Are we saved by faith alone, or are works involved? Believers in works based "gospels", argue that because the one mention of "faith alone" in the Bible is James 2:23-24, and it says Abraham was justified by works, not by faith alone, therefore salvation requires works. What they won't tell you is that there are multiple mentions of this account in the Bible (including the original in Genesis 15), and none of them are especially friendly to the idea of works based salvation.
First, let us deal with the abuse of James 2. To understand verse 24, you must understand the rest of the chapter. Verses 14-26 put verse 24 into perspective. When we read from verse 14, we see that James isn't talking about how to get saved, but rather he is describing the difference between true faith and dead faith. In verse 18, specifically, James challenges his reader to show their faith without works, whereas James will show his faith by his works. James is, therefore, not talking about being justified before God, but before man. He isn't saying "do works or you'll go to Hell", he's saying put your money where your mouth is. If you say you have faith, do good works and prove it. If you don't do good works, your faith isn't real. Then James turns to Abraham as his example. He starts by saying Abraham was justified by offering Isaac on the altar, thus by works, Abraham's faith was made perfect, but he also says that the scripture was fulfilled that says "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness".
Here's where we leave James, because as you're about to see, this is a quote from a much earlier scripture: Genesis 15:6. This is significant, because it takes place before Isaac was even born. In fact, it was the very promise that Isaac would be born that Abraham believed, therefore Abraham could not possibly have been justified (yet) by offering Isaac on the altar. And yet, his faith was accepted and credited to him for righteousness.
But what's more is that Abraham certainly wasn't the living image of Jesus between Genesis 15 and Genesis 22. For example, he lied to Abimelech, king of Gerar, about his relationship with Sarah, claiming she was only his sister, not his wife. The result was that Abimelech tried to take Sarah as his own wife, and Abraham didn't even try to stop him. Abraham also tried to force the promise that his heir would come from his own body by sleeping with his slave girl, Hagar. Now, tell me, is this the picture of faith? Repeated adultery sounds like the kind of sin believers in Conditional Security would say should have kept Abraham out of Heaven. By their reckoning, Abraham should have lost his salvation at that point. Yet God stayed true to His end of the bargain. Why? Because God is perfect. He's not limited by our silly little games, our imperfections, our weaknesses.
So what was it that really saved Abraham? Romans 4:21-24 tells us the amazing truth: Because Abraham was fully convinced God was able to perform what He had promised, that was accounted to him for righteousness. The conclusion Paul draws from this is that righteousness shall also be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead. God promised that Christ became sin for us on that cross that we may become His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). If you are fully convinced that Jesus has the power to save you through the cross, as Abraham fully believed God would multiply his descendants through Isaac, God is faithful and true to fulfil that promise.
And this is quite explicit. It really isn't "ok, here's your example, draw your own conclusion". No, it's "here's your example, this is how this guy was saved, and the entire reason we know how this guy was saved is because it's how we are saved too". It's an open and shut case. The Bible never says there are any extra requirements for salvation, it's always faith. Like a beating drum, the Bible is clear that salvation is by faith alone. Works aren't a part of salvation, but a result of it.
Which brings us full circle to the James 2 thing: Salvation may well be by faith alone, but real faith, unless you happen to be nailed to a cross when you come to it, will not be alone. "Dead" faith will be. But this isn't the same as works being a part of salvation. See, first of all, God knows the heart. This is why He was able to credit righteousness to Abraham before his show of faith. But we don't. Nevertheless, can we agree that true faith can be both faked, and outwardly tarnished? The Pharisees were notorious not only for their good works, but for boasting in them. And in Matthew 7:21-23, some people boast to Jesus about the good things they did for Him. Yet, these He casts out, saying to them "I never knew you;depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!"
But what about the tax collector in the parable (Luke 18:9-14)? Did he boast of his works, or cry out "God, be merciful to me a sinner!"? And Jesus picked out a tax collector for good reason. These were the lowest of the low in His society. Yet Jesus said he, not the self-righteous Pharisee, went down to his house justified before God.
So clearly James isn't saying works are as important as faith, but that they should match our faith, just as Abraham's did. Abraham didn't merely say he had faith, nor were his works taken into account as anything more than the perfection thereof. So not even his example in James 2 shows works are involved in salvation. When we take into account everything about Abraham's life, especially when he is mentioned in the New Testament, we see that scripture is quite hostile to works-based "gospels". As Abraham believed God, and this was accounted to him for righteousness, so also is righteousness accounted to us when we believe God.