The Bible

James Chapter 2

¹My brothers, don't hold the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus AnointedOne with partiality. ²For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor one in filthy clothing also comes in, ³and you-all pay special attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, "Sit here in a good place;" and you tell the poor one, "Stand there," or "Sit by my footstool" ⁴haven't you-all shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? ⁵Listen, my dear 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 selflessly-love him? ⁶But you-all have dishonored the poor man. Don't the rich oppress you-all and personally drag you before the courts? ⁷Don't they blaspheme the honorable name by which you-all are called?

⁸However, if you-all fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "Selflessly-love your neighbor as yourself," you-all do well. ⁹But if you-all show partiality, you-all fall short, being convicted by the law as lawbreakers. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, they have become guilty of it all. ¹¹For The One who said, "Don't commit adultery," also said, "Don't murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have [still] become a lawbreaker of the law. ¹²So speak and do as those who are going to be judged by the law of freedom. ¹³For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

¹⁴What good is it, my brothers, if someone says they have faith, but have no actions? Can [that kind of] faith save them? ¹⁵If a brother or sister is naked and lacking daily food, ¹⁶and one of you-all tells them, "Go in peace. Be warmed and filled.", but didn't give them the things that the body needs, what good is that? ¹⁷Even so faith, if it has no actions, is dead in itself. ¹⁸Sure, someone will say, "You have faith, and I have actions." Show me your faith without actions, and I will show you my faith by my actions.

¹⁹You believe [the Shema] that "God is one". You do well. The demons also believe. And shudder! ²⁰But do you want to know, vain human, that faith apart from actions is dead? ²¹Wasn't Abraham our father justified by actions, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? ²²You see that faith worked with his actions, and by actions faith was perfected. ²³So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness," and he was called the friend of God. ²⁴You-all then see that a person is justified by actions, and not by faith alone. ²⁵In the same way, wasn't Rahab the prostitute also justified by actions when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? ²⁶For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from actions is dead.