As I’m reading through James, I notice that the emphasis on the vital nature of one’s actions or works sounds very loudly. In fact, James uses two rather harsh adjectives to describe faith that is unaccompanied by works: dead and useless. And I don’t suppose that this is a new idea. Leviticus seems to indicate that God has always desired active participation or “good works” from His people. Even in Genesis sacrifices are made of the works of their hands, by Cain and Abel and the men are found acceptable or wanting in connection with them. Though, lest we focus too much on said works, the Lord, through Hosea, reminds us: “I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.” Hosea 6:6 NLT
So then, there seems to be a holy tension between works and faith.
I found the following commentary helpful in so far as it speaks to the words “dead” and “useless” as James uses them:
“Does James then contradict Paul’s doctrine of full grace, or John’s insistence on faith as the single condition for eternal life? Far from it. But neither does he offer support to the widespread notion that a ‘dead faith’ cannot exist in the life of a Christian. Ironically, that is exactly what he is warning against…He was not saying the person with dead faith has no faith, that he is unsaved. He meant that the person with dead faith has saving faith, but he is not living by faith now. His faith has no vital effect on the way he presently lives. He is not trusting and obeying God day by day. “Useless” means of no practical value; it does not mean nonexistent.”
https://www.planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/html/nt/james/james.htm#head38
“The tree shows its life by its fruits, but it was alive before either fruits or even leaves appeared.”[161]
“To show faith to man, works in some form or other are needed: we are justified judicially by God (Rom. 8:33), meritoriously, by Christ (Isa. 53:11), mediately, by faith (Rom. 5:1); evidentially, by works.”[162]
This interpretation seems to go hand in hand with Ephesians 2:8-10 NLT which says: “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
I like the ESV translation of the last part of verse 10. It says that God prepared us for good works “that we should walk in them.” This was always His plan, His design for our lives, an integral part of our purpose!
As a further proof of his argument that faith without works is dead or useless James uses the example of Abraham who he claims was “justified” because of his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar (indeed, here we are shown in very concrete way that as Samuel exhorts Saul in 1 Samuel 15:22, “behold, to obey is better than sacrifice!”).
Again, I found the following commentary helpful specifically as it expands on the meaning of the word “justify”. Paul and James both use the word (and even the same subject) to prove points that, at first blush, may seem to contradict one another.
“For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.’” Romans 4:2-3 ESV
“This verse applies Paul’s earlier statement about boasting (3:27) to Abraham’s case for the sake of contrast. Abraham had no ground for boasting “before God,” because he received justification by faith, not “by works.”
This verse may seem to contradict what James wrote in James 2:21: “Was not our father Abraham justified by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?” The solution lies in the meaning of justification. Justification means “to declare righteous;” it does not mean to make righteous. In Genesis 15:6, we read that God declared Abraham righteous. In Genesis 22:1-19, James wrote that Abraham’s works declared him righteous. In other words, two different things, God and Abraham’s works, on two different occasions, both declared or bore witness to Abraham’s righteousness.
Note that God “credited” Abraham’s faith “to him as righteousness” (v. 3). Faith itself is not righteousness. Faith is not meritorious in itself. It is only the vehicle by which God’s righteousness reaches us. However, it is the only vehicle by which it reaches us.”
https://www.planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/html/nt/romans/romans.htm#head32
The complimentary “witnesses” that faith and works provide are beautiful and makes me think of the necessity of more than one witness as outlined in Deuteronomy 19:15: “One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” Deuteronomy 19:15 NIV
The truth of the above scenarios, whether or not someone is guilty or what actually transpired at a given time, already exists apart from the witness that is or isn’t given. The testimony that they provide are, however, important as our Creator saw fit to outline the following standard. Further, the human witnesses seem to speak to a more profound reality as so much in the Bible tends to do. And that is the witness of God Himself; three in One:
“For there are three that testify: 8 the[a] Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. 9 We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
1 John 5:7-12 NIV
a. 1 John 5:8 Late manuscripts of the Vulgate testify in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. 8 And there are three that testify on earth: the (not found in any Greek manuscript before the fourteenth century)