¹⁶ You will recognize them ^(A)by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ So, ^(B)every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. ^19 (C)Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus you will recognize them ^(D)by their fruits.

I Never Knew You

^21 (E)“Not everyone who ^(F)says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will ^(G)enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who ^(H)does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Build Your House on the Rock

^24 (A)“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like ^(B)a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. ²⁶ And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like ^(C)a foolish man who built his house on the sand. ²⁷ And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

²² But be ^(A)doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³ For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. ²⁴ For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. ²⁵ But the one who looks into the perfect law, ^(B)the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, ^(C)he will be blessed in his doing.

Faith Without Works Is Dead

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith ^(A)but does not have works? Can that faith save him? ^15 (B)If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, ^16 (C)and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good^[a] is that? ¹⁷ So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith ^(D)apart from your works, and I will show you my faith ^(E)by my works. ^19 (F)You believe that God is one; you do well. Even ^(G)the demons believe—and shudder! ²⁰ Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? ^21 (H)Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that ^(I)faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed ^(J)by his works; ²³ and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, ^(K)“Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a ^(L)friend of God. ²⁴ You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵ And in the same way was not also ^(M)Rahab the prostitute justified by works ^(N)when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? ²⁶ For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

³ And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we ^(A)keep his commandments. ⁴ Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments ^(B)is a liar, and ^(C)the truth is not in him, ⁵ but whoever ^(D)keeps his word, in him truly ^(E)the love of God is perfected. ^(F)By this we may know that we are in him: ⁶ whoever says he ^(G)abides in him ^(H)ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.