The thief or liar or disobedient is also a murder in Gods eyes.
The book of James was written to a converted church , not heathens seeking salvation .
It tells them how their conversion is seen by the unsaved world . It is not about becoming saved or being saved. It is about the fruit of your salvation.
Jam 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
Jam 2:18 Yea, a man may say ,Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
This is an amplification of the teaching of Jesus that we know a tree by the fruit it bears. It is how we know the saved he SAYS he has faith.
This addresses a hollow profession of faith , not a saving one .
Can a hollow profession save him? NO, any more than works can save.This scripture says to the church that this faith (without outward signs)is non existent , it is dead.
The bible is clear that it is God that gives the faith and it is God that ordains the works of the saved
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
<< John 15 >>
1I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman
. 2Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
James is consistent with the words of Christ ,we know a tree by its fruits.. No fruits they have no root in Christ.. they are not saved
That is an acceptable summation; except it also says very emphatically that the Protestant heresy of "faith alone" is just that, damnable heresy that kills that little faith thet exists.
But the notion of as you put is "hollow" faith should be distinguished from mature faith of a Catholic Christian is a good one. Faith is made mature through works of love (Gall 5:6); then it becomes saving faith. That is the Catholic teaching.
The book of James was written to a converted church , not heathens seeking salvation .
Your idea that because St. James wrote to Christians (so did St Paul, St. John, St. Jude, and St. Peter), it does not describe the process of salvation for anyone is another manifestation of phony Protestant hermeneutics. It also happens to be controverted by Mathew 25:31-46 (shorter version is Romans 2:6-10) where it is explained that both salvation and condemnation of anyone is decided based on works.