James 2:22

Seest thou how faith wrought with his works …? Better, perhaps, not as a question, Thou seest that … Attention is called, not as the English "how" suggests, to the manner of co-operation, but only to the fact. The tense of the verb emphasises the continued co-operation of Abraham's faith with his works. The one was all along working together with the other. What St James presses is, not that works can justify without faith, but that faith cannot justify unless it includes "the promise and the potency" of the life that shews itself in acts.

by works was faith made perfect? Here the tense is changed to that which denotes completion in a single act. It was "by works" (i. e. out of, as from the originating cause) that faith was brought to its completion. The interpretation which sees in the words nothing more than that faith was shewn to be perfect, must be rejected as one of the afterthoughts of controversy. It may be added, however, as pointing to the true reconciliation of St James and St Paul, that the very form of the statement implies that the faith existed prior to the works by which it was made perfect.