The sea gave up the dead.
Who are they?
It refers to the lifeless corpse at the bottom of the sea, literally. It is simply emphatic to show that no matter how great the disintegration of the body may be, God will raise it from the dead in that day. The word here is nekros.
The body has been separated from the spirit (James 2:26) for some time now.
Now the spirit is reunited with the body (a glorified body), that stands before the Great White Throne. And all the dead (unsaved) will be thrown into the lake of fire, where they will live an eternal death (being separated from God for all eternity. Death is separation. We can see it in two senses in this one passage. -
Nekros is used in Rev. 20:13, which means 'dead'. Thanatos is used for 'death' in vs 14...
Definition
the death of the body
that separation (whether natural or violent) of the soul and the body by which the life on earth is ended
with the implied idea of future misery in hell
the power of death
since the nether world, the abode of the dead, was conceived as being very dark, it is equivalent to the region of thickest darkness i.e. figuratively, a region enveloped in the darkness of ignorance and sin
metaph.
the loss of that life which alone is worthy of the name,
the misery of the soul arising from sin, which begins on earth but lasts and increases after the death of the body in hell
the miserable state of the wicked dead in hell
in the widest sense, death comprising all the miseries arising from sin, as well physical death as the loss of a life consecrated to God and blessed in him on earth, to be followed by wretchedness in hell
I am addressing your application of James 2:20 and it's use of 'dead'. That 'dead' is actually not death, but worthless, useless, idle, &c... -
James 2:20 from the 27th edition of the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament:
Nestle, E., Nestle, E., Aland, B., Aland, K., Karavidopoulos, J., Martini, C. M., & Metzger, B. M. (1993). The Greek New Testament with McReynolds English Interlinear (27th ed., Jas 2:20). Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft. -
The Archangel Well-Known Member
Now the "King James Version" is the "Word of God?" Are you suggesting that the KJV has corrected the text?
The "Nekros" reading is easily understood to be wrong. First it is a textual variant and in the minority of texts. Second, the mistake is easy to trace since nekros is used in surrounding verses. Third, James, in using argos, is doing a play on words which doesn't appear if nekros is used.
So, it is argos...
The Archangel -
The argument is invalid because it is like saying my translation is better than yours when in reality it isn't. It is just opinion. I am sure your opinion can be defeated in the versions forum. But not here. It is not the place for it. -
The Archangel Well-Known Member
"His opinion, pitted against the Word of God, does not invalidate the Word of God"Hence the question about the KJV and what would seem to be KJV-only-ism in your argument. Your statement (as quoted above) is itself a logical fallacy (begging the question) because you seek to invalidate his opinion by saying your opinion is right because your version is right, and because you refer to your version as "the word of God."
Further, your preferred version is clearly incorrect--and that is not a matter of my opinion. Every commentary and text-critical reference I've checked (and they are legion) note that "nekros" is not the word James used.
Your "opinion" about the use of nekros is proven to be invalid on several levels (which have already been stated). What you've done here is what you're accusing us of doing--holding to opinion. You merely prefer the KJV (or TR, if you wish) in this case when both are clearly demonstrated by massive amounts of scholarship to be in error in this case. Yet, you accuse us of offering only opinion, discounting either original or cited scholarship in favor of your own opinion when the evidence is overwhelmingly against you.
You ought to have, at the very least, the intellectual honesty to admit your hypocrisy in this matter.
The Archangel -
The Archangel Well-Known Member
A cited work:
Instead of ἀργή the Textus Receptus reads νεκρά, with א A C2 K P Ψ 614 1241 Byz Lect syr, h copbo al. Since there is considerable suspicion that scribes may have introduced the latter word from either ver. 17 or 26, the Committee preferred ἀργή, which not only is strongly supported by B C* 322 323 945 1739 it vg copsa arm, but may also involve a subtle play on words (ἔργων ἀργή [ἀ + ἐργή]). The singular error of P74 (κενή) was suggested by the preceding κενέ.
From:
Bruce Manning Metzger and United Bible Societies, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Second Edition a Companion Volume to the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament (4th Rev. Ed.) (London; New York: United Bible Societies, 1994), 610.
The Archangel -
The TR is what it says it is: "received," and "the majority" text.
It existed as a whole long before there was that elusive eclectic CT. I am not KJVO, but I do believe God has preserved his word in the what is commonly called the TR. -
I started this thread and Archangel has the absolute right to participate. I do not think it is right for you to suggest his comments be moved to another forum. You are free to disagree but it would smack of hypocrisy for you to offer your own interpretive thoughts while squelching his. We all need to have thick hides when debating. -
The Archangel Well-Known Member
"I am not KJVO, but I do believe God has preserved his word in the what is commonly called the TR"Po-TA-to, Po-TAH-to...
Now you're delving into the anti-intellectualism that so clearly marks the KJV only crowd. The rejection of textual criticism is quite laughable as, in the last 400 years, far better manuscript evidence has been discovered and examined.
To prefer the TR is one thing; to say that it is the preserved "word" of God is quite another--and that "other" thing is quite troubling.
The Archangel -
Believe it or not your last comment is exactly the argument made by the KJVO sycophants. If you believe God has preserved His word only in the TR, then you are KJVO. If you believe that God has preserved His word in the Critical Text also then you are not KJVO. Do you believe God's word is preserved in the CT?
Page 3 of 4