Chapter 2

Sin of Partiality.^{[a] 1} My brothers, show no partiality as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. ² For if a man with gold rings on his fingers and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and a poor person in shabby clothes also comes in, ³ and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here, please,” while you say to the poor one, “Stand there,” or “Sit at my feet,” ⁴ have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil designs?^[b]

⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers. Did not God choose those who are poor^[c] in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?^{(A) 6} But you dishonored the poor person. Are not the rich oppressing you? And do they themselves not haul you off to court? ⁷ Is it not they who blaspheme the noble name that was invoked over you?^{(B) 8} However, if you fulfill the royal^[d] law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.^{(C) 9} But if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.^{(D) 10} For whoever keeps the whole law, but falls short in one particular, has become guilty in respect to all of it.^{(E) 11} For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not kill.”^(F) Even if you do not commit adultery but kill, you have become a transgressor of the law. ^12 (G)So speak and so act as people who will be judged by the law of freedom.^{[e] 13} For the judgment is merciless to one who has not shown mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.^(H)

Faith and Works.^{[f] 14} What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?^{(I) 15} If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it?^{(J) 17} So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

¹⁸ Indeed someone may say, “You have faith and I have works.” Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works. ¹⁹ You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe that and tremble. ²⁰ Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that faith without works is useless? ²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar?^{(K) 22} You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by the works. ²³ Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called “the friend of God.”^{(L) 24} See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵ And in the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by a different route?^{(M) 26} For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.