The In-Dept Study of the Bible
James 02
1 My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our
glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality.
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,
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”
4 haven’t you shown partiality among
yourselves, and become judges with evil
thoughts?
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?
6 But you have dishonored the poor man.
Don’t the rich oppress you and personally
drag you before the courts?
7 Don’t they blaspheme the honorable
name by which you are called?
8 However, if you fulfill the royal law
according to the Scripture, “You shall love
your neighbor as yourself,”* you do well.
9 But if you show partiality, you commit
sin, being convicted by the law as
transgressors.
10 For whoever keeps the whole law, and
yet stumbles in one point, he has become
guilty of all.
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.
12 So speak and so do as men 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.
14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man
says he has faith, but has no works? Can
faith save him?
15 And if a brother or sister is naked and
in lack of daily food,
16 and one of youtells them, “Go inpeace.
Be warmed and filled;” yet you didn’t give
them the things the body needs, what good
is it?
17 Even so faith, ifit has no works, is dead
in itself.
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.
19 You believe that God is one. You do
well. The demons also believe—and shudder.
20 But do you want to know, vain man,
that faith apart from works is dead?
21 Wasn’t Abraham our father justified
by works, in that he offered up Isaac his
son on the altar?
22 You see that faith worked with his
works, and by works faith was perfected.
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.
24 You see then that by works a man is
justified, and not only by faith.
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?
26 For as the body apart from the spirit
is dead, even so faith apart from works is
dead.