You see: James now summarizes his argument but turns from the imaginary opponent to his Christian readers. The return to letter style rather than dialogue is seen in the use of You in the plural. The verb see may be taken as indicative (“You see”) or imperative (“You must understand”), or even interrogative (“Do you see, then?”). Most take it as indicative. In this case James is simply trying to draw a conclusion, and therefore the words may be rendered as “You see, then” (Good News Translation; so also Revised English Bible), “So you see now” (Luther 1984), or “You can now see” (Contemporary English Version).

The statement that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone has excited a host of scholars to debate whether or not James stands against Paul, or whether he is dependent on Paul, and so on. But we do not need to join the debate here, as the meaning of the statement is perfectly clear, and it does not affect the translation. A man in Greek is general and so is best rendered as “a person” (New Revised Standard Version, New International Version), or “we are” (Good News Translation). The verb is justified is best rendered as “is declared righteous,” “is approved as righteous,” “God accepts as righteous,” “God considers [or, regards as] a good person,” or even “God considers to be a friend.” The phrase faith alone is significant. It allows that faith is a necessary component for being put right with God, but the point is that alone it is inadequate. He is not contrasting faith and works; rather he is concerned to see that faith must show itself in good deeds.

Both faith and works are event or action words. Therefore the statement may be rendered as “A person is declared righteous by what that person does, not simply by what that person believes.” To make God the agent of the action, we may render the statement as “God declares a person righteous by what that person does…” or “… on the basis of the good things that person does….”

Alternative translation models for this verse may be:
• You see, then, that God declares a person righteous by what that person does, and not simply by what he believes.
• So you see now that we please God by what we do and not only by what we believe [similar to Contemporary English Version].

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 .