Now James is ready to drive the point home. He proceeds to show that such an empty faith as his objector has is mere intellectual assent to propositions and is not saving trust that bears fruit in the life. “Thou believest that God is one.” This is one of the statements of the unity of God. The usual formula occurs in Deuteronomy 6:4 and in Mark 12:29 (“The Lord our God, the Lord is one”). The recitation of this phrase was not merely the orthodox creed but was supposed to have saving efficacy (cf. the Moslem repetition of “Allah”). From the time of the exile the repetition of the _Shema_ (Deut. 6:4 ff.) each morning and evening was the duty of every pious Israelite. “Whoever reads the _Shema_ upon his couch is as one that defends himself with a two-edged sword” (Meg. 3_a_). “They cool the flames of Gehinnom for him who reads the _Shema_” (Ber. 15_b_). Oesterley (_in loco_) adds that “the very parchment on which the _Shema_ is written is efficacious in keeping demons at a distance.” These statements will help us to understand the atmosphere from which James draws his illustration. And yet James does not ridicule this mental assent to the oneness of God. “Thou doest well.” Orthodoxy is better than heresy. Orthodoxy is “thinking straight,” and that is what we all need to do. Every man is right in his own eyes, and the rest are a bit “off.” But good as monotheism is, it is not enough (cf. Mohammedanism again). What James criticizes is mere intellectual assent with no vital union with God. “The demons also believe,” as well as you. The demons know only too well that God is and that he is one. They are monotheists, not polytheists. They recognized Jesus: “What have we to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24). Compare Matthew 8:29 and Luke 4:41. The demons are thoroughly orthodox on this point, have intellectual assent (“faith”), but they are still demons. They even shudder at the fact and the power of God as they feared Jesus (Mark 1:24; Luke 8:29). The word means to “bristle,” like the Latin _horreo_, with the hair standing on end. “Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up” (Job 4:15). So Daniel (7:15) says, “My spirit was grieved.” The argument is as complete as it can be. The Obedient Trust of Abraham (2:20-24)