2
1 My brothers, don’t
hold the faith
of our glorious
Lord Jesus Christ
with partiality.
2 For
if a man
with a gold
ring, in fine
clothing, comes
into your
synagogue,
and a poor
man in filthy
clothing also
comes in,
3 and
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”
4 haven’t
you shown partiality among
yourselves, and
become judges with
evil thoughts?
5 Listen,
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?
6 But
you have dishonored
the poor man.
Don’t the rich
oppress you
and personally drag
you before the
courts?
7 Don’t
they blaspheme the
honorable name by
which you are
called?
8 However,
if you fulfill
the royal law
according to the
Scripture, “You
shall love your
neighbor as
yourself,”
you do well.
9 But
if you show
partiality, you
commit sin, being
convicted by the
law as
transgressors.
10 For
whoever keeps the
whole law, and
yet stumbles in
one point, he has
become guilty of
all.
11 For
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.
12 So
speak and so
do as men who
are to be
judged by the
law of freedom.
13 For
judgment is
without mercy to
him who has
shown no mercy.
Mercy triumphs
over judgment.
14 What
good is it,
my brothers, if a
man says he
has faith, but
has no works?
Can faith save
him?
15 And
if a brother
or sister is naked
and in lack
of daily food,
16 and
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?
17 Even
so faith, if
it has no
works, is dead
in itself.
18 Yes, 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.
19 You
believe that God
is one. You
do well. The
demons also
believe—and
shudder.
20 But
do you want
to know, vain man,
that faith apart
from works is dead?
21 Wasn’t
Abraham our father
justified by works,
in that he offered
up Isaac his
son on the
altar?
22 You see
that faith worked
with his works,
and by works
faith was
perfected.
23 So
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.
24 You
see then that
by works a
man is justified,
and not only
by faith.
25 In
the same way,
wasn’t Rahab the
prostitute also
justified by works
when she received
the messengers and
sent them out
another way?
26 For
as the body
apart from the
spirit is dead,
even so faith
apart from works
is dead.