James 2

¹My brothers, do not hold the allegiance you have in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Glory, while practicing favoritism based on status. ²For if a man with gold rings and fine, shimmering clothing enters your gathering, and a poor man in filthy clothing also enters, ³and you pay special attention to the one wearing the shimmering clothes and say, “You sit here in the place of honor,” but you say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or “Sit at my feet by my footstool,” ⁴have you not made discriminatory distinctions among yourselves and become judges with corrupt motives?

⁵Listen, my beloved brothers: Has God not chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world-system to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him? ⁶But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into the law courts? ⁷Is it not they who blaspheme the noble Name that was called over you?

⁸If, however, you truly fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. ⁹But if you practice favoritism based on status, you are committing a sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles in one point has become guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹For the one who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹²So speak and so act as people who are going to be judged by the law of freedom. ¹³For judgment is merciless to the one who has not shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

¹⁴What is the use, my brothers, if someone says they have faith but they do not have works? Can that kind of faith save them? ¹⁵If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking daily food, ¹⁶and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; stay warm and eat your fill,” but you do not give them the necessities for the body, what is the use? ¹⁷In the same way, faith, if it does not have works, is dead by 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 means of my works. ¹⁹You believe that God is one? You do well. Even the demons believe—and they shudder! ²⁰Do you want to be shown, you empty person, that faith apart from works is useless? ²¹Was not our father Abraham shown to be just by his works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? ²²You see that his faith was working together with his works, and by the works, his faith was brought to its goal. ²³And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham put his trust in God, and it was credited to him as justice,” and he was called a friend of God. ²⁴You see that a person is made just by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute also shown to be just by her works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by a different way? ²⁶For just as the body without the breath of life is dead, so also faith without works is dead.