Isagoge in canonicas septem epistolas

work, and for that reason, he urges everywhere the virtues of a reborn man. We deduce this proposition from chapter 1, verse 22: Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves, and chapter 2, verse 14: What will be the profit if someone says he has faith, but does not have works, can faith save him? and verse 20, likewise 26: faith without works is dead, signifying that the very profession of faith without the study of good works is a mere phantom. And in chapter 3, verse 13: If anyone is wise among you, let him show his works through an honest life, and at the end of chapter 4: To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

There are principally two parts of the epistle. For first, it consists of the title, in which the author is expressed and to whom it is dedicated, and likewise they are greeted with an honest prayer. The second part, which occupies the whole body of the epistle, is the exhortation to good morals, and it consists of these places.