Faith means to have trust/confidence in God.
How can you have trust/confidence in God when you are not trusting in Jesus Christ as the ALL-sufficient means of your salvation? Saving faith means (belief, trust, reliance) in Jesus Christ for salvation.
You can't have trust in God without having a good conscience toward God.
Without faith there is no good conscience. (1 Timothy 1:5, 19)
You can't have a good conscious toward God without obeying Him.
You can't obey Him or have a good conscience without faith/without faith it's impossible to please God. (Hebrews 11:6)
Believing in Jesus is the first commandment of God we are told to obey.
You are not believing/trusting/relying in Jesus unto salvation if you are also believing/trusting/relying in works for salvation.
There are many other commandments we must live in obedience unto if we desire to be saved.
This is works salvation plain and simple. You need to repent and believe the gospel.
We are told in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 KJB
"9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God."
In 1 Corinthians 6:9, we read - Do you not know that the
unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? The unrighteousness are not believers. Paul goes on to give a list of sins in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
and in Galatians 5:19-21, Paul goes on to say that those who
practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
In 1 John 3:9, we read -
No one who is born of God practices sin..
1 Corinthians 6:11, Paul goes on to say - And such
were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Here we have a
CONTRAST between the
unrighteous and the
righteous and it's not hard to find the unrighteous (who may even look like the righteous) mixed in with the righteous, hence the warning.
We see just from those 2 verses alone that there is a standard of righteous and holy living that God requires of us if we are to be counted worthy.
We are not counted worthy based on works righteousness. (Romans 4:5-6)
That is what is being spoken of in James 2:26 where it says faith without works is dead.
In James 2:26, the comparison of the human spirit and faith converges around their modes of operation. The spirit (Greek pneuma) may also be translated "breath." As a breathless body exhibits no indication of life, so fruitless faith exhibits no indication of life. The source of the life in faith is not works; rather, life in faith is the source of works (Ephesians 2:5-10).
So "faith without works is dead" does not mean that faith is dead until it produces works and then it becomes a living faith, which would be like saying that a tree is dead until it produces fruit and then it becomes a living tree. James is simply saying
faith that is not accompanied by evidential works demonstrates that it's dead. If someone merely
SAYS-CLAIMS they have faith, but
lack resulting evidential works (James 2:14) then they have an
empty profession of faith/dead faith and not authentic faith.
The works are not any righteous or holy works of our own, but of God. The works are the will of God, told to us through the commandments and precepts taught in the Holy Bible.
Works of righteousness are works done out of righteousness. Saying these works our not our own but are of God still does not change the fact that believers perform these works and we are not saved by works. There is a difference between God's will for TO BECOME SAVED: John 6:40 - For
my Father’s will is that
everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him (apart from additions or modifications) shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. *No list of commandments here mentioned with "believes in Him."
AND there is a difference between God's will for us AFTER WE HAVE BEEN SAVED: 1 Thessalonians 5:14 - Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. 15 See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Without obedience unto God's will, your faith is dead, you are not living a holy life, and you will not see the Lord.
Without obedience unto God's will in John 6:40, your faith is dead, you continue to live an unholy life, have not been "set apart" or "made holy" and you will not see the Lord.
Hebrews 12:14 KJB
"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: "
In Hebrews 12:14, the NASB reads - Pursue peace with all men, and the
sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14).
Without justification, there is no sanctification. Those who are sanctified have been "set apart" or
made holy in standing before God positionally in Christ. 1 Corinthians 6:11 - Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were
sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 1:2 - To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been
sanctified in Christ Jesus.