In the Epistle by James, we are told that works are important to show and prove the faith one claims. Many souls talk about faith, but it is often a shallow thing, and even misdirected. True faith in God and His "great salvation" through His beloved Son --the Lord Jesus, and trusting God and living for Him, must be shown in reality in the life of one, else it is only a concept and unprofitable to one. Read the Book of James and pray for God's teaching!
All Scripture must be in complete harmony, for there are no contradictions in the Bible.
I agree with this, but let me say something more. I suspect James was in argument against a gnostic view that this material world is an illusion and that faith would only be manifest in a spiritual sense. A gnostic would argue that true faith would not display any material activity.
But James is believing in a faith like that described in Hebrews: Faith is
substance; faith is
evidence.
What is the writer of Hebrews trying to emphasize? That faith is not a spiritual concept. Faith is something
palpable. In ancient times, the Greeks had discovered air. Prior to the discovery of air, people thought the wind was an invisible force that came from somewhere and went somewhere. Your breath was an invisible force that you generated in your chest. The ancient Greeks discovered that we are constantly surrounded by an invisible
substance, and that wind is the
evidence of the unseen air.
The writer of Hebrews is telling us by using concrete words that denote concrete things such as substance and evidence that faith is not a "concept."
"Evidence" is not a matter of belief, evidence is what gives you reason to believe. For instance, if a police forensic scientist walks into a crime scene and sees a bloody knife, splatters of blood on the wall, collects four pints of blood from the floor, and determines that all the blood came from a single person, he will conclude that somewhere there is a dead body. He believes there is a dead body, but that belief rests on
evidence that needs no belief.
"Substance" is not a matter of belief. If I'm watching the Powerball lottery on television and the announcer is counting out the numbers, I have a reason to believe I may win if I have a lottery ticket. If I have no ticket, I have no reason to believe I can win. That ticket I'm holding in my hand is the
substance of my belief that I may win.
You don't need to have faith that you have faith. If you have faith, you
know you have faith--like you can feel the wind as evidence of the unseen air, if you have faith you feel something that
compels you to action, something you know you did not have before, but you have it now, and it
compels you to be more like the Lord, to do what the Lord did, and that palpable compulsion is the
evidence of something you can't see.
James is saying that if a person can sit and say, "I have faith" but don't feel that palpable compulsion to get up and do what the Lord did...he doesn't have what James is calling "faith."