Faith and Works

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can his faith[a] save him?

15 If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it?(A) 17 In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.

18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.”[b] Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith from my works.[c](B) 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. The demons also believe—and they shudder.(C)

20 Foolish man! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless? 21 Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was perfected.(D) 23 So the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness,(E)[d] and he was called God’s friend.(F) 24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by a different route?(G) 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. James 2:14 Or Can faith, or Can that faith, or Can such faith
  2. James 2:18 The quotation may end here or after v. 18b or v. 19.
  3. James 2:18 Other mss read Show me your faith from your works, and from my works I will show you my faith.
  4. James 2:23 Gn 15:6

Bible Gateway Recommends