oh right. heard that before also
some people seem to think if you mention works, you are trying to work for your salvation, but what James is looking for here, is the reality of faith changing lives
actually, we are created for good works so what people who are allergic to the word 'works' do with that scripture is twist it or ignore it I guess because they do not understand what is being said
4But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!
6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
7in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
8For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9not by works, so that no one can boast.
10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life. Ephesians 2
we see plainly in the portion from Ephesians above, that works do not save but then we also see that the kind of works that please God are the ones He actually has prepared for us to do
I don't think I have ever seen a thread about what those 'works' are in the forum, but we sure have plenty of threads about how nothing but faith saves, but it seems James is actually seeing if your faith is genuine, you will fulfill what it is you have been created to do
here is a decent interpretation, IMO, of what the 'good works' actually are:
The Greek original reads more literally, "which God prepared in advance, so that we might walk in them." The language of walking was used by teachers in the time of Paul in the way we might talk of living or engaging in a certain lifestyle. In other words, the good works of verse 10 are not obviously religious activities scattered throughout an otherwise secular life. Rather, the good works encompass the whole of the Christian, all that we do by God's grace for God's purposes. from this site down the page a little