Also, what exactly is James telling us in the second chapter of James when he is describing faith and deeds. To me, it sounds as if he is telling us that along with faith, we must perform good deeds in order to earn our salvation, but I know that isn't true. As Paul tells us, "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law" (Rom 3:28).

Then he adds in v13 that for the Jew just to hear the law and not obey it perfectly will bring God's judgment. The Greek is more emphatic because it says "those who obey the law continually." Only a continual (or perfect) obedience of the law can earn God's declaration of righteousness.

Of course there is no person other than Jesus who was born without a sinful nature and so without sin. Paul says what he does in Romans 2 to make the proud person who thinks that he can earn salvation realize that he has to be perfect his whole life long or else he will be condemned. The purpose of such a statement is to lead this person to realize that his only hope is the Savior who lived a perfect life in his stead and died to pay for all his failures to be perfect as God requires.

James 2 speaks to a person who claims that he can believe in Jesus without doing anything good (v14). James tells him that such a faith is useless because it is a dead faith (v20). James is saying the same thing Paul does in Galatians 5:6. A true, living faith has to express itself in love. What a person does in faith is not a way of earning God's forgiveness, but it is a thank you to God for the full and free salvation God gives us through Jesus.

If someone saved me from drowning, and then I offered $50 as a thank you to him, I would not be paying for his saving me from drowning. I've been saved from drowning when I'm standing on the shore offering him the $50. So also everything a Christian does in love to thank God for forgiveness is not a way of earning that forgiveness.

Instead, these deeds of love are a result of faith thanking God for the completed salvation he won for us. James' and Paul's point is that faith is so thankful to God it just can't sit and do nothing. A believer is so thankful he/she feels compelled to thank God by doing what he/she knows is God's will for his/her life (2 Co 5:14). How many fruits of faith a Christian will produce will vary according the circumstances of the person's life and the strength of his/her faith. But it will not be a dead faith which refuses to do nothing to thank God for his gift of salvation.