2:17
So faith without actions is dead. The gospel calls us to put faith in Christ, that He died for our sins and rose again for to give us new life. The dying for our sins recognises that there was something seriously wrong with us, that we were guilty (literally guilty as sin). Anyone with an ounce of common sense cannot possibly want to stay in that condition. He paid the price of our sins and rose again so that we could have eternal life and could receive the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit works within us to make us ever more Christlike.
2:18
James then imagines an objector saying “You have faith, I have deeds”. Paul adopted a similar method in Romans. James has shown that faith without deeds is a nonsense, here he shows that deeds without faith is also a nonsense! This is entirely consistent with Paul! Faith and deeds go together, they are in separable as far as the Bible is concerned.
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