James 2:17 says, "Faith without works is dead". What is dead? The answer is ‘faith". Dead faith is without works while living faith has works. Dead faith does not produce good works while living faith produces good works. What is meant by a dead faith? A dead faith is a functionless faith, and a worthless faith. It is faith without understanding, without real conviction, without sorrow of sins, without repentance, without direction, without basis, without emotion, without love, without willingness, without real trust in Christ, and it is a mere intellectual belief. It is false trust or false acceptance of Jesus. False trust cannot have works but true faith results to good works. A further analysis of the verse reveals that:

• Faith comes first before good works. Example: I do not do good works to have faith rather I have faith that is why I do good works.
• Good works are produced by true faith.
• Good works are manifestations of real faith. Verse 18 says, "show me…."
• Good works shows what kind of faith a person has – true or false.
• The issue here is the kind of faith. It does not say that good works are requisites to salvation. It shows that a living or real faith has the ability and willingness to show it by good works. Example. A young girl who is your neighbor claims to be a student of a prestigious school, but you never saw her wear the uniform required by that school, and not one of your neighbors saw her go to that school. Of course, you won’t believe her. She has nothing to show. In the same way, if there is a person who claims to be a Christian or a believer, but he is not willing to be baptized, and he does not serve God, of course you won’t believe him.