Book of Common Prayer

¹⁴ My brothers, perhaps a man says, `I believe.' What good is that if he does not do anything? Can just believing save him?

¹⁵ Perhaps a brother or a sister needs clothes and has no food.

¹⁶ Perhaps one of you says to them, `God bless you. Be warm. Eat all you want.' But what good is that if you do not give them what they need for their bodies?

¹⁷ Believing is like that. If it does not do anything it is no good. Belief by itself is dead.

¹⁸ In that case someone may say, `You believe. And I do good things. Try to show me that you believe without doing any acts of kindness. I will show you that I believe by doing acts of kindness.'

¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. That is right. But even the bad spirits believe that. And they shake with fear.

²⁰ You are foolish! Believing is no good if it does not do anything good. Do you want to know that for sure?

²¹ Look at Abraham. God called our father Abraham a good man. This was because he gave his son Isaac to God on the holy table for a sacrifice.

²² You can see he believed. His faith and the things he did worked together. His believing was made all right because he did something.

²³ The words of the holy writings came true. They say, `Abraham believed God. And he was called a good man because of it.' In another place he was called `God's friend.'

²⁴ You see, a man is a good man because of the things he does, and not just because he believes.

²⁵ Rahab was a bad woman. But in the same way God called her a good woman because of something she did. She took the men into her house and then let them go out another way.

²⁶ A body is dead if it does not breathe. In the same way, believing is dead if it does not do anything good.

⁶⁶ Peter sat out in the yard. A servant girl who worked for the high priest came.

⁶⁷ She saw Peter warming himself by the fire. She looked at him and said, `You were also with Jesus of Nazareth.'

⁶⁸ But Peter said, `I do not know or understand what you are talking about.' Peter went out to the gate. Then a cock called.

⁶⁹ A girl saw Peter there and said to the other people standing by, `This man is one of them.'

⁷⁰ But again Peter said he was not. A little while after, those standing around said to Peter, `Surely you are one of them also. You come from Galilee.'

⁷¹ Then Peter began to curse and say bad words. He said, `I do not know this man you are talking about!'

⁷² Right then the cock called a second time and Peter remembered that Jesus had said, `Before the cock calls two times, you will say three times that you do not know me.' Then he broke down and cried.