Also, the examples James uses are only of the Old Testament, such as Abraham and Rahab in 2:23 and 25 and the prophets, Job, and Elijah in 5:10-11 and 17.
James's teaching was a mixture of God's New Testament chosen people—the believers—with God's Old Testament elect —the Jews.
James brought in a mixture of the church practice with the Jews' way of meeting to worship God in the synagogues.
In his teaching of the Jewish believers concerning the virtues of Christian perfection, James did not warn them, as Paul did in dealing with the Corinthian believers (1 Cor. 2:14), that the virtues of Christian perfection should only be produced and carried out by the regenerated persons and not by the natural persons. Here a hidden mixture is implied: a mixture of the regenerated persons, in their regenerated humanity mingled with divinity, with the natural persons in their fallen humanity, in the producing and carrying out of the virtues of Christian perfection. In the church as the organic Body of Christ, everything must be done by the regenerated persons, in whom is God's delight, and nothing should be done by the natural persons, for whom is God's condemnation.
First Corinthians 2:14 says, "But a soulish man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he is not able to know them because they are discerned spiritually." The spiritual things can be understood only by the spiritual, regenerated persons. A regenerated person in his regenerated humanity mingled with divinity is a spiritual person. There is also a natural person in his fallen humanity.
Among men, there are three kinds of persons: the ethical, moral person; the natural person; and the regenerated person. Before Paul was saved, when he was Saul, he said that according to the righteousness of the law he was blameless, perfect (Phil. 3:6). Even before Paul was saved, he was a very ethical, moral person. But after he received God's life and God's Spirit through regeneration, he lived no more as an ethical person but as a spiritual person. He was a regenerated person in his regenerated humanity, and this humanity was mingled with divinity because God lived in him.
James, however, was a mixed person. In his Epistle he spoke of regeneration and the Spirit's indwelling, but he also talked about perfection in the realm of self-cultivation. This is a hidden mixture. Many of us Christians today are like James in this respect. We are mixed persons. We still act and live by trying to be perfect in our natural man. We may say that we love the Lord and that we are good brothers and sisters. We may be good and ethical, but not spiritual. We may be spiritual to a certain extent, but we are still natural in our humanity which is a mixture. We are ethical persons in our humanity mingled with divinity. This is a mixture of the regenerated persons, in their regenerated humanity mingled with divinity, with the natural persons in their fallen humanity.