James 2

The Sin of Favoritism

¹My brothers and sisters, do not show favoritism as you hold on to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. ^{a 2}For if someone comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and a poor person dressed in filthy clothes also comes in, ³if you look with favor on the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here in a good place,” and yet you say to the poor person, “Stand over there,” or “Sit here on the floor by my footstool,” ⁴haven’t you made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Didn’t God choose the poor in this world ^b to be rich in faith ^c and heirs ^d of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? ⁶Yet you have dishonored the poor. ^e Don’t the rich oppress you and drag ^f you into court? ⁷Don’t they blaspheme the good name that was invoked over you? ^g

⁸Indeed, if you fulfill the royal law prescribed in the Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, ^h,ⁱ you are doing well. ⁹If, however, you show favoritism, ^j you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all. ^{k 11}For he who said, Do not commit adultery, ^l also said, Do not murder.^m,ⁿ So if you do not commit adultery, but you murder, you are a lawbreaker.

¹²Speak and act as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom. ^{o 13}For judgment is without mercy to the one who has not shown mercy. ^p Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Faith and Works

¹⁴What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him?

¹⁵If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food ¹⁶and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? ^{q 17}In 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.” ^r Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith by my works. ^{s 19}You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe #— #and they shudder. ^t

²⁰Senseless person! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless? ²¹Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works in offering Isaac his son on the altar? ²²You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was made complete, ^{u 23}and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, ^v,^w and he was called God’s friend. ^{x 24}You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works in receiving the messengers and sending them out by a different route? ^{y 26}For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.