How Can a Christian's Faith be "Dead"?

"Awake, O sleeper, rise from the dead, 

and Christ will shine on you." (Eph. 5:14)

I recently heard a preacher on the radio say that the word "dead" in James 2:14-26 means "non-existent".  But is a dead tree non-existent? Or to use the analogy that James uses, we can ask: Is "the body without the spirit" (v. 26) non-existent? It's true that it is dead (separated from its soul and spirit), but the body is not non-existent! Do we bury non-existent bodies? Was the dead body of our Lord Jesus Christ non-existent? To say that it was is to deny a cardinal doctrine of the Christian faith! And yet this is the reasoning of some proponents of "Lordship Salvation" in regards to faith! They say that dead faith is "non-existent" faith. Or they say that dead faith is "a mere profession of faith." But that's not what James is saying. Rather, he's saying that "dead" faith is "by itself" (v. 17).[1] The faith is dead in the sense that it is "without works" (Ja. 2:20). In other words, the faith is there but it's not doing anything; it is separated from good works.[2] In the context of the Christian life (which is exactly what James is talking about in context), a "dead" faith cannot save a Christian brother or sister from a useless life (see Ja. 2:14). That's what James is talking about; not salvation from hell, but being saved from a dormant and inactive Christian life! So the faith that James is talking about is existent, but it's not useful.

ENDNOTES:

[1] See Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, s.v. nekros, definition 2b, "universally, destitute of force or power, inactive, inoperative: ... πίστις, James 2:17, 20..., 26" (p. 424). Commenting on James 2:17, Dr. Ralph "Yankee" Arnold affirms: "Dead does not mean unsaved or condemned. How can faith be dead? Dead is the Greek word nekros which means USELESS or BARREN. A dead battery in a car is a useless battery! It still exists, but it does not work, it is useless. Faith without works is useless [in regards to helping others]! 'I know you are starving, brother, but have faith in God. He will help you!' There you have at home all the food they need. Your faith is useless; it hasn't helped those who were starving!" (Yankee Arnold, The Gospel Driven Man, p. 142, capital letters his, brackets added.) Dr. Thomas L. Constable similarly states: "'Dead' [in James 2:17] does not mean non-existent but inactive, no longer vital, dormant, useless (cf. v. 14). This is a very important point." (Constable, Notes on James, comment on James 2:17.)

[2] In the Bible, death speaks of separation. The dead faith in James 2:17 is "by itself," separated from present good works (cf. Rev. 3:1-2). It is the old Russellite error (the present-day Jehovah's Witnesses cult) to say that death means absolute non-existence. It does not. And neither does "dead" faith mean non-existent faith. That is cult-like thinking and contrary to biblical truth. What the Bible teaches is that dead faith is "by itself" (Ja. 2:17), very much in existence but separated from good works.