Isaiah 41:8
6 They help one another; one says to the other, ‘Be strong!’ 7 The craftsman encourages the metalsmith, the one who wields the hammer encourages the one who pounds on the anvil. He says of the welding, ‘It is good’18, and nails it down so it won’t fall over. 8 “You, my servant Israel, Jacob, whom I have chosen, offspring of Abraham my friend, 9 you whom I am bringing back from the earth’s extremities and have summoned from the remote regions—I told you, ‘You are my servant.’I have chosen you and not rejected you. 10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you! Don’t be frightened, for I am your God! I strengthen you—yes, I help you—yes, I uphold you with my victorious right hand!
James 2:23
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that his faith was working together with his works and his faith was perfected by works. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Now Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And similarly, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another way?
Notes and References
"... That James is here in close touch with traditional Jewish interpretation of Abraham is, finally, confirmed by the way he continues the quotation from Genesis 15:6: Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God (2:23). This title for Abraham (whose scriptural sources are Isaiah 41:8; 2 Chronicles 20:7, but not in LXX) was closely connected in the tradition with the series of tests of which the Aqedah was the greatest, or more specifically with the Aqedah, when Abraham was willing even to sacrifice his beloved son because of his love for God (Jubilees 17:16; Philo, Abr. 271). In his faithfulness to God under test Abraham proved his love for God (m. ’Avot 5:3; 1 Clem. 10:1; compare CD 3:2–3): ‘he was found faithful and he was recorded as a friend of the Lord in the heavenly tablets’ (Jubilees 19:9; compare 17:18; 30:19–20) ..."
Bauckham, Richard James: Wisdom of James, Disciple of Jesus the Sage (p. 124) Routledge, 1999