James 2
1 My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality.
My friends, are you really trying to combine faith in Jesus Christ, our glorified Lord, with discrimination?
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,
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,
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”
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,”
4 haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
Haven’t you made distinctions among yourselves, and used evil standards of judgement?
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?
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?
6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you and personally drag you before the courts?
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?
7 Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?
Isn’t it they who malign that honorable name spoken over you at your baptism?
8 However, if you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well.
If you keep the royal law which runs – ‘You must love your neighbor as you love yourself,’ you are doing right;
9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.
but, if you discriminate, you commit a sin, and stand convicted by that same law of being offenders against it.
10 For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.
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.
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.
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.
12 So speak and so do as men who are to be judged by the law of freedom.
Therefore, speak and act as people 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.
For there will be justice without mercy for the person who has not acted mercifully. Mercy triumphs over Justice.
14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him?
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?
15 And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food,
Suppose some brother or sister should be in need of clothes and of daily bread,
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?
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?
17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.
In just the same way faith, if not followed by actions, is, by itself, a lifeless thing.
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.
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.”
19 You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe—and shudder.
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.
20 But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead?
Now do you really want to understand, fool, how it is that faith without actions leads to nothing?
21 Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
Look at our ancestor, Abraham. Was he not justified by his actions after he had offered his son, Isaac, on the altar?
22 You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected.
You see how, in his case, faith and actions went together; that his faith was perfected as the result of his actions;
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.
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.”
24 You see then that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith.
You see, then, that a person is justified by actions, and not by faith alone.
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?
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?
26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.
Just as a body is dead without a spirit, so faith is dead without actions.
