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James 02 General Notes
Special concepts in this chapter
Favoritism
It is wrong to show favoritism in the church. There were people who showed special favor (favoritism) towards rich and powerful people. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/favor)
Justification
Justification means "the process of declaring someone righteous." There are two types of justification. One is to be declared righteous in the opinion of God and one is to be declared righteous in the opinion of other people. A person is not justified according to God by their actions. Abraham was declared righteous according to God by his faith. He was declared righteous according to other people when his actions showed his faith, by being willing to offer up his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/justify, rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/righteous and rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/faith)
Other possible translation difficulties in this chapter
Quotation marks
There is some controversy regarding where to place the quotation marks in James 2:18. The ULB states "Yet someone will say, 'You have faith, and I have works.' Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works." It is also possible to translate this as "Yet someone will say, 'You have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works.'" The length of this hypothetical statement can have significant theological implications. (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-hypo)