James 2:20 — calling the dead-faith person a 'fool' is a pastoral wake-up call, not an insult

James calls the person 'foolish' (or 'empty/vain') in verse 20 not to insult but to jolt them awake. The statement 'faith apart from works is useless' is not about needing a certain quantity of works for salvation — it is about the kind of faith that doesn't motivate action at all being useless for salvation.