Yet God promised Rahab deliverance by His grace and through her faith. And she did. She risked her own life by hiding the spies from the king of Jericho. While not condoning her deception, the Scriptures still acknowledge her actions, which attested to her active faith. From both ends of the spectrum, James portrayed the lives of those who are examples of a faith that works.
Dead faith can exist in a person or in a church.
Any so-called believer in Jesus who refuses to obey and live out the commands of the Messiah is dead. A person may have deeds and not have true faith, but a person will never have true faith without deeds. These people, just like some in our day, followed Jesus for all the wrong reasons. They had some kind of faith, but not the proper kind. Jesus did not entrust Himself to those with false faith then, nor will He do so today.