This verse is composed of two rhetorical questions. The expected answer is “No!” but the answer is often not given.

My brethren: this expression is often used in the letter both to call attention to the readers and to mark a transition to new and related subject matter (1.2, 16, 19; 2.1) As it is meant to be inclusive, we may wish to render it as “brothers and sisters” (New Revised Standard Version) or “my friends” (Revised English Bible, Good News Translation). (See also the comments in 1.2 and elsewhere.)

What does it profit signals the beginning of an argument. The word profit is literally “advantage” or “use,” and the clause may be rendered “what good is it” (Good News Translation; so also New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible), or “what use is it” (New American Standard Bible, Phillips). Since this is a rhetorical question, expecting a negative answer, the meaning is “It does not profit” or “It does no good.” What does it profit may also be expressed as “What value is it?” “What advantage will a person get?” or as a statement, “It will gain you nothing if…” or “It will be of no value for you to….”

If a man says: the word says in the present context is best taken in the sense of “claims.” Using inclusive language we can render if a man in two different ways; we can say “if someone claims” or, as New Revised Standard Version has done, change the subject to “you,” thus “if you say.” In English and some other languages, “you” is often used in hypothetical situations in the sense of “someone.” There are other languages that have an impersonal singular or plural third person form that is used in this sense. In some languages it will be necessary to translate this as a statement instead of a rhetorical question and say, for example, “My dear fellow Christians, it will be of no value for someone to claim that…” or “If one of you claims that … it will gain you nothing.”

He has faith but has not works: James goes on to explain that if faith does not manifest itself in deeds, it is not a saving faith, and therefore it is useless. The word faith is perhaps taken in the same sense as in 2.1. There seems to be no need to understand it as a reference to orthodox Christian belief. Here the word is used without a definite article and without a definition, indicating that it refers more to a person’s attitude. This means that faith is a personal trust in Jesus Christ, and in some languages this will need to be stated; for example, “if a person claims that he believes in Christ, but….” This understanding is reinforced by the fact that faith is related to a person’s salvation; it is a saving faith. The word works is not to be taken in the usual Pauline sense of the observance of the requirements of the Mosaic Law. It refers more to good deeds, such as acts of mercy (verse 13), and acts of charity to the poor and needy (verses 15 and 16). In many languages the word is therefore best rendered as “deeds” (so New International Version) or “actions” (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible). So we may translate the first part of this verse as “My dear fellow Christians, what advantage will a person gain if he says he believes in Christ but does not do good deeds?” or “If you claim to believe in Christ but do not do good deeds, it will not help you at all.”

Can his faith save him?: what James goes on to say is literally “can the faith save him?” The expected answer is “No.” Faith here has a definite article, and the article is understood in several ways. It is sometimes taken in a general sense, without any defining function, to mean “faith cannot save”; thus “can faith save him?” (Goodspeed, Barclay; similar also New Revised Standard Version.) It is also taken as his, as in Revised Standard Version. It seems best, however, to take it with a demonstrative force, “that faith” (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible), “that sort of faith” (Phillips), or “such faith” (New International Version), referring to the faith without actions mentioned at the beginning of the verse. What James wants to emphasize is the fact that faith without actions is impotent; it cannot save. The verb save points to salvation at the final judgment, and the one who saves is God. So we may translate “If that person believes like that, God cannot save him” or “If you claim that you believe like that, God will not save you on that last Day.”

Alternative translation models for this verse may be:
• My dear fellow Christians, what advantage will a person gain if he says he believes in Christ but does not do good deeds. If he believes like that, God cannot save him.
• My dear fellow Christians! If one of you claims that you believe in Christ but do not do kind deeds, your believing will gain you nothing. If you believe like that, God will not save you on that last day.

Quoted with permission from Loh, I-Jin and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Letter from James. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .