People make James 2:14–26 harder than it should be. I think that the main problem is that man naturally wants to earn his own righteousness, so there is a tendency for men to misread biblical texts to make their salvation dependent on themselves.
There are some particularities to the English language that have become difficult in James, so I am offering a retranslation with a few oddities that I think are justified. This translation is part of a soteriology class that I am taking and I will include a commentary in a paper for that class (in other words, I want my professor to poke holes in the commentary it before I share it publicly).
As for the English: First, I am doing away with the word, “faith.” The Greek word for “faith” comes from the same word as “believe,” so instead of “faith,” I am just using “belief.” There is no distinct word for “faith” in Greek (nor in most other languages that I’m aware of). Further, it seems that the Greek word actually means “a thing that is believed,” that is, “a belief,” rather than whatever it is that the English word, “faith,” means. Ask English speakers what “faith” means and you will get a wide range of answers, but ask what a “belief” is and you will get a fairly consistent answer.
Second, I am trying to maintain the Greek articles in the English translation. Some translators have tried to insert phrases like “that faith” in James. This is hardly consistent with the rest of the translation and it makes James sound like he is speaking of a particular type of faith that is salvific as opposed to a non-salvific faith that lacks works. If we just carry over the articles into English, it reads more naturally. That said, Greek and English articles are not entirely the same. In Greek, there can be an article with a possessive pronoun, but in English, we drop the article and only keep the possessive. Also, English has definite and indefinite articles. Where Greek has an article, I try to maintain the English definite article “the” unless trumped by a possessive pronoun.
Third, I have moved away from the loaded term “justified” in favor of “declare righteous.” Also, James 2:26 has an adverb that modifies “declare righteous,” but it is in an awkward location, so I had to reword that sentence for the English fit the Greek well.
I am including my Greek text for anyone who is interested. The Greek comes from the Robinson/Pierpont Majority Text. The ephelcystic nu and sigma are universally maintained. The apparatus is a combination of Hodges/Farstad with SBL. The Hodges/Farstad apparatus has the strength of comparing the majority text to the handful of manuscripts that often overrule the majority (the critical manuscripts relevant to this passage are א, A, B, and C; where three or four agree, the Ⲉ siglum is used). The SBL apparatus has the strength of showing which versions of the GNT chose which variants. There were a few places where the Hodges/Farstad apparatus did not include a variation (James 2:14, 26), so I reconstructed the apparatus in these locations by following van Soden and looking up the text in Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus.
The Greek Text
14 Τί[a] τὸ ὄφελος, ἀδελφοί μου, ἐὰν πίστιν λέγῃ τις ἔχειν, ἔργα δὲ μὴ ἔχῃ; Μὴ δύναται ἡ πίστις σῶσαι αὐτόν; 15 Ἐὰν δὲ[b] ἀδελφὸς ἢ ἀδελφὴ γυμνοὶ ὑπάρχωσιν καὶ λειπόμενοι ὦσιν[c] τῆς ἐφημέρου τροφῆς, 16 εἴπῃ δέ τις αὐτοῖς ἐξ ὑμῶν, Ὑπάγετε ἐν εἰρήνῃ, θερμαίνεσθε καὶ χορτάζεσθε, μὴ δῶτε δὲ αὐτοῖς τὰ ἐπιτήδεια τοῦ σώματος, τί τὸ ὄφελος;[d] 17 Οὕτως καὶ ἡ πίστις, ἐὰν μὴ ἔργα ἔχῃ,[e] νεκρά ἐστιν καθʼ ἑαυτήν. 18 Ἀλλʼ ἐρεῖ τις, Σὺ πίστιν ἔχεις, κἀγὼ ἔργα ἔχω· δεῖξόν μοι τὴν πίστιν σου ἐκ[f] τῶν ἔργων σου,[g] κἀγώ δείξω σοι[h] ἐκ τῶν ἔργων μου τὴν πίστιν μου.[i] 19 Σὺ πιστεύεις ὅτι ὁ θεός εἷς ἐστιν·[j] καλῶς ποιεῖς· καὶ τὰ δαιμόνια πιστεύουσιν, καὶ φρίσσουσιν. 20 Θέλεις δὲ γνῶναι, ὦ ἄνθρωπε κενέ, ὅτι ἡ πίστις χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων νεκρά[k] ἐστιν; 21 Ἀβραὰμ ὁ πατὴρ ἡμῶν οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων ἐδικαιώθη, ἀνενέγκας Ἰσαὰκ τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον; 22 Βλέπεις ὅτι ἡ πίστις συνήργει τοῖς ἔργοις αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἔργων ἡ πίστις ἐτελειώθη; 23 Καὶ ἐπληρώθη ἡ γραφὴ ἡ λέγουσα, Ἐπίστευσεν δὲ Ἀβραὰμ τῷ θεῷ, καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην, καὶ φίλος θεοῦ ἐκλήθη. 24 Ὁρᾶτε τοίνυν[l] ὅτι ἐξ ἔργων δικαιοῦται ἄνθρωπος, καὶ οὐκ ἐκ πίστεως μόνον. 25 Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ Ῥαὰβ ἡ πόρνη οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων ἐδικαιώθη, ὑποδεξαμένη τοὺς ἀγγέλους, καὶ ἑτέρᾳ ὁδῷ ἐκβαλοῦσα; 26 Ὥσπερ γὰρ[m] τὸ σῶμα χωρὶς πνεύματος νεκρόν ἐστιν, οὕτως καὶ ἡ πίστις χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων[n] νεκρά ἐστιν.
An English Translation
14 What is the profit, my brothers, if [someone] says he has a belief, but does not have works? Can the belief save him? 15 But if a brother or sister is present—being naked and destitute of a day’s food—16 but any of you say to them, “Go away in peace, warm yourself and be filled,” yet does not give him the requisites for the body, what is the profit? 17 Likewise the belief, if it does not have works, is dead by itself. 18 But someone will say:
You have a belief and I have works; show me your belief by your works and I will show you by my works my belief. 19 You believe that adonai echad; you do well. The demons both believe and tremble.
20 But do you want to know, oh vain man, that the belief without works is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father declared righteous by works, having offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that the belief cooperated with his works, and by the works the belief was matured. 23 Both the Scripture was fulfilled (the one saying, “Abraham believed God and it was itemized to him unto righteousness) and he was called, “a friend of God.” 24 You see then that a man [also] is declared righteous by works and not only [declared righteous] by a belief. 25
Yet furthermore, Rahab the whore also was declared righteous by works, having received under [her care] the messengers and having sent them out to a different way. 26 So just as the body without a spirit is dead, likewise the belief without the works is dead.
[a] 2:14 Τί τὸ ὄφελος 𝕸אA; Τί – ὄφελος B, WH, SBL; – Τὸ ὄφελος C*
[b] 2:15 Ἐὰν δὲ ἀδελφὸς MAC; ἐὰν – ἀδελφὸς אB, WH, Treg, NIV, SBL
[c] 2:15 λειπόμενοι ὦσιν 𝕸אA; λειπόμενοι – B, WH, Treg, NIV, SBL
[d] 2:16 τί τὸ ὄφελος 𝕸אA; Treg NIV; τί – ὄφελος BC*, WH, SBL
[e] 2:17 ἔργα ἔχῃ 𝕸; ἔχῃ ἔργα, Ⲉ, WH, Treg, NIV, SBL
[f] 2:18 ἐκ 𝕸; χωρὶς Ⲉ, WH, Treg, NIV, SBL
[g] 2:18 τῶν ἔργων σου 𝕸c; τῶν ἔργων – Ⲉ, WH, Treg, NIV, SBL
[h] 2:18 δείξω σοι 𝕸AC; σοι δείξω אB, WH, Treg, NIV, SBL
[i] 2:18 πίστιν μου 𝕸A; πίστιν – Ⲉ, WH, Treg, NIV, SBL
[j] 2:19 ὁ θεὸς εἷς ἐστιν M; εἷς ἐστιν ὁ θεός אA, Treg, NIV, SBL; εἷς – θεός ἐστιν B, WH
[k] 2:20 νεκρά 𝕸אA; ἀργή BC, WH, Treg, NIV, SBL
[l] 2:24 Ὁρᾶτε τοίνυν 𝕸; ὁρᾶτε – Ⲉ, WH, Treg, NIV, SBL
[m] 2:26 Ὥσπερ γὰρ 𝕸Ⲉ, Treg, NIV, SBL; ὥσπερ – B, WH
[n] 2:26 χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων 𝕸AC, Treg; χωρὶς – ἔργων אB, WH, NIV, SBL