Who is speaking in James 2:18?

Question

I don't mean by my question that I'm looking to identify a particular individual. I'm just confused by the statement made there. James begins this section in verse 14: "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?" (James 2:14 NIV)

And then in verse 18 it seems to get flipped around: "But someone will say, 'You have faith; I have deeds.'"

This "someone" doesn't seem like the man in verse 14 claiming faith but having no deeds; this man claims to have deeds. Is this a new opponent of James? James seems to immediately go back to attacking the idea that one can have faith without deeds. So is this man raising a new objection that isn't dealt with?

Answer 1

It's a good question.

Unfortunately the answer appears to be that it's just really unclear. We know what James is arguing, but exactly how is a little more problematic. Leading people to look at different ways of handling the "quote" James gives.

Moo gives a nice little section in "James: An Introduction and Commentary" in Tyndale. But I think his conclusion sits well with what Burdick gives:

The problem of identifying the persons referred to by the pronouns “you” and “I” is not easily resolved. Perhaps it is best to paraphrase the quotation as follows: “One person has faith; another has deeds.” The statement then becomes an assertion that faith and works are not necessarily related to each other and that it is possible to have either one without the other (Tasker, pp. 64–66). To this assertion James responds with a challenge: “Show me your faith without deeds.”

(Gaebelein, F. E., Morris, L., Burdick, D. W., Blum, E. A., Barker, G. W., & Johnson, A. F. (1981). The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Volume 12: Hebrews Through Revelation (183). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)