Faith without Works Is Dead

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Surely that faith cannot save, can it?^(A)

²⁶ And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!”

Concerning Self-Deception

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.^{(A) 22} On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’^{(B) 23} Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you who behave lawlessly.’^(C)

²² But be doers of the word and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.^{(A) 23} For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves^[a] in a mirror;^{(B) 24} for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. ²⁵ But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.^(C)

⁴⁹ But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it quickly collapsed, and great was the ruin of that house.”

¹⁶ They profess to know God, but they deny him by their actions; they are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.^(A)

⁵ For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with excellence, and excellence with knowledge,^(A)

²⁶ For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.

¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son,^(A)

⁹ Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by regulations about food,^[a] which have not benefited those who observe them.^(A)