The letter of James is all about loving our neighbor and getting that relationship right.  The flesh lusting against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh (Gal5:17) is what James calls being double minded and falling into temptation.  Let not that man think he shall receive anything of the Lord (Jm1:7).  So unless and until we deal with the flesh we can not love our neighbor the way we ought and much of the practical examples in James are an attempt to show us how to love our neighbor.  Thus bridling our tongue, not being a respecter of persons, visiting the orphan and the widow, and anointing the sick with oil are the consequence of a right relationship with our neighbor.

    Of course much of James deals with faith.  Faith without works is dead being alone (Jm2:17)  It is very possible for a Christian to be so concerned about himself that he fails to recognize his relationship with others.  Faith without love is alone and just as the body without the spirit is dead, faith without works is dead also(Jm2:26).  Our faith can be living or dead and unless our faith reaches out to others, our faith is dead.  Where St. Paul focuses more on the individual aspect of Christianity “being justified by faith apart from the works of the law (Gal2:16) which is the beginning of our Christian faith, James is expressing to a born again believer his need to demonstrate the fruit of salvation to others which is further down the line.  Thus the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy (Jm3:17).  To be wise takes times, overcoming the temptations of the world (Jm4:1-10) and not wavering like the wave of the sea driven by the wind, to fulfill the royal law to love our neighbor as ourself.  

      James like St. Paul is concerned about “living” by faith and living by faith for James means fulfilling the royal law.  Only at the very end does James mention Elijah who by faith was able to keep the sky from giving its rain for three years and six months (Jm5:17-18).  The faith that gets its answer to prayer is not the primary concern of James but if we live by faith, if we live a holy life, if we love our neighbor then we should expect to have a faith that is successful in answer to prayer.  Without a living faith much of the teaching of Christ will be left unfulfilled.  Be people of faith.  Be people of love and then if you say to the mountain be thou removed...it shall move.

  Amen.