James 2:14

What doth it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but have not works? can that faith save him?

If a man say he hath faith ... Here, at last, is that subjective trust/faith which is so frequently imported into New Testament passages. The word for "faith" here is exactly the one used in Romans 5:1; Ephesians 2:8, etc.; and the allegation that here is a pretended faith, or some inferior brand of faith, is absolutely illogical, there being no word in the apostolic writings regarding "kinds" of faith. The usual approach to this is grounded in the notion that James used "faith" in a different sense from that in which Paul used it; but, as Maier warned, "There is a frequent misuse of multiple meaning in Scripture."[28] The introductory phrase, "if a man say," is alleged as a denial that the man really had faith; but, on the other hand, it indicates the absence of works. What he had was "faith only"; and the only possible way of identifying the existence of "faith only" is from what "they say" who profess to have it. Thus, this is exactly the type of identification of "faith only" that should have been expected; in fact the only one possible. That the professor did indeed have faith appears in James' tacit admission of it in "can that faith save him?"

Can that faith save him ... ? So stated as to require a negative answer, this is a refutation of the heresy that men are saved by "faith only." Note that James did not allege any deficiency in the man's faith, thus assuming that his claim was honest, but making his denial of the man's salvation to rest on the absence of works. It is clear enough that James did not here teach that the man was not justified "by faith," but that he could not be justified by "faith only."