James 2 — Legacy Standard Bible

The Sin of Favoritism

2^aMy brothers, ^bdo not hold your faith in our ¹^,^cglorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of ^dpersonal favoritism. ²For if a man comes into your ¹assembly with a gold ring and dressed in ^abright clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in ^bdirty clothes, ³and you ¹pay special attention to the one who is wearing the ^abright clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” ⁴have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges ^awith evil thoughts? ⁵Listen, ^amy beloved brothers: did not ^bGod choose the poor ¹of this world to be ^crich in faith and ^dheirs of the kingdom which He ^epromised to those who love Him? ⁶But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and they themselves ^adrag you into ¹court? ⁷^aDo they not blaspheme the good name ¹by which you have been called?

⁸If, however, you ^aare fulfilling the ¹royal law according to the Scripture, “^bYou shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. ⁹But if you ^ashow partiality, you are committing sin, being convicted by the ¹law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole ¹law and yet ^astumbles in one point, he has become ^bguilty of all. ¹¹For He who said, “^aDo not commit adultery,” also said, “^bDo not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the ¹law. ¹²So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by ^athe law of freedom. ¹³For ^ajudgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy ¹triumphs over judgment.

Faith and Works

¹⁴^aWhat use is it, ^bmy brothers, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can ¹that faith save him? ¹⁵^aIf a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, ¹⁶and one of you says to them, “^aGo in peace, ¹be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? ¹⁷Even so ^afaith, if it has no works, is ¹dead by itself.

¹⁸^aBut someone will say, “You have faith; and I have works. Show me your ^bfaith without the works, and I will ^cshow you my faith ^dby my works.” ¹⁹You believe that ¹^,^aGod is one. ^bYou do well; ^cthe demons also believe, and shudder. ²⁰But are you willing to recognize, ^ayou foolish fellow, that ^bfaith without works is useless? ²¹^aWas not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? ²²You see that ^afaith was working with his works, and ¹as a result of the ^bworks, faith was ²perfected. ²³And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “^aAnd Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness,” and he was called ^bthe friend of God. ²⁴You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵And in the same way, was not ^aRahab the harlot also justified by works ^bwhen she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? ²⁶For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also ^afaith without works is dead.