# For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead

James is speaking of faith without works as if it were a dead body without the spirit. This can be restated to remove the abstract nouns "faith" and "works." Alternate translation: "For just as the body is useless without the spirit, even so it is useless for a person to believe in God if he does not also do what is pleasing to God" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor]] and [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-abstractnouns]])