²⁴ You see that a man (believer) is justified by works and not by faith alone [that is, by acts of obedience a born-again believer reveals his faith].

²⁶ For just as the [human] body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works [of obedience] is also dead.

¹⁷ But if, while we seek to be justified in Christ [by faith], we ourselves are found to be sinners, does that make Christ an advocate or promoter of our sin? Certainly not!

¹³ For it is not those who merely hear the Law [as it is read aloud] who are just or righteous before God, but it is those who [actually] obey the Law who will be ^[a]justified [pronounced free of the guilt of sin and declared acceptable to Him]. ¹⁴ When Gentiles, who do not have the Law [since it was given only to Jews], do ^[b]instinctively the things the Law requires [guided only by their conscience], they are a law to themselves, though they do not have the Law.

¹⁹ “So, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, ²⁰ but I openly proclaimed first to those at Damascus, then at Jerusalem and throughout the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent [change their inner self—their old way of thinking] and turn to God, doing deeds and living lives which are consistent with repentance.