James 2

The Sin of Partiality

¹My brothers and sisters, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.

²For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and is dressed in bright clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes also comes in,[#2:2 Or synagogue]

³and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the bright clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place, ” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,”[#2:3 Lit look at]

⁴have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?[#2:4 Lit reasonings]

⁵Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters: did God not choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?[#2:5 Lit to the]

⁶But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?[#2:6 Lit they themselves; #2:6 Lit courts]

⁷Do they not blaspheme the good name by which you have been called?[#2:7 Lit which has been called upon you]

⁸If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself ,” you are doing well.[#2:8 Or law of our King]

⁹But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the Law as violators.

¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole Law, yet stumbles in one point, has become guilty of all.

¹¹For He who said, “Do not commit adultery ,” also said, “Do not murder .” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do murder, you have become a violator of the Law.

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

¹³For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.[#2:13 Lit boasts against]

Faith and Works

¹⁴What use is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him?[#2:14 Lit the]

¹⁵If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,

¹⁶and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?[#2:16 Or warm yourselves and fill yourselves]

¹⁷In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.[#2:17 Or dead by its own standards]

¹⁸But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”[#2:18 Lit will]

¹⁹You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.[#2:19 One early ms there is one God]

²⁰But are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless?

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

²²You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;[#2:22 Or by the deeds; #2:22 Or completed]

²³and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God , and it was credited to him as righteousness ,” and he was called a friend of God.

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

²⁵In the same way, was Rahab the prostitute not justified by works also when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

²⁶For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.