Historically, the Reformers spoke of faith as expressing itself through love, following the language of Galatians 5:6. Thus Calvin: “We confess with Paul that no other faith justifies ‘but faith working through love’ [Gal. 5:6].”15 Further, as we have seen, while the Protestant position maintains that this kind of faith is the instrumental means by which we are actually made righteous in God’s sight, it also holds that good works must follow as the fruit of that faith. So the Protestant position is not what is being targeted by James.
