You can't have one without the other.
James says it brings death to faith if it has no works.
Besides that, these works have nothing to do with the 'works of the Law'.
James says it brings death to faith if it has no works.
Besides that, these works have nothing to do with the 'works of the Law'.
These works are part of the MORAL aspect of the law. In Matthew 22:37-40, we read: Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. These works cannot be dissected from the two great commandments (Matthew 22:37-40) which are found in the law of Moses (Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18).
In James 2:15-16, the example of a "work" that James gives is: "If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?" To give a brother or sister these things needed for the body would certainly be a "good work" yet to neglect such a brother or sister and not give them the things needed for the body is to break the second great commandment "love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39) as found written in the law of Moses (Leviticus 19:18).