Book of Common Prayer

He forbids them to have any respect of persons, but to regard the poor as well as the rich, to be loving and merciful, and not to boast of faith where no deeds are. For it is but a dead faith where good works do not follow.

2 Brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, in respect of persons. ² If there comes into your company a man with a golden ring and in goodly apparel, and there comes in also a poor man in wretched clothing, ³ and you have a respect to him who wears the fine clothing, and say to him, Sit here in a good place, but say to the poor, Stand there, or, Sit here by my footstool, ⁴ are you not partial among yourselves, and have judged after evil thoughts?

⁵ Hearken, my dear beloved brethren. Has not God chosen the poor of this world, who are rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him? ⁶ But you have dishonoured the poor. Are not the rich those who oppress you, and who draw you before judges? ⁷ Do they not speak evil of that good name after which you are named?

⁸ If you fulfil the royal law according to the scripture that says, You shall love your neighbour as yourself – you do well. ⁹ But if you regard one person more than another, you commit sin, and are rebuked by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰ Whoever keeps the whole law, and yet fails in one point, is guilty in all. ¹¹ For he who said: You shall not commit adultery, said also: You shall not kill. Though you commit no adultery, yet if you kill, you are a transgressor of the law.

¹² So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. ¹³ For there will be judgment merciless to him who shows no mercy. But mercy triumphs over judgment.

¹⁰ He who is faithful in that which is least, the same is faithful in much. And he who is unfaithful in the least is unfaithful also in much. ¹¹ So then, if you have not been faithful in the wicked mammon, who will believe you in that which is true? ¹² And if you have not been faithful in another man’s business, who will give you your own?

¹³ No servant can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will lean to the one and neglect the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon.

¹⁴ All these things the Pharisees also heard, who were covetous; and they mocked him. ¹⁵ And he said to them, You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed among men, is abominable in the sight of God.

¹⁶ The law and the prophets reigned until the time of John; and since that time, the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone strives to go in.

¹⁷ Sooner can heaven and earth perish, than one tittle of the law can pass away. ¹⁸ Whosoever forsakes his wife and marries another, breaks matrimony, and every man who marries her that is divorced from her husband, commits adultery also.