⁴⁹ But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it ^[a]fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”

^19 (A)They went out from us, but they were not of us; for ^(B)if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out ^(C)that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

The Test of Knowing Him

³ Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. ⁴ He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a ^(A)liar, and the truth is not in him.

²⁰ For if, after they ^(A)have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are ^(B)again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.

Fruitful Growth in the Faith

⁵ But also for this very reason, ^(A)giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue ^(B)knowledge, ⁶ to knowledge self-control, to self-control ^[a]perseverance, to perseverance godliness, ⁷ to godliness brotherly kindness, and ^(C)to brotherly kindness love. ⁸ For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither ^[b]barren ^(D)nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For he who lacks these things is ^(E)shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

¹⁷ Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” ^(A)Show me your faith without ^[a]your works, ^(B)and I will show you my faith by ^[b]my works. ¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! ²⁰ But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is ^[c]dead? ²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works ^(C)when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? ²² Do you see ^(D)that faith was working together with his works, and by ^(E)works faith was made ^[d]perfect? ²³ And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ^(F)“Abraham believed God, and it was ^[e]accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called ^(G)the friend of God. ²⁴ You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

²⁵ Likewise, ^(H)was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?

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

²² But ^(A)be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³ For ^(B)if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; ²⁴ for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. ²⁵ But ^(C)he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, ^(D)this one will be blessed in what he does.

²⁶ If anyone ^[a]among you thinks he is religious, and ^(E)does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.

The Just Live by Faith

²⁶ For ^(A)if we sin willfully ^(B)after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there ^(C)no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷ but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and ^(D)fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. ²⁸ Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three ^(E)witnesses. ^29 (F)Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, ^(G)counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, ^(H)and insulted the Spirit of grace?