Salvation
James 2:14-24
What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but hath not works?... Faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself... Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by faith only?
Context of the passage
James corrects a distorted understanding of faith among early Christians who claimed belief without any accompanying transformation of life.
Catholic reading
James explicitly states 'not by faith only,' directly addressing and rejecting the very phrase 'faith alone' (sola fide), teaching that genuine, justifying faith is inseparable from works of charity that give it life.
Common objection
James is only discussing how faith is proven or demonstrated before others, not how a person is actually justified before God.
Response
James uses Abraham's offering of Isaac as his example, saying he 'was justified by works' (v.21), an event that occurred between God and Abraham alone on the mountain, not before human witnesses, showing James means real justification before God, not mere outward demonstration.