21 Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works in offering Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was made complete,(A) 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,[a](B) and he was called God’s friend.(C) 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works in receiving the messengers and sending them out by a different route?(D) 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

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Footnotes

  1. 2:23 Gn 15:6

21 Our ancestor Abraham was justified by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar, wasn’t he? 22 You[a] see that his faith worked together with what he did, and by his actions his faith was made complete. 23 And so the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”[b] And so he was called God’s friend. 24 You[c] observe that a person is justified through actions and not through faith alone. 25 Likewise, Rahab the prostitute was justified through actions when she welcomed the messengers[d] and sent them away on a different road, wasn’t she? 26 For just as the body without the spirit[e] is dead, so faith without actions is also dead.

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Footnotes

  1. James 2:22 The Gk. you is sing.
  2. James 2:23 Cf. Gen 15:6
  3. James 2:24 The Gk. you is pl.
  4. James 2:25 Other mss. read spies
  5. James 2:26 Or without breath