Paul Vs James

Comparing what Paul and James have to say about Justification | James 2:13-26 | Ian Goodman
It has been argued (most often by Roman Catholics) that this passage contradicts the Protestant reading of Paul in Romans 3-4. After all, there are some pretty interesting statements in James 2, the most interesting perhaps being vs 24 “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.”
This seems to be clearly teaching that faith is not sufficient to fully and finally justify us before God, and that a person needs works also for that. But we have reason to believe that when James uses the word 'justified' he’s not using it in the same way that Paul is using it. This becomes obvious when we observe the timing of this justification. “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?”
It’s clear that James is not speaking of that initial moment when Abraham was counted just, for this happened for Abraham well before he offered Isaac on the altar. In fact Paul stresses the fact that Abraham was justified before he did any works at all. So then what is James talking about? In the context it would seem the best way to take this is as referring to the rightness or “justness” of Abraham’s faith and life practice.
After all, this is James’ concern, to illustrate true living faith over against dead faith. James is essentially saying “Abraham’s justification displayed that he had a true and living faith by his works. In that sense Abraham was justified by works (shown to be just by works, having a living faith), because his faith did not remain alone but was accompanied by works.
There is a sense in which we must all be justified by works and not by faith alone. But it’s not in the sense that we must do good works in order to merit entry into heaven. But rather in the sense that we must show ourselves to have a right faith, a living faith, and a right Christian life. We cannot show this by faith that remains alone, only by faith that is accompanied by works.