Yet the passage in James begins with, "But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works."
And Romans 4 speaks of Abraham being justified, "but not before God."
James’ opening comments are by way of illustration. He is pointing out that it is possible to show one’s faith by works, but impossible to show it without works.
Iow, a faith with no visible manifestation is not faith. It is a passive mental assent. Otoh, true faith will manifest itself. If true faith sees a brother cold and hungry, it will provide warm clothes and food. Faith without works will say, ‘Go in peace; be warmed and filled.’
Occasionally we come upon Biblical passages that appear to show a contradiction. For example, there are times when Jesus teaches that the Father is greater than He, and other times when He teaches that they are equal.
When we come upon such passages our job is not to pick the version we prefer and toss the other one out. We must harmonize them, because both are true.
In the case of Jesus, in His Incarnate form His *role* was subordinate to God the Father. Yet in *identity*, as the Second Person of the Godhead, He was equal.
Likewise with faith and works. Paul tells us we are justified by faith, as was Abraham. But this is what James says:
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;
23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God.
24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
Our job is not to pick the version we prefer and toss out the other; our job is to harmonize what Paul taught with what James taught.
It’s not as hard as it might seem. Paul is right. It was faith that justified Abraham. He believed that even if he ran his dagger into Isaac’s heart, God would restore Isaac and give him back to Abraham alive. Now that is faith!
James is right too. If all Abraham had done was *think* about sacrificing Isaac, his faith would have been useless. It was his willingness to act on his faith that made it true faith. His justification was still by faith, but he demonstrated that his faith was more than passive mental assent by acting on it. His actions (also referred to in Scripture as ‘works’) perfected his faith.