id you look at what James is saying and what Paul is sayong it completes the concept please consider
“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? ( i say I believe but my actions don’t match ) can faith save him?
If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
( if someone’s hungry to help you feed them it’s an action words can’t be eaten)
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. ( saying i have faith but living like I don’t believe isn’t real faith )
Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. ( you can’t actually show faith with words but with actions they speak also and you can show faith by how you live )
Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. ( demons know that God is real)
But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?( genesis 22)
Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
James 2:14-24, 26 KJV
rather than just looking at one verse if we consider what point James is making what do you see there ? The verse I quoted is o my James repetetive conclusion but what point do you see him making regarding faith ?
Needless to say, I fundamentally disagree with just about all of your conclusions, so I will post alternatives to them for another perspective. However, in order to make this more manageable, and as time permits, I will divide your post and my replies into multiple smaller pieces and address them sequentially. Feel free to reply if you so choose to.
I just noticed that the replies I've already worked on so far (obviously besides this one) seem to somehow have been deleted (I've been having computer issues), so I will have to reconstruct them. It will take me a while before I can post another one.
Part I
Faith and righteousness are one in the same, not separate things - it is not that one can bring the other about, nor that one follows the other; that is; faith is not first produced by someone, and because they've produced that faith, by that, then righteousness is imputed to them. Instead, when someone receives true faith, as a part of that faith, there is righteousness too.
True belief is a byproduct from faith: Christ’s faith. That Abraham believed (and as with all who believe), it comes/came from the receiving of Christ’s faith freely imputed to them. So, any righteousness spoken of regarding Abraham, could not possibly have been of Abraham doing. Abraham's faith simply would not/could not have been a righteous faith, nor could it have brought righteousness: that which is unrighteous cannot acquire righteousness: man's faith, by his nature, is sinful. Therefore, it would not have been possible for Abraham to be justified in any sense by his own works, to also include by his faith/belief, because justification can only be given by Christ, as only Christ’s faith alone is righteous. We are unambiguously told this in Rom 4:2 (below) - that Abraham couldn't/didn’t justify himself. Do you see in it that Abraham could not justify himself to God by his works? Therefore, the works spoken of in the book of James were not referring to Abraham's (I will expound more about this in one of my subsequent replies).
Observe that Abraham's works provided him with no justification before God.
[Rom 4:2 KJV] 2
For if Abraham were
justified by works, he hath [whereof] to glory; but not before God.
Christ’s righteousness is manifested along with His faith - both being freely given to those whom He saves, as were given to Abraham: it is by Christ’s faith/righteousness, which is imputed to those He saves, as their faith/righteousness. Those made just (justified) by Christ, are/were given spiritual life by/through HIS faith, not through theirs.
Observe in Rom 1:17, the "from faith to faith". It means that true faith originated from Christ's faith and is given to those He saves, and by that, has God chosen to make known to us His righteousness. By which faith we receive eternal life.
[Rom 1:17 KJV] 17 For therein is
the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written,
The just shall live by faith.
Observe that Christ's faith itself was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness in order that Abraham be made righteous - which was God's will. It is Christ's faith alone that is righteous.
[Rom 4:9 KJV] 9 [Cometh] this blessedness then upon the circumcision [only], or upon the uncircumcision also?
for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.
Observe in Rom 3:22, 4:13, and Phl 3:9, that righteousness and faith are one in the same, or said another way, it is faith's righteousness. Righteousness is not separate from faith.
[Rom 3:22 KJV] 22 Even the
righteousness of God [which is] by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
[Rom 4:13 KJV] 13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, [was] not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law,
but through the righteousness of faith.
[Phl 3:9 KJV] 9 And be found in him,
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but
that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: