The most grossly misunderstood book in the New Testament.

Jas 2:14-26 NRSV  "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him?  (15)  If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food  (16)  and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it?  (17)  In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.  (18)  But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith by my works.  (19)  You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder.  (20)  Senseless person! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless?  (21)  Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works in offering Isaac his son on the altar?  (22)  You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was made complete,  (23)  and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God’s friend.  (24)  You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.  (25)  In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works in receiving the messengers and sending them out by a different route?  (26)  For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead."
James is the most misunderstood book in evangelical Christianity. The reason is that little or no consideration is given to the occasion of the writing or the intended audience. Likewise, the position and era of the author is completely overlooked.

Let's first address the audience and occasion. The audience was strictly a Jewish church in Jerusalem. James was the apostle to the Jews. Secondly, it was addressed at a time when there was great persecution going on in Jerusalem, especially for the Jewish believers. There was a lot of poverty in Jerusalem at the time of the writing of James. Paul spent a vast amount of energy taking up a collection for the saints in Jerusalem. One of the reasons for the poverty was that the believing Jews were ostracized and put at an economic disadvantage by the unbelieving Jews. Another according to Acts was that there was a severe famine. James is addressing a specific type of work in this passage. It is a work of mercy and compassion. It is most definitely NOT works of the law. It is only about law obedience to the degree that it is addressing the commandment to "love thy neighbor as thyself." After all, Jesus addresses this very thing as the reason for judgment in Matthew 25:31-46. He went on to say in this passage that, when one feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, gives shelter to the homeless, they are actually doing it unto or for him.

Now comes the problem; for the most part, evangelical Christianity treats James as if it were written to us today. There is little understanding of the historical context. It is important to realize that the first century Jewish believers were awaiting the destruction of the temple and a time when God would put his stamp of approval on them. Yet, the unbelieving Jews under the old covenant were still God's people, and they were doing what they thought was right by the scripture that they had available to them. They were quite simply unaware of the purpose of the law, and the real mission of the Messiah. Therefore, since they were trying their best to be righteous by the law, it only makes sense that the believing Jews would be encouraged to be as law abiding as possible. I am not suggesting that anyone should be lawless. I realize that the gospel provides the solution for being far more loving, which would, if properly believed and utilized, make one love one's neighbor as oneself.

Therefore, it can be concluded that faith without the accompanying love works would be dead or completely ineffective. There is no separation here between James and Paul as some suggest. Paul does a lot more to explain the way in which the gospel of grace works to transform than James does here, but remember, James' audience was already very accustomed to strictly obeying the law of Moses. It was not law works that was in question.  As Jesus made clear in his criticism of the scribes and Pharisees, all too often their law obedience lacked any kind of love motivation. He was simply reminding the Jewish believers that love and charity toward the less fortunate was the prime directive. After all, it was what Jesus said they would be judged by (Matt 25:31-46.)

It should be clear that the current evangelical use of James is off the mark and in total error. That should not be surprising because so much of evangelical dogma is completely off the mark and misses the point of the New Testament Scripture. This is due in large part to an insane insistence on a legal constitutional reading, and an operational manual reading of the scripture. My hope is that evangelicals will wake up to the truth and repent of their erroneous ways.