¹My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality .

²For if a man with a gold ring , in fine clothing , comes into your synagogue , and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in ,[#2:2 or, meeting]

³and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing and say , “Sit here in a good place ;” and you tell the poor man , “Stand there ,” or “Sit by my footstool ”

⁴haven’t you shown partiality amongst yourselves , and become judges with evil thoughts ?

⁵Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him ?

⁶But you have dishonoured the poor man . Don’t the rich oppress you and personally drag you before the courts ?

⁷Don’t they blaspheme the honourable name by which you are called ?

⁸However , if you fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture , “You shall love your neighbour as yourself ,” you do well .[#Leviticus 19:18]

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

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

¹¹For he who said , “Do not commit adultery ,” also said , “Do not commit murder .” Now if you do not commit adultery but do murder , you have become a transgressor of the law .[#Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:18; #Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17]

¹²So speak and so do as men who are to be judged by the law of freedom .

¹³For judgement is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy . Mercy triumphs over judgement.

¹⁴What good is it , my brothers, if a man says he has faith , but has no works ? Can faith save him ?

¹⁵And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food ,

¹⁶and one of you tells them , “Go in peace . Be warmed and filled ;” yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs , what good is it ?

¹⁷Even so faith , if it has no works , is dead in itself .

¹⁸Yes, a man will say , “You have faith , and I have works .” Show me your faith without works , and I will show you my faith by my works .

¹⁹You believe that God is one . You do well . The demons also believe —and shudder .

²⁰But do you want to know , vain man, that faith apart from works is dead?

²¹Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works , in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar ?

²²You see that faith worked with his works , and by works faith was perfected .

²³So the Scripture was fulfilled which says , “Abraham believed God , and it was accounted to him as righteousness ,” and he was called the friend of God .[#Genesis 15:6]

²⁴You see then that by works a man is justified , and not only by faith .

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

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