What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?... Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble... faith without works is dead... Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?... Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
Luther called James 'an epistle of straw.' It seemed to contradict everything Paul taught about justification by faith alone. The tension is real—and instructive.
James attacks a faith that is mere intellectual assent: 'the devils also believe, and tremble.' Believing facts about God is not saving faith. Genuine faith shows itself in action—specifically, in caring for 'a brother or sister naked and destitute.' Faith that produces no works is not true faith; it is dead.
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