James 2:14-26

Worldwide English (New Testament)

¹⁴ My brothers, perhaps a man says, `I believe.' What good is that if he does not do anything? Can just believing save him?

¹⁵ Perhaps a brother or a sister needs clothes and has no food.

¹⁶ Perhaps one of you says to them, `God bless you. Be warm. Eat all you want.' But what good is that if you do not give them what they need for their bodies?

¹⁷ Believing is like that. If it does not do anything it is no good. Belief by itself is dead.

¹⁸ In that case someone may say, `You believe. And I do good things. Try to show me that you believe without doing any acts of kindness. I will show you that I believe by doing acts of kindness.'

¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. That is right. But even the bad spirits believe that. And they shake with fear.

²⁰ You are foolish! Believing is no good if it does not do anything good. Do you want to know that for sure?

²¹ Look at Abraham. God called our father Abraham a good man. This was because he gave his son Isaac to God on the holy table for a sacrifice.

²² You can see he believed. His faith and the things he did worked together. His believing was made all right because he did something.

²³ The words of the holy writings came true. They say, `Abraham believed God. And he was called a good man because of it.' In another place he was called `God's friend.'

²⁴ You see, a man is a good man because of the things he does, and not just because he believes.

²⁵ Rahab was a bad woman. But in the same way God called her a good woman because of something she did. She took the men into her house and then let them go out another way.

²⁶ A body is dead if it does not breathe. In the same way, believing is dead if it does not do anything good.