Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary James 2:22

"Thou seest that faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect;" — James 2:22 (ASV)

James now makes it clear that he is not talking about works as the sole source of Abraham’s justification, as v.21 taken out of its context might lead one to believe. Instead, Abraham’s “faith and his actions were working together.” Faith and works are inseparable. It is not possible for one person to have valid faith without works and for another to have genuine works without faith, as James’s opponent argued in v.18.

But this may sound as if Abraham’s justification resulted from a mixture of faith and works, each being equally efficacious. If this is what James meant, he is in conflict with Paul, who insists that faith is the only means of justification. However, it is not necessary to take James’s statement in this way. James, assuming that a person is justified by faith alone, declares that this justifying faith has a certain quality, a vitality that makes it the producer of good deeds. It is an action-producing faith, the same type of faith Paul described when he wrote about “faith expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:6). In this sense Abraham’s faith was validated by his deeds. If there had been no good deeds following, faith would have been incomplete (v.22), dead (v.17), and useless (v.20). In this sense also Abraham was “considered righteous for what he did.” If there had been no good deeds forthcoming, his faith would not have been genuine; and therefore it could not have been counted to him for righteousness.