I think it was neither a compliment nor satire. Remember, by this time, Judaism had been horribly hijacked by the Pharisees so that it did not resemble the Judaism of the Law of Moses. The Pharisees placed much, if not all, their faith in the word and writing of the elders, not the scriptures themselves.
I would like to study this further. If my interpretation (read on) is correct, then "you do well" would be taken as a compliment. I need to study that possibility out more.
So, in effect, the Pharisees were teaching that to be "saved" one only had to affirm certain facts and keep the Law perfectly. But, in this, they grossly missed the intent of the Law--which is why you see most of Jesus' preaching in the Gospels as being against the Pharisees.
So, it is not out of the realm of possibility that the Pharisees thought that as long as one believed the right thing, what they did--their actions--did not matter. In fact, we know the Pharisees did precisely this. What James is preaching against is what we might call "anti-lordship salvation." James preached, rather strenuously, that true faith must be demonstrated in the life of the Believer.
Demons have no "faith," per se. They acknowledge the fact that God is one, not the biblical implications thereof. So, they shudder because God is that magnificent, not because they have "fear" of God.
Demons do have faith as James 2:19 says. And I didn't say they fear God, but they fear the wrath of God. Therefore, they proved their faith with a work of fear or shuddering.
Remember, there is no plan of salvation for demons. Salvation is never offered to them under any circumstances. To argue that demons have faith is to argue they could be saved. We know from scripture they cannot be and will not be saved, there is no such grace from God for them.
I was the one that made this point earlier. They have no kinsman redeemer. But as we can see in this passage, not all faith is saving faith (viz. dead faith). So to argue that the demons have faith is to ignore the plain understanding that "the demons believe." And their faith was visible in their apparent fear of the wrath to come.
So, no, James is not arguing what you suggest. James is arguing that simple agreement on facts is not sufficient to save. He is saying that faith must be demonstrated.
I have heard (and held) this interpretation so much. I'm trying to reconsider another possibility. Otherwise, the idea that faith brings a result is lost on the illustration of demons who believe and the result is they are scared. If James' point was that the demons have a dead faith or a meaningless faith (i.e. a faith that produces no works), then his illustration is lost when he demonstrates how demons do produce a visible result with their faith.
And I still think the idea of "God is one" might be more than mere monotheism. It might be a reference to the entire Shema and Judiastic orthodoxy (not Pharisaical Judaism).
I'm not sure where you're getting that "God is one" is being made into a prepositional phrase. There is no preposition in the phrase "You believe that God is one." Further, I don't think anyone is suggesting that we make "God is one" into a prepositional phrase. Please elaborate.
I did not mean to communicate that James is using a preposition. It was mentioned above that when an action verb is followed by a prepositional phrase, the verb is strengthened. This point was made to draw different distinction between the semantic range of pisteuw. However, James' construction would not allow for a prepositional phrase. Therefore, the comparison between James 2:19 & John 3:16 to argue for a distinction in pisteuw based on a preposition is irrelevant. That was my point. The basic lexical force of pisteuw is the same in both passages.
Blessings,
The Archangel
