Legitimate Application Requires Doctrine

James wants his readers to keep on studying the Word of God - as well as metabolizing it and applying it during pressure tests. He wants them to "clean up" their doctrinal understanding, and then align their application (works) to that corrected doctrine in their soul. People exercise "faith in something" nearly every day of their life. But often that faith is completely misguided because the object of their faith is completely unworthy. The exercise of faith is only beneficial if it has a worthy direct object. Faith before salvation has the direct object of Jesus Christ; faith after salvation has the direct object of Bible doctrine. You cannot become a born-again believer by circumventing Jesus Christ. You cannot grow spiritually by circumventing Bible doctrine.