In his treatise on good works, Augustine of Hippo wrote the following in chapter 14 wherein the question of the relationship of faith and works are addressed, including James chapter 2:
21. Let us now consider the question of faith. In the first place, we feel that we should advise the faithful that they would endanger the salvation of their souls if they acted on the false assurance that faith alone is sufficient for salvation or that they need not perform good works in order to be saved. This, in fact, is what some had thought even in the time of the apostles. For at that time there were some who did not understand certain rather obscure passages of St. Paul, and who thought therefore that he had said: Let us do evil that there may come good. They thought that this was what St. Paul meant when he said: The law entered in that sin might abound. And where sin abounded, grace did more abound. But what St. Paul means here is this: when man received the law, he presumed too much on his own strength. He was too proud to ask God’s help, as he should have done, that he might overcome his evil desires. The result was that his sins were now more and greater because of the law which he did not observe. When he realized his guilt, he turned to the faith for pardon and for help from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Thus it was necessary that the Holy Spirit fill his heart with love, in order that he might overcome his evil desires and perform out of love for God whatever God commanded him. This is what St. Paul means, and this too is what the Psalmist means when he says: Their infirmities were multiplied; afterwards they made haste.
When St. Paul says, therefore, that man is justified by faith and not by the observance of the law, he does not mean that good works are not necessary or that it is enough to receive and to profess the faith and no more. What he means rather and what he wants us to understand is that man can be justified by faith, even though he has not previously performed any works of the law. For the works of the law are meritorious not before but after justification.115 But there is no need to discuss this matter any further, especially since I have treated of it at length in another book entitled On the Letter and the Spirit.
As we said above, this opinion originated in the time of the apostles, and that is why we find some of them, for example, Peter, John, James, and Jude, writing against it in their epistles and asserting very strongly that faith is no good without works. And as regards Paul himself, he does not say that any faith in God is good, but he says clearly that that faith is good and in conformity with the teaching of the gospel which results in works of love: and faith, he says, that worketh by charity. As for that faith which some think is sufficient for salvation, he says that it profits nothing: If I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. On the other hand, where faith is joined to charity, there without doubt you will find a good life, for charity is the fulfilment of the law.
22. We can see, then, why St. Peter in his second epistle urges the faithful to live good and holy lives, reminding them that this world will pass away and that they are to look for new heavens and a new earth which the just will inhabit, and that, consequently, they ought to live so as to be worthy of such a dwelling place. He was aware of the fact that certain unrighteous men had interpreted certain rather obscure passages of St. Paul to mean that they did not have to lead a good life, since they were assured of salvation as long as they had the faith. He warns them that, although there are certain passages in the epistles of St. Paul which are hard to understand—which passages some have misinterpreted, as they have other passages of Sacred Scripture, but to their own ruin—nevertheless, St. Paul has the same mind on the question of eternal salvation as have all the other apostles, namely, that eternal salvation will not be given except to those who lead a good life. Here are St. Peter’s own words: Seeing, then, that all these things are to pass away, what manner of people ought you to be in holy conversation and godliness? Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of the Lord, by which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with the burning heat. But we look for new heavens and a new earth according to His promises, in which justice dwells. Wherefore, dearly beloved, waiting for these things, be diligent that you may be found before Him unspotted and blameless in peace. And account the long-suffering of our Lord salvation; as also our most dear brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, has written to you. As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. You therefore, most beloved, knowing these things before, take heed lest, being led aside by the error of unhappy men, you fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and unto the day of eternity.
23. St. James, moreover, is so opposed to those who think that faith can save without good works that he compares them to devils. You believe, he says, that there is one God? You do well; the devils also believe and tremble. Could he have said anything more concise, more true, more forceful, since, as we read in the Gospel, this is what the devils professed when they acknowledged that Christ is the Son of God? But Christ rebuked the devils, while, on the contrary, he praised St. Peter for making the same profession. St. James says also: What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he has faith, but has not works? Shall faith be able to save him? And in another place he says that faith without works is dead. See, then, what a great mistake they make who think that they can be saved by a faith that is dead!
Source: Lombardo, G. J. with St. Augustine. (1988). St. Augustine on Faith and Works. (W. J. Burghardt & T. C. Lawler, Eds., G. J. Lombardo, Trans.) (Vol. 48, pp. 28–30). New York; Mahwah, NJ: The Newman Press.
Elsewhere in the same work, we find the following comment about the patristic use of “bath of regeneration”:
The Greek and Latin Fathers use many expressions to designate the sacrament of baptism. Clement of Alexandria has explained some of them. Baptism, he says, is a bath because it washes away sin; a grace which remits the punishment due to sin; an illumination, since it enables one to contemplate the holy and salutary light; a perfection, because it lacks nothing. Cf. Paedag. 1.6 MG 8.282. Augustine calls baptism not only the bath of regeneration but also the sacrament of Christ (De fide et op. 12.18), the sacrament of the new life and of eternal salvation (Cont. Cresc. 2.13.16 ML 43.476), and the sacrament of the Trinity (Serm. 269.2 ML 38.1235). See Bareille, “Baptême” 179 ff.
Lombardo, G. J. with St. Augustine. (1988). St. Augustine on Faith and Works. (W. J. Burghardt & T. C. Lawler, Eds., G. J. Lombardo, Trans.) (Vol. 48). New York; Mahwah, NJ: The Newman Press.
