James 2

¹My brothers, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with acts of partiality.

²For if a gold-ringed man in splendid clothing enters your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also enters,

³and you give attention to the one wearing the splendid clothing and say to him, 'You sit here in the best place,' and you say to the poor man, 'You stand over there, or sit here at my footstool,'

⁴And have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges of evil thoughts?

⁵Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?

⁶But you have dishonored the poor. Do not the rich oppress you, and do they themselves drag you into courts?

⁷Do they not blaspheme the honorable name that was invoked over you?

⁸If however you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,' you are doing well.

⁹But if you show partiality, you are committing sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.

¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at one point has become guilty of all of it.

¹¹For the one who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not murder.' If however you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

¹²So speak and so act as those going to be judged by the law of freedom.

¹³For judgment is merciless to the one who has not shown mercy; and mercy triumphs over judgment.

¹⁴What is the benefit, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?

¹⁵If now a brother or sister is naked and lacking daily food,

¹⁶and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' but does not give them the bodily necessities, what is the benefit?

¹⁷So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead in itself.

¹⁸But someone will say, 'You have faith and I have works.' Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

¹⁹You believe that God is one. You do well! Even the demons believe and shudder.

²⁰Do you want to know, O empty person, that faith apart from works is worthless?

²¹Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?

²²Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by the works faith was perfected?

²³And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, 'And Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness,' and he was called a friend of God.

²⁴You see therefore that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

²⁵And likewise also was not Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by a different way?

²⁶For just as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.