James 2

¹My brothers , show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ , the Lord of glory .

²For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly , and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in,

³and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say , You sit here in a good place , while you say to the poor man , You stand over there , or , Sit down at my feet ,

⁴have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts ?

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

⁶But you have dishonored the poor man . Are not the rich the ones who oppress you , and the ones who drag you into court ?

⁷Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called ?

⁸If you really 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 and are convicted by the law as transgressors .

¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it .

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

¹²So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty .

¹³For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy . Mercy triumphs over judgment .

¹⁴What good is it , my brothers , if someone says he has faith but does not have works ? Can that faith save him ?

¹⁵If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food ,

¹⁶and one of you says to them , Go in peace , be warmed and filled , without giving them the things needed for the body , what good is that ?

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

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 be shown , you foolish person , that faith apart from works is useless ?

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

²²You see that faith was active along with his works , and faith was completed by his works ;

²³and the Scripture was fulfilled that says , Abraham believed God , and it was counted 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 .

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

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