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20 Fool! When will you ever learn that “believing” is useless without doing what God wants you to? Faith that does not result in good deeds is not real faith.

21 Don’t you remember that even our father Abraham was declared good because of what he did when he was willing to obey God, even if it meant offering his son Isaac to die on the altar? 22 You see, he was trusting God so much that he was willing to do whatever God told him to; his faith was made complete by what he did—by his actions, his good deeds. 23 And so it happened just as the Scriptures say, that Abraham trusted God, and the Lord declared him good in God’s sight, and he was even called “the friend of God.” 24 So you see, a man is saved by what he does, as well as by what he believes.

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20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[a]?(A) 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?(B) 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together,(C) and his faith was made complete by what he did.(D) 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”[b](E) and he was called God’s friend.(F) 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

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Footnotes

  1. James 2:20 Some early manuscripts dead
  2. James 2:23 Gen. 15:6