John Calvin on James 2:24 and Romans 3:28–

“It appears certain that [James] is speaking of the manifestation, not of the imputation of righteousness, as if he had said, ‘Those who are justified by faith prove their justification by obedience and good works, not by a bare and imaginary semblance of faith.’ In one word, he is not discussing the mode of justification, but requiring that the justification of all believers shall be operative. And as Paul contends that men are justified without the aid of works, so James will not allow any to be regarded as Justified who are destitute of good works … Let them twist the words of James as they may, they will never extract out of them more than two propositions: That an empty phantom of faith does not justify, and that the believer, not contented with such an imagination, manifests his justification by good works.”

–John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3:17:12