2:19
James now goes on to say “faith” that is mere intellectual assent is meaningless. “I believe there is one God”. James reminds us that the demons also believe that, In fact the demons know that in a truer sense than the nominal believer does! For the demons shudder in fear at the fact of there being one God.
2:20
“You foolish person!” James considers the notion of faith without deeds as complete nonsense, which indeed it is, and which the whole Bible (Paul included!) considers complete nonsense. So now he will go on to show that Abraham is a prime example demonstrating that faith without deeds is useless. Some will see this as a contradiction between Paul, who used Abraham as his prime example of being justified by faith, and James. It is far more sensible to see it as complementary. This could be taken as evidence of a later date for James, as the objector might have been aware of Paul’s heavy use of Abraham. However, this is pure speculation on my part!
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