[ravenwolf]

These are people relying on their works, not their faith.

---

These people are trying to show what great faith they have to make themselves great in the eyes of others,
Jesus saw them as phonies.

And you are right, James and Paul had no disagreement as Paul was talking about the works of the law and James was talking about the works of faith, however Paul is hard for most people to understand.

[kosciusko51]

... however Paul is hard for most people to understand.

Peter said the same thing (2 Peter 3 NASB):

14 Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless,

15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you,

16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.