James does not contradict Paul, they did not contradict Jesus

Does James 2:24 and Romans 3:28 seem contradictory? The confusion can come from a misunderstood/badly explained "we are saved by faith alone."

Paul in Romans 3:28 is speaking against a specific type of mentality called works of the law. If a person relies on living up to the standards of the Law to be saved it won't be possible, because sin keeps him from even desiring to do what the Law says, therefore he will fail and lower the standards or give up eventually or live in perpetual misery, so the only option is to trust not in what he can do, but in the works of Christ on his behalf. That is what Paul is saying in Romans 3:28, but James is talking about a different issue, probably something close to cheap grace, where if a person just have a profession of faith he can go to heaven while living like a devil his whole life. James says this type of faith is no good. Even Paul demolishes this type of thinking in the end of Romans 3 when he says we do not demolish the Law through faith but establish the Law instead!

We can see the same mentality as the apostles in Jesus' parable of the good and bad fruit tree, where he says a good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree bears bad fruit, ending in a warning that those who practice lawlessness will not enter heaven(matt 7:15-23). An indication of true faith is that the person produces good fruit (fruit of the spirit),  he loves the law of God and keeps it...

So we see there are 2 ways to be deceived: Trusting in one's ability, and false confidence of salvation with no change of heart. Both are a result of man's own doing. The remedy is justification and regeneration, justification deals with man's guilty legal standing before God with the work Christ did on the cross, regeneration deals with man's sin nature in hating God and his law with the work of the Holy Spirit in making the person a new creature.

The implication/application of these truths are huge. It helps ministers and church leaders to see the congregation and minister to them better(dealing with believers and false converts more accurately), and it helps people in either gaining assurance of salvation or waking them up if they do not have saving faith so that they can have an opportunity to be made right with God.