Hang on a sec

the gospels.. and all the NT books without the apocrypha had to meet criteria such as being a writing by eyewitnesses.. or people who knew they eyewitnesses of the original accounts they purport. Another criterion is closeness from the original event to recording..

Anyway, the reason the apocrypha books weren't considered is because they contain many inconsistencies, embellishments, some strange doctrines and alot were written a long time after Jesus' life death and resurrection.

And also in regards to James.. it never has works based salvation in it.. the context of the verses that get used for works based salvation show that James agreed with Paul's writing such as 'being justified by the faith of Christ, not by works' and 'by works of the flesh shall noone be justified'

context context context

Abraham being counted as righteous by offering his son Isaac.. this ain't eternal salvation
Rahab hiding those men? Not about eternal salvation. They were justified by works in that their acts were pleasing in the sight of the Lord. Not in terms of being eternally saved.

'for by works of the law shall no flesh be justified' from Paul.. this is about eternal salvation