shew me thy faith without thy works,
and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
Brachylogia: Omission of conjunctions between a series of words.
The colons and semi-colons in verses 18 and 19 visually represent conjunction omission. Here, James represents an argument between two fictitious men. By removing nonessential conjunctions he creates a courtroom-like tone and succinctly proves two points within just two verses: 1) work proves faith, and 2) men who believe, but work not, are on the same playing ground as the devils.
Antithesis: Juxtaposition of contrasting ideas.
Having faith with and without works are two very opposing theories of belief. Through parallel placement, the two philosophies are compared side by side and their differences become blatantly apparent. Without explicitly stating it, the antithesis teaches, "You cannot show your faith unless you have works as well."
Erotema: The rhetorical question.
James concludes the passage by asking the "vain man" (metonymy) if he now understands that faith and works must go together. James does not expect an answer, but does expect the reader to ponder the condition of his or her own faith and works.
Great post, that was a good scripture to choose. I think there might actually be a word for creating a false argument in order to prove a point. Maybe someone knows what it is and can add that in a comment. In my post I also pointed out that questions are used in scriptures to make the reader ponder, so I'm glad we are on the same page!
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