Deeds and faith

James concludes, ‘As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead’ (v.26).
As John Calvin put it, ‘Faith alone justifies, but faith which justifies is never alone.’ You cannot earn your salvation. You are not saved by your good works, but you are saved in order to do good works (Ephesians 2:9–10). The book of James does notcontradict the apostle Paul (as some have suggested). James’ point is not that you can earn your salvation by good deeds. Rather, he is saying that genuine faith will be evidenced by how you live.