Known for its declaration, "Faith without works is dead," (2:26), the letter of James is not addressed to a single church or community. Rather it is addressed to the “diaspora” or Jews who were scattered among the nations. James, however, is not merely writing to Jews, but Jewish Christians living outside Israel specifically scattered among the nations (also Hellenistic Jewish Christians). As to the location of his audience, there is no mention of it in the book, though the book mentions that these believers meet in a synagogue (2:2), and had somehow experienced persecutions, harassment and “trials of various kinds”, were forced out of their homeland, taken advantage of by their rich neighbors by dragging them to court(1;2; 2:6), and driven to poverty by abusive wealthy landowners (1:9-11; 5:4-6).

In 2:14-26, James continues the theme of living consistently according to their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (V.1), by addressing the issue of faith without works. He teaches that false compassion (Vv.14-17) and Empty Profession (Vv.18-19) are marks of the barrenness / fruitlessness of faith apart from works, and contrary to Scripture (Vv.20-25). As it is fruitless, it is dead (Vv.17,26) and therefore cannot save (V.14).