James is showing us that saving faith and good deeds must go hand and hand. Merely claiming to have faith doesn’t mean that the person possesses saving faith. For as he wrote, a faith that isn’t accompanied by appropriate deeds is no faith at all. This type of faith is only an intellectual belief in the existence of God…while true “saving faith” always bears the fruit of the love of God and our neighbor. On the other hand, assuming that “living a good life” is all that’s necessary to get to heaven won’t get us very far either…as is placing our confidence in just performing “good works.” One is called antinomianism, and the other legalism…and both are heresy.
