1 M y brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.

2 F or if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes,

3 a nd you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine 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,”

4 h ave you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?

5 L isten, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

6 B ut you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?

7 D o they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?

8 I f, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “ You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.

9 B ut if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

10 F or whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.

11 F or He who said, “ Do not commit adultery,” also said, “ Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

12 S o speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.

13 F or judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment. Faith and Works

14 W hat use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?

15 I f a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,

16 a nd one of you says to them, “ Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?

17 E ven so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

18 B ut someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

19 Y ou believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.

20 B ut are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?

21 W as not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?

22 Y ou see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;

23 a nd the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “ And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God.

24 Y ou see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.

25 I n the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

26 F or just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.