James 2
1 My friends, are you really trying to combine faith in Jesus Christ, our glorified Lord, with discrimination?
My brothers, if you have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory, do not take a man's position into account.
2 Suppose a visitor should enter your synagogue, with gold rings and in grand clothes, and suppose a poor man should come in also, in shabby clothes,
For if a man comes into your Synagogue in fair clothing and with a gold ring, and a poor man comes in with dirty clothing,
3 and you show more respect to the visitor who is wearing grand clothes, and say – ‘There is a good seat for you here,’ but to the poor man – ‘You must stand; or sit down there by my footstool,’
And you do honour to the man in fair clothing and say, Come here and take this good place; and you say to the poor man, Take up your position there, or be seated at my feet;
4 Haven’t you made distinctions among yourselves, and used evil standards of judgement?
Is there not a division in your minds? have you not become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my dear friends. Has not God chosen those who are poor in the things of this world to be rich through their faith, and to possess the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him?
Give ear, my dear brothers; are not those who are poor in the things of this world marked out by God to have faith as their wealth, and for their heritage the kingdom which he has said he will give to those who have love for him?
6 But you – you insult the poor man! Isn’t it the rich who oppress you? Isn’t it they who drag you into law courts?
But you have put the poor man to shame. Are not the men of wealth rulers over you? do they not take you by force before their judges?
7 Isn’t it they who malign that honourable name spoken over you at your baptism?
Do they not say evil of the holy name which was given to you?
8 If you keep the royal law which runs – “You must love your neighbour as you love yourself,” you are doing right;
But if you keep the greatest law of all, as it is given in the holy Writings, Have love for your neighbour as for yourself, you do well:
9 but, if you discriminate, you commit a sin, and stand convicted by that same law of being offenders against it.
But if you take a man's position into account, you do evil, and are judged as evil-doers by the law.
10 For a person who has laid the Law, as a whole, to heart, but has failed in one particular, is accountable for breaking all its provisions.
For anyone who keeps all the law, but makes a slip in one point, is judged to have gone against it all.
11 He who said “You must not commit adultery” also said “You must not murder.” If, then, you commit murder but not adultery, you are still an offender against the Law.
For he who said, Do not be untrue in married life, is the same who said, Put no man to death. Now if you are not untrue in married life, but you put a man to death, the law is broken.
12 Therefore, speak and act as people who are to be judged by the “Law of freedom.”
Let your words and your acts be those of men who are to be judged by the law which makes free.
13 For there will be justice without mercy for the person who has not acted mercifully. Mercy triumphs over Justice.
For the man who has had no mercy will be judged without mercy, but mercy takes pride in overcoming judging.
14 My friends, what good is it if someone claims that they have faith, but they do not prove it by actions? Can such faith save them?
What use is it, my brothers, for a man to say that he has faith, if he does nothing? will such a faith give him salvation?
15 Suppose some brother or sister should be in need of clothes and of daily bread,
If a brother or a sister is without clothing and in need of the day's food,
16 and one of you says to them – ‘Go, and peace be with you; keep warm and eat well!’ and yet you do not actually give them the necessities of life, what good would it be to them?
And one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warm and full of food; but you do not give them the things of which their bodies have need, what profit is there in this?
17 In just the same way faith, if not followed by actions, is, by itself, a lifeless thing.
Even so faith without works is dead.
18 Someone, indeed, may say – ‘You are a man of faith, and I am a man of action.’ ‘Then show me your faith,’ I reply, ‘apart from any actions, and I will show you my faith by my actions.’
But a man may say, You have faith and I have works; let me see your faith without your works, and I will make my faith clear to you by my works.
19 It is a part of your faith, is it not, that there is one God? Good; yet even the demons have that faith, and tremble at the thought.
You have the belief that God is one, and you do well: the evil spirits have the same belief, shaking with fear.
20 Now do you really want to understand, fool, how it is that faith without actions leads to nothing?
Do you not see, O foolish man, that faith without works is of no use?
21 Look at our ancestor, Abraham. Was he not justified by his actions after he had offered his son, Isaac, on the altar?
Was not the righteousness of Abraham our father judged by his works, when he made an offering of Isaac his son on the altar?
22 You see how, in his case, faith and actions went together; that his faith was perfected as the result of his actions;
You see that his faith was helping his works and was made complete by them;
23 and that in this way the words of scripture came true – ‘Abraham believed God, and that was regarded by God as righteousness,’ and ‘He was called the friend of God.’
And the holy Writings were put into effect which said, And Abraham had faith in God and it was put to his account as righteousness; and he was named the friend of God.
24 You see, then, that a person is justified by actions, and not by faith alone.
You see that a man's righteousness is judged by his works and not by his faith only.
25 Wasn’t it the same with the prostitute, Rahab? Was she not justified by her actions, after she had welcomed the messengers and helped them escape by another road?
And in the same way, was not the righteousness of Rahab, the loose woman, judged by her works, when she took into her house those who were sent and let them go out by another way?
26 Just as a body is dead without a spirit, so faith is dead without actions.
For as the body without the spirit is dead even so faith without works is dead.
