James is not a theological book. What I mean is that it isn’t like a Pauline epistle which often has a very deep doctrinal section and then applies that doctrine to daily life. But today, we do get into the theological theme of the book when it comes to a belief that behaves. The passage today is a tricky one for some and there are those who isolate it from the rest of Scripture in order to get it to say what it does not say. Or there are those who say this is a contradiction in Scripture when it comes to the doctrine of justification. So let’s look at exactly what this passage means in its context that way we can understand more.