A faith that just talks, does not save. We read in James 2:14: What good is it, my brothers, that someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? Can that talking faith save him? If someone says he has faith, that is a talking faith, but it is a kind of faith that is not accompanied by works. It is a hot air faith. There is a claim of having faith but that claim is not backed by actions. And James asks in James 2:14 and James 2:16: what profit is there in a faith that claims to be genuine if there are not works? In fact, in James 2:16 he asks: does that faith save? The word save means the same thing that it does in Paul: does it save from God's wrath on the final day? A faith that only talks, a faith that only claims, does it save? And James's argument is: no, it does not save. It does not save from God's judgment on the last day. Only a faith that has actions saves…James is not denying that genuine faith saves from judgment, but he insists that talking faith is not real faith. It is dead, it does not exist as genuine faith; it is inauthentic.¹

Thomas Schreiner