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Jam_2:25. To the example of Abraham, that of Rahab is added: But was not in like manner Rahab the harlot justified by works? The form of the sentence is the same as in Jam_2:21.
ὁμοίως δὲ καί ] does not signify “even so” (as Frommann explains it in the Stud. u. Krit. 1833, p. 97), but by ὁμοίως the similarity of what Rahab became a partaker with what happened to Abraham is brought forward, whilst by δέ the diversity of the relation is indicated. This diversity is noted by the addition ἡ πόρνη . Rahab, namely, was a πόρνη ; nevertheless, on account of the works which she did (namely, her works of faith), she was declared righteous. Thus, by the addition of this example, the truth that a man is justified ἐξ ἔργων is yet further confirmed.[158] The article Ἡ is not, as some expositors think, demonstrative illa; and πορνή means neither mulier cibaria vendens, nor caupona vel hospita (Lyranus, Grotius), nor idololatra (Rosenmüller).
ὙΠΟΔΕΞΑΜΈΝΗ ΤΟῪς ἈΓΓΈΛΟΥς Κ . Τ . Λ .] This participial sentence mentions the ἜΡΓΑ , on account of which Rahab was justified. The correctness of the assertion, that Rahab was justified on account of her works, consists in this: that, according to the narrative contained in Joshua 2, 6, life was on account of them granted to her, she was formally delivered from that punishment which befell Jericho; see Jos_6:24. Thus James could with right appeal for the truth of what was said in Jam_2:24 to this fact, since also the future declaration of righteousness will be an acquittal from punishment.
In Heb_11:31 the deliverance of Rahab is ascribed to her ΠΊΣΤΙς , but so that her action is likewise mentioned as the demonstration of it. Theile explains ὙΠΟΔΕΞΑΜΈΝΗ = clam excepit; but Wiesinger correctly observes: “The secondary meaning clam is not contained in the word, but in the circumstances;” see Luk_10:38; Luk_19:6; Act_17:7. In the Epistle to the Hebrews the simple verb δεξαμένη is used, and the ἌΓΓΕΛΟΙ [159] are there more exactly designated as ΚΑΤΆΣΚΟΠΟΙ . ἘΚΒΆΛΛΕΙΝ is not simply cmittcre (Schneckenburger), but has the secondary meaning of force = thrust out; comp. Luk_8:54; Joh_2:15; Act_9:40. It denotes the pressing haste with which she urged the messengers to go out of the house. ἑτέρᾳ ὁδῷ ] i.e. by another way than from that by which they entered the house, namely, διὰ τῆς θυρίδος , Jos_2:15. For the local dative, see Winer, p. 196 [E. T. 273].
[158] Bede assigns as a reason why Rahab is here adduced as an example: ne quis objiceret Abrahamum ejusque fidem excelsiorem esse, quam et quivis christianus imitatione eam adsequi possit. Grotius thinks: Abrahami exemplum Hebraeis ad Christum conversis sufficere debebat, sed quia etiam alienigenis scribit, adjunxit exemplum feminae extrancae (similarly Hofmann); and Schneckenburger observes: novum additur exemplum e sexu muliebri sumtum. All these meanings are, however, arbitrary, as there is no indication of them in the words before us. This holds also good against Lange, according to whose opinion Rahab is here to be considered “as a representative of the Gentile Christians in their works of faith.”
[159] Lange strangely supposes that James has chosen this expression “in allusion to the fact that the Gentiles of his time were ready to receive the messengers of the gospel.”