1 M y Christian brothers, our Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord of shining-greatness. Since your trust is in Him, do not look on one person as more important than another.

My brethren, pay no servile regard to people. Do not hold and practice the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory!

2 W hat if a man comes into your church wearing a gold ring and good clothes? And at the same time a poor man comes wearing old clothes.

For if a person comes into your congregation whose hands are adorned with gold rings and who is wearing splendid apparel, and also a poor in shabby clothes comes in,

3 W hat if you show respect to the man in good clothes and say, “Come and sit in this good place”? But if you say to the poor man, “Stand up over there,” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,”

And you pay special attention to the one who wears the splendid clothes and say to him, Sit here in this preferable seat! while you tell the poor, Stand there! or, Sit there on the floor at my feet!

4 a re you not thinking that one is more important than the other? This kind of thinking is sinful.

Are you not discriminating among your own and becoming critics and judges with wrong motives?

5 L isten, my dear Christian brothers, God has chosen those who are poor in the things of this world to be rich in faith. The holy nation of heaven is theirs. That is what God promised to those who love Him.

Listen, my beloved brethren: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and in their position as believers and to inherit the kingdom which He has promised to those who love Him?

6 Y ou have not shown respect to the poor man. Is it not the rich men who make it hard for you and take you to court?

But you have insulted (humiliated, dishonored, and shown your contempt for) the poor. Is it not the rich who domineer over you? Is it not they who drag you into the law courts?

7 T hey speak against the name of Christ. And it was Christ Who called you.

Is it not they who slander and blaspheme that precious name by which you are distinguished and called ?

8 Y ou do well when you obey the Holy Writings which say, “You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

If indeed you fulfill the royal Law in accordance with the Scripture, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you do well.

9 B ut if you look on one man as more important than another, you are sinning. And the Law says you are sinning. Keep the Whole Law

But if you show servile regard (prejudice, favoritism) for people, you commit sin and are rebuked and convicted by the Law as violators and offenders.

10 I f you obey all the Laws but one, you are as guilty as the one who has broken them all.

For whosoever keeps the Law whole but stumbles and offends in one has become guilty of all of it.

11 T he One Who said, “You must not do any sex sins,” also said, “You must not kill another person.” If you do no sex sins but kill someone, you are guilty of breaking the Law.

For He Who said, You shall not commit adultery, also said, You shall not kill. If you do not commit adultery but do kill, you have become guilty of transgressing the Law.

12 K eep on talking and acting as people who will be told they are guilty or not by the Law that makes men free.

So speak and so act as who are to be judged under the law of liberty.

13 A nyone who shows no loving-kindness will have no loving-kindness shown to him when he is told he is guilty. But if you show loving-kindness, God will show loving-kindness to you when you are told you are guilty. Faith Without Works Is Dead

For to him who has shown no mercy the judgment merciless, but mercy exults victoriously over judgment.

14 M y Christian brothers, what good does it do if you say you have faith but do not do things that prove you have faith? Can that kind of faith save you from the punishment of sin?

What is the use (profit), my brethren, for anyone to profess to have faith if he has no works ? Can faith save ?

15 W hat if a Christian does not have clothes or food?

If a brother or sister is poorly clad and lacks food for each day,

16 A nd one of you says to him, “Goodbye, keep yourself warm and eat well.” But if you do not give him what he needs, how does that help him?

And one of you says to him, Good-bye! Keep warm and well fed, without giving him the necessities for the body, what good does that do?

17 A faith that does not do things is a dead faith.

So also faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it up), by itself is destitute of power (inoperative, dead).

18 S omeone may say, “You have faith, and I do things. Prove to me you have faith when you are doing nothing. I will prove to you I have faith by doing things.”

But someone will say, You have faith, and I have works. Now you show me your faith apart from any works, and I by works will show you my faith.

19 Y ou believe there is one God. That is good! But even the demons believe that, and because they do, they shake.

You believe that God is one; you do well. So do the demons believe and shudder '> make a man’s hair stand on end and contract the surface of his skin]!

20 Y ou foolish man! Do I have to prove to you that faith without doing things is of no use?

Are you willing to be shown, you foolish (unproductive, spiritually deficient) fellow, that faith apart from works is inactive and ineffective and worthless?

21 W as not our early father Abraham right with God by what he did? He obeyed God and put his son Isaac on the altar to die.

Was not our forefather Abraham justified (made acceptable to God) by works when he brought to the altar as an offering his son Isaac?

22 Y ou see his faith working by what he did and his faith was made perfect by what he did.

You see that faith was cooperating with his works, and faith was completed and reached its supreme expression by works.

23 I t happened as the Holy Writings said it would happen. They say, “Abraham put his trust in God and he became right with God.” He was called the friend of God.

And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed in (adhered to, trusted in, and relied on) God, and this was accounted to him as righteousness (as conformity to God’s will in thought and deed), and he was called God’s friend.

24 A man becomes right with God by what he does and not by faith only.

You see that a man is justified (pronounced righteous before God) through what he does and not alone through faith.

25 T he same was true with Rahab, the woman who sold the use of her body. She became right with God by what she did in helping the men who had been sent to look through the country and sent them away by another road.

So also with Rahab the harlot—was she not shown to be justified (pronounced righteous before God) by deeds when she took in the scouts (spies) and sent them away by a different route?

26 T he body is dead when there is no spirit in it. It is the same with faith. Faith is dead when nothing is done.

For as the human body apart from the spirit is lifeless, so faith apart from works of obedience is also dead.