Hopefully, we can agree that the Book of James is inerrant and that the words of Martin Luther were not.
That said, James does not contradict Jesus. Faith, not manifest in and accompanied by works as described in the Beatitudes is indeed dead.
Peace be to you.
And what in your view does "dead" mean? We know that James doesn't contradict Jesus nor any other passages of Scripture so they must be reconciled, right? What Luther taught, and what all the Reformers taught, as DID the early church fathers, is that we are saved by the grace of God THROUGH faith apart from our works. In other words, it is solely through Christ and his sacrifice in our place that our sin debt has been paid - because only by death (the shedding of blood) comes atonement for the soul. But the marvelous thing about this grace is that we are born again as children of God when we believe and the Holy Spirit indwells us creating a NEW spirit nature within us. It is this new nature - ordained by God unto good works - that demonstrates it is genuine. Someone who says he has faith, as James said, but who does not exhibit that faith in good works and a changed heart, instead shows a faith that is dead - unproductive, unfruitful, not a living faith. But it by no means says good works are what saves us. It can't, because then it WOULD contradict Jesus as well as hundreds of other verses in Scripture such as "And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness." (Romans 4:5)
That is what James was talking about and what Luther came to understand which is why he DID reconcile the book of James as Scripture. He had had the incorrect interpretation that Catholicism taught him and which many STILL teach including other false denominations who preach an accursed Gospel. Properly understood, it is faith that saves us and it is a faith that manifests in and is accompanied by good works because it can't help but do so.