James 2
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
2 My brethren, pay no servile regard to people [show no prejudice, no partiality]. Do not [attempt to] hold and practice the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ [the Lord] of glory [together with snobbery]!
2 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 [man] in shabby clothes comes in,
3 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 [man], Stand there! or, Sit there on the floor at my feet!
4 Are you not discriminating among your own and becoming critics and judges with wrong motives?
5 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 But you [in contrast] 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 Is it not they who slander and blaspheme that precious name by which you are distinguished and called [the name of Christ invoked in baptism]?
8 If indeed you [really] fulfill the royal Law in accordance with the Scripture, You shall love your neighbor as [you love] yourself, you do well.(A)
9 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 For whosoever keeps the Law [as a] whole but stumbles and offends in one [single instance] has become guilty of [breaking] all of it.
11 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 [whole] Law.(B)
12 So speak and so act as [people should] who are to be judged under the law of liberty [the moral instruction given by Christ, especially about love].
13 For to him who has shown no mercy the judgment [will be] merciless, but mercy [full of glad confidence] exults victoriously over judgment.
14 What is the use (profit), my brethren, for anyone to profess to have faith if he has no [good] works [to show for it]? Can [such] faith save [his soul]?
15 If a brother or sister is poorly clad and lacks food for each day,
16 And one of you says to him, Good-bye! Keep [yourself] warm and well fed, without giving him the necessities for the body, what good does that do?
17 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 But someone will say [to you then], You [say you] have faith, and I have [good] works. Now you show me your [alleged] faith apart from any [good] works [if you can], and I by [good] works [of obedience] will show you my faith.
19 You believe that God is one; you do well. So do the demons believe and shudder [in terror and horror such as [a]make a man’s hair stand on end and contract the surface of his skin]!
20 Are you willing to be shown [proof], you foolish (unproductive, spiritually deficient) fellow, that faith apart from [good] works is inactive and ineffective and worthless?
21 Was not our forefather Abraham [shown to be] justified (made acceptable to God) by [his] works when he brought to the altar as an offering his [own] son Isaac?(C)
22 You see that [his] faith was cooperating with his works, and [his] faith was completed and reached its supreme expression [when he implemented it] by [good] works.
23 And [so] 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.(D)
24 You see that a man is justified (pronounced righteous before God) through what he does and not alone through faith [through works of obedience as well as by what he believes].
25 So also with Rahab the harlot—was she not shown to be justified (pronounced righteous before God) by [good] deeds when she took in the scouts (spies) and sent them away by a different route?(E)
26 For as the human body apart from the spirit is lifeless, so faith apart from [its] works of obedience is also dead.
Footnotes
- James 2:19 Marvin Vincent, Word Studies.
James 2
King James Version
2 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;
3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:
4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?
5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?
8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
12 So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
雅各書 2
Chinese Union Version Modern Punctuation (Traditional)
不要重富輕貧
2 我的弟兄們，你們信奉我們榮耀的主耶穌基督，便不可按著外貌待人。 2 若有一個人戴著金戒指、穿著華美衣服進你們的會堂去，又有一個窮人穿著骯髒衣服也進去， 3 你們就看重那穿華美衣服的人，說「請坐在這好位上」，又對那窮人說「你站在那裡」或「坐在我腳凳下邊」， 4 這豈不是你們偏心待人，用惡意斷定人嗎？ 5 我親愛的弟兄們，請聽：神豈不是揀選了世上的貧窮人，叫他們在信上富足，並承受他所應許給那些愛他之人的國嗎？ 6 你們反倒羞辱貧窮人！那富足人豈不是欺壓你們，拉你們到公堂去嗎？ 7 他們不是褻瀆你們所敬奉[a]的尊名嗎？ 8 經上記著說：「要愛人如己。」
當遵守全律法
你們若全守這至尊的律法，才是好的。 9 但你們若按外貌待人，便是犯罪，被律法定為犯法的。 10 因為凡遵守全律法的，只在一條上跌倒，他就是犯了眾條。 11 原來那說「不可姦淫」的，也說「不可殺人」。你就是不姦淫，卻殺人，仍是成了犯律法的。 12 你們既然要按使人自由的律法受審判，就該照這律法說話行事。 13 因為那不憐憫人的，也要受無憐憫的審判；憐憫原是向審判誇勝。
信無善行乃是死的
14 我的弟兄們，若有人說自己有信心，卻沒有行為，有什麼益處呢？這信心能救他嗎？ 15 若是弟兄或是姐妹赤身露體，又缺了日用的飲食， 16 你們中間有人對他們說「平平安安地去吧，願你們穿得暖、吃得飽」，卻不給他們身體所需用的，這有什麼益處呢？ 17 這樣，信心若沒有行為就是死的。 18 必有人說：「你有信心，我有行為。」你將你沒有行為的信心指給我看，我便藉著我的行為，將我的信心指給你看。 19 你信神只有一位，你信的不錯！鬼魔也信，卻是戰驚。 20 虛浮的人哪，你願意知道沒有行為的信心是死的嗎？
亞伯拉罕稱義是因行為不是單因信
21 我們的祖宗亞伯拉罕把他兒子以撒獻在壇上，豈不是因行為稱義嗎？ 22 可見信心是與他的行為並行，而且信心因著行為才得成全。 23 這就應驗經上所說「亞伯拉罕信神，這就算為他的義」，他又得稱為神的朋友。 24 這樣看來，人稱義是因著行為，不是單因著信。 25 妓女喇合接待使者，又放他們從別的路上出去，不也是一樣因行為稱義嗎？ 26 身體沒有靈魂是死的，信心沒有行為也是死的。
Footnotes
- 雅各書 2:7 「所敬奉」或作「被稱」。
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