James 2:14-26 Faith without works is dead

14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. -James 2:14-26 Bible, King James Version (KJV)


Last Judgment Posthumous, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1762], tr. by John Whitehead [1914], at sacred-texts.com
195.

[197] Those who are in faith alone believe in instantaneous salvation and pure mercy; and therefore they implore mercy alone and believe that they are instantly saved the moment they receive faith, even though it be in the last hour of death. They also believe that the remission of all sins consists in the wiping away of all evils. They have no comprehension of remission by means of repentance of life, but only of remission by means of faith arising from thinking such things as they call of their faith; thus they are ignorant of all the means of salvation. It was shown them that such things are a phantasy; and this phantasy was represented as being interiorly full of poisonous serpents...

196.

[198] When they think from their doctrine about faith alone, and are opposed by the statement, in The Epistle of James, that men should show their faith by works, there appears as it were a knife flying forth to slay those who perceive this to be the case. And from one side comes forth an idea of Luther, and from the other, whither the knife flies, an idea of James, although Luther and James themselves are not there. The reason is, because, Luther excluded the Epistle of James... [Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a German monk, former Catholic priest, professor of theology and seminal figure of a reform movement in 16th century Christianity, subsequently known as the Protestant Reformation. Luther taught that salvation and subsequently eternity in heaven is not earned by good deeds but is received only as a free gift of God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ as redeemer from sin and subsequently eternity in Hell.]

199.

[201] It was made known by living experience that those who have been in faith alone and have led a moral life, had made heavens for themselves, where they seemed to themselves to have been in light; but it was shown that it is a wintry light, for when angels looked thither, in place of light there appeared a thick darkness. Those who go there, and are at the same time in charity, feel a pain in the breast, the stomach and the knees.