# James 2 [[James-01|← James 01]] | [[James]] | [[James-03|James 03 →]] *** ###### v1 My brothers, don't hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with partiality. ###### v2 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, ###### v3 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" ###### v4 haven't you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? ###### v5 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? ###### v6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Don't the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts? ###### v7 Don't they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called? ###### v8 However, if you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well. ###### v9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors. ###### v10 For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. ###### v11 For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ###### v12 So speak and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of freedom. ###### v13 For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. ###### v14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him? ###### v15 And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, ###### v16 and one of you tells them, "Go in peace. Be warmed and filled;" yet you didn't give them the things the body needs, what good is it? ###### v17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself. ###### v18 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. ###### v19 You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder. ###### v20 But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead? ###### v21 Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? ###### v22 You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected. ###### v23 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. ###### v24 You see then that by works, a man is justified, and not only by faith. ###### v25 In the same way, wasn't Rahab the prostitute also justified by works, in that she received the messengers and sent them out another way? ###### v26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead. *** [[James-01|← James 01]] | [[James]] | [[James-03|James 03 →]]