Paul in Romans describes faith as the condition of salvation to the ungodly, whereas James in his Epistle is distinguishing between true and false faith, as it is found among professing Christians. Hence Paul says: “To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness;” “a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” These and other passages teach that a sinner is never saved by any works of righteousness that he may do; that the one and only meritorious ground of justification is the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the one and only condition of justification is personal faith in Jesus Christ. A sinner’s works can never save him, not even his prayers nor his alms, nor his faith itself, considered as a good work.

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