James 2
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 2
Rich and Poor in the Christian Assembly.[a] 1 My brethren, since you are believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, you must never practice favoritism. 2 Suppose a man wearing a gold ring and expensive clothes comes into your assembly as well as a poor man dressed in shabby clothes. 3 If you lavish special attention on the one wearing the expensive clothes and say, “Please sit in this good seat,” while to the poor man you say, “Stand over there,” or “Sit on the floor at my feet,” 4 have you not shown favoritism among yourselves and judged by wrongful standards?
5 Listen to me, my beloved brethren. Did not God choose those who are poor[b] in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him? 6 But you have humiliated the poor man. Furthermore, is it not the rich who oppress you? Are they not the ones who drag you into court? 7 Is it not they who blaspheme the noble name that was invoked over you?
8 You will be doing well if you truly observe the sovereign law enjoined in Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 9 However, if you show partiality, you are committing a sin and stand convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever observes the whole Law but trips up on a single point is held guilty of breaking all of it.
11 The one who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not kill.” Now if you do not commit adultery but you do kill, you have become a lawbreaker. 12 Therefore, always speak and act as those who will be judged by the law of freedom. 13 For judgment will be without mercy to the one who has not shown mercy, but mercy triumphs over judgment.
14 True Faith Is Proved by Works.[c] What good is it, my brethren, if someone claims to have faith but does not have good works? Can such faith save him? 15 [d]Suppose a brother or sister is naked and lacks his or her daily food. 16 If one of you says to such a person, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat well,” but does not take care of that person’s physical needs, what is the good of that? 17 In the same way, faith by itself is dead if it does not have works.
18 But perhaps someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and by works I will show you my faith. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well to assert that. But even the demons believe and tremble.
20 You fool! Do you want proof that faith without works is futile? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 Thus, you can see that his faith and his works were active together; his faith was brought to completion by works.
23 Thus, the words of Scripture were fulfilled that say, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. 24 You can see, then, that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
25 Likewise, Rahab the prostitute,[e] was she not also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them away by a different road? 26 For just as the body is dead without a spirit, so faith without works is also dead.
Footnotes
- James 2:1 Remaining impartial is the most difficult as well as the most significant demand of the Bible and the Gospel. But even in the liturgical assembly notables are often honored because of their fortune and their culture, while the poor are sometimes put down. The Gospel cannot stand for such discrimination. On the contrary, it calls for all to be poor.
- James 2:5 Poor: the poor of the Lord, who relied on God alone and were in turn loved by God and under his protection (see Ps 35:10; Isa 61:1; Mt 5:3; 11:5; Lk 6:20; 1 Cor 1:17-20).
- James 2:14 The main concern of the Letter is expressed in this passage. The author attacks a faith that is satisfied with words and ideas that do not lay hold of one’s existence and do not find expression in charity and prayer. Paul had said that salvation comes only through faith in Jesus Christ, but this is a faith that unsettles and transforms one’s life (see Rom 3:28; Gal 2:16). Like him, James, too, gives Abraham, the model for believers, as an example, but at first sight the two writers seem to draw contrary conclusions. In fact, however, James regards Abraham’s action as a gesture and expression of his faith; in this context, Paul speaks rather of the fruits of the Spirit (see Rom 12–14; 1 Cor 13:1; 4:20; Gal 5:13; 6:10). The two writers both cite Rahab, of whom the Book of Joshua speaks. The Letter of James by no means minimizes faith; rather it demands an authentic life.
- James 2:15 These verses illustrate a faith that is faulty similar to the way 1 Jn 3:17 illustrates a love that is faulty. What is needed is a faith that is genuine, i.e., operative.
- James 2:25 Rahab the prostitute: the author of the Letter is not intending to approve Rahab’s occupation but simply to commend the faith she showed in helping the spies (see Jos 2; see also Heb 11:31).
James 2
1599 Geneva Bible
2 1 He sayeth, that to have respect of persons is not agreeable to Christ’s faith, 14 which to profess in words is not enough, unless 15 we show it also in deeds of mercy and charity, 21 after the example of Abraham.
1 My [a]brethren, have not the faith of our [b]glorious Lord Jesus Christ (A)in respect of persons.
2 For if there come into your company a man with a gold ring, and in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment,
3 And ye have a respect to him that weareth the gay clothing; and say unto him, Sit thou here in a [c]goodly place, and say unto the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool,
4 Are ye not partial in [d]your selves, and are become Judges of evil thoughts?
5 [e]Hearken my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the [f]poor of this world, that they should be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to them that love him?
6 But ye have despised the poor. [g]Do not the rich oppress you by tyranny, and do they not draw you before the judgment seats?
7 Do not they blaspheme the worthy Name after which ye be [h]named?
8 [i]But if ye fulfill the [j]royal Law according to the Scripture, which saith, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well.
9 But if ye regard the persons, ye commit sin, and are rebuked of the Law, as transgressors.
10 [k]For whosoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet faileth in one point, he is guilty of [l]all.
11 [m]For he that said, Thou shalt not commit adultery, said also, Thou shalt not kill. Now though thou doest none adultery, yet if thou killest, thou art a transgressor of the Law.
12 [n]So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judgeth by the Law of liberty.
13 For there shall be condemnation merciless to him that showeth not [o]mercy, and mercy rejoiceth against condemnation.
14 [p]What availeth it my brethren, though a man saith, he hath faith, when he hath no works? can that faith save him?
15 [q]For if a brother or a sister be naked and destitute of daily food,
16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace: warm yourselves, and fill your bellies, notwithstanding ye give them not those things, which are needful to the body, what helpeth it?
17 Even so the faith, if it have no works, is dead in itself.
18 But [r]some man might say, Thou hast the faith, and I have works: show me thy faith out of thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.
19 [s]Thou believest that there is one God: thou doest well: the devils also believe it, and tremble.
20 [t]But wilt thou understand, O thou vain man, that the faith which is without works, is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father [u]justified through works, (B)when he offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
22 Seest thou not that the faith [v]wrought with his works? and through the works was the faith made [w]perfect.
23 And the Scripture was [x]fulfilled which saith, (C)Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the friend of God.
24 [y]Ye see then how that of works a man is [z]justified, and not of [aa]faith only.
25 [ab]Likewise also was not (D)Rahab the harlot justified through works, when she had received the messengers, and sent them out another way?
26 [ac]For as the body without the spirit is dead, even so the faith without works is dead.
Footnotes
- James 2:1 The fifth: Charity which proceedeth from a true faith, cannot stand with the accepting of persons: which he proveth plainly by setting forth their example, who with the reproach or disdain of the poor, honor the rich.
- James 2:1 For if we knew what Christ’s glory is, and esteemed it as we ought to do, there would not be such respect of persons as there is.
- James 2:3 In a worshipful and honorable place.
- James 2:4 Have ye not (which you ought not to do) by this means with yourselves judged one man to be preferred before another?
- James 2:5 He showeth that they are perverse and naughty Judges, which prefer the rich before the poor, by that that God on the contrary side preferreth the poor, whom he hath enriched with true riches, before the rich.
- James 2:5 The needy and wretched, and (if we measure it after the opinion of the world) the veriest abjects of all men.
- James 2:6 Secondly, he proveth them to be mad men: for that the rich men are rather to be holden execrable and cursed, considering that they persecute the Church, and blaspheme Christ: for he speaketh of wicked and profane rich men, such as the most part of them have been always, against whom he setteth the poor and abject.
- James 2:7 Word for word, which is called upon of you.
- James 2:8 The conclusion: Charity which God prescribeth cannot agree with the accepting of persons, seeing that we must walk in the King’s highway.
- James 2:8 The Law is said to be royal and like the King’s highway, for that it is plain and without turnings, and that the Law calleth everyone our neighbor, without respect, whom we may help by any kind of duty.
- James 2:10 A new argument to prove the same conclusion: They do not love their neighbors, which neglect some, and ambitiously honor others: for he doth not obey God, which cutteth off from the commandments of God that that is not so commodious for him, nay he is rather guilty generally for the breach of the whole Law, although he observe the residue.
- James 2:10 Not that all sins are equal, but because he that breaketh one tittle of the Law, offendeth the majesty of the Lawgiver.
- James 2:11 A proof: because the Lawmaker is always one and the selfsame, and the body of the Law cannot be divided.
- James 2:12 The conclusion of the whole treatise: we are upon this condition delivered from the curse of the Law by the mercy of God, that in like sort we should maintain and cherish charity and goodwill one towards another, and whoso doth not so, shall not taste of the grace of God.
- James 2:13 He that is hard and currish against his neighbor, or else helpeth him not, he shall find God an hard and rough Judge to himselfward.
- James 2:14 The fifth place which hangeth very well with the former treatise, touching a true and lively faith. And the proposition of this place is this: faith which bringeth not forth works, is not that faith whereby we are justified, but an image of faith: or else this, they are not justified by faith, which show not the effects of faith.
- James 2:15 The first reason taken of a similitude: If a man say to one that is hungry, Fill thy belly, and yet giveth him nothing, this shall not be true charity: so if a man say he believeth, and bringeth forth no works of his faith, this shall not be a true faith, but a certain dead thing set out with the name of faith, whereof no man hath to brag, unless he will openly incur reprehension, seeing that the cause is understood by the effects.
- James 2:18 Nay, thus may every man beat down the pride.
- James 2:19 Another reason taken of an absurdity: If such a faith were the true faith whereby we are justified, the devils should be justified: for they have that, but yet notwithstanding they tremble, and are not justified therefore, neither is that faith a true faith.
- James 2:20 The third reason from the example of Abraham, who no doubt had a true faith: but he in offering his son, showed himself to have that faith which was not void of works, and therefore he received a true testimony when it was said, that faith was imputed to him for righteousness.
- James 2:21 Was he not by his works known and found to be justified? for he speaketh not here of the causes of justification, but by what effects we may know that a man is justified.
- James 2:22 Was effectual and fruitful with good works.
- James 2:22 That the faith was declared to be a true faith, and that by works.
- James 2:23 Then was the Scripture fulfilled, when it appeared plainly, how truly it was written of Abraham.
- James 2:24 The conclusion: he is only justified that hath that faith which hath works following it.
- James 2:24 Is proved to be just.
- James 2:24 Of that dead and fruitless faith which you boast of.
- James 2:25 A fourth reason taken from a like example of Rahab the harlot, who also proved by her works that she was justified by a true faith.
- James 2:26 The conclusion repeated again: faith which bringeth not forth fruits and works, is not faith, but a dead carcass.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
