James 2:18

18. May (wisely) say That is, the advocate of works evidencing his faith, may say to the mere holder of faith without works, thus.

Show… without… works And prove thyself an antinomian.

And I… faith by… works And prove myself a duty-doing believer. I hold faith and duty in correspondence and symmetry with each other. My faith inspires my works, and my works evidence my faith.

Works are rightly said to justify a man by evidencing his faith. Yet this is not all. Works are a direct justification of faith before God. According to Paul it is by the act of submitting and self-consecrating faith alone that a man comes into reconciliation and justification with God. But the condition of the continuance of that state of justification is not faith alone, but faith with works correspondent to that faith. And those works justify, not only indirectly, as evidence of the trueness of the faith, but directly, being graciously accepted by God as works of righteousness and true holiness.