What does James say about the dynamics of a genuine faith in Abrahams experience?
James 2:14-17, 2 1-24. James faced a different problem in his church community from the problem Paul had to deal with in the Gentile churches. James had to reprove some who “claimed” to have faith but had no deeds to match it. He tells them that “such faith” cannot save them. It is not worthy of the name, because it is merely theoretical, leaving the heart cold and unconverted. The Epistle of James is not primarily focusing on the Pauline theme of how a person becomes saved by faith in Christ, but on practical Christianity and the sanctified life. He wants to show that genuine, living faith in Christ produces works of love and compassion in the life of His disciples (see 1:1, 27). “James is not comparing faith with works, but a genuine faith with a dead faith.” SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 521. He may well have had to deal with those who were distorting Paul’s teaching of salvation “by faith without works of law.” Like Paul, James uses the example of Abraham as his crown witness to
