Body and Spirit

"For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead." James 2:27

As I was riding my bike into work this morning I was meditating on James 2. When I came to this verse I couldn't help but think of how this verse appears to debunk the notion of an eternal soul, or as Paul would say, "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord" (2Cor 5:6-8).

James seems to argue that to be absent from the body is to be dead. So, which is it?

I think there is a viable alternative to seeing these passages as conflicting with one another. This is not the only place where Paul and James have an apparent contradiction. One thing to remember is that we are reading these passages with presuppositions. We assume we know what James or Paul mean by words like "body," "spirit," "faith," "works," or "dead." Therefore, we read into the text what we think the words mean, but what we think, may not be what they mean. Take for instance the word "dead." Typically we think of a dead person as one who is physically deceased, inactive, non-existent. But scripture does have other interpretations for "dead." One can be physically alive while being spiritually dead in their sins:

"You were dead in you trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among who we all once lived in the passions of our flesh ..." (Eph 2:1-3)

This is a noteworthy passage, because Paul here is saying that you can be physically alive (living in the flesh) while spiritually dead (dead in trespasses for following the spirit of disobedience).

Could this be what James has in mind? Can a physically alive person who does not have the spirit be, in fact, spiritually dead? The argument that James is making is about faith and works, that true faith is evidenced by works. A man who bears no fruit has no faith ... though he may attest to many things. A man who has no spirit is dead ... though he may accomplish many things. Therefore, this interpretation is possible: The death that is spoken of hear is spiritual death and not a physical death. A man devoid of the spirit can do many things, but in the end, it is worthless, for he had no faith, evidenced by his lack of spiritual fruit.

As to 2Corinthians ... I will have to address that at another point: