The book of James is aimed at telling believers to do good works to make their beliefs come alive. It's for believers, not for telling non-believers that they can be saved by works. It's often misinterpreted that way.
You don't think James the brother of Jesus might have written that to straighten out the hogwash that Paul was spewing? And then Jesus praised the church at Ephesus for expelling Paul. Then Paul bemoans his expulsion in his letter to Timothy thus verifying Jesus' message in Revelation 2.
Wide is the gate and broad is the road. If something seems too easy it might be a lie. Especially when a dissatisfied deck hand starts countermanding the ship captains orders.
Huh? Jesus was long gone before there was a church in Ephesis. Paul founded it. He started in the local synagog which had been there for centuries and he started preaching Jesus. He got a great response. Paul was hand picked by Jesus to spread the word to the Gentiles. Are you naive enough to think that Jesus wouldn't know what Paul would turn out to be? He picked Paul for a reason and Paul did Jesus's bidding. He taught the truth as taught to him by the Lord and many don't like to hear the truth.
The so called expulsion was years later when the church was back sliding. The false teachers, the gnostics, were getting the upper hand and turning the church away from Jesus. So no, James wasn't preaching against Paul. He was preaching to those who were trying to slide along in their salvation without working to better the church.
It is sort of strange that Paul's instructions and calling from Jesus was not public and Jesus forgot to tell us he was sending someone to amend his teachings. Paul seems a nut case. Don't swallow a camel while trying to reconcile Paul and Jesus.
Patriotism (and religion) is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
