Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

Warning Against Partiality

2 My brothers, have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, without partiality. ² For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your assembly, and also a poor man in ragged clothing comes in, ³ and you have respect for him who wears the fine clothing and say to him, “Sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor, “Stand there,” or “Sit here under my footstool,” ⁴ have you not then become partial among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers. Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He has promised to those who love Him? ⁶ But you have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you and drag you before the judgment seats? ⁷ Do they not blaspheme that worthy name by which you are called?

⁸ If you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,”^[a] you are doing well. ⁹ But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as sinners. ¹⁰ For whoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point is guilty of breaking the whole law. ¹¹ For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,”^[b] also said, “Do not kill.”^[c] Now if you do not commit adultery, yet you kill, you have become a lawbreaker.

¹² So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. ¹³ For he who has shown no mercy will have judgment without mercy, for mercy triumphs over judgment.

Faith and Works

¹⁴ What does it profit, my brothers, if a man says he has faith but has no works? Can faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and lacking daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” and yet you give them nothing that the body needs, what does it profit? ¹⁷ So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

¹⁸ But a man may say, “You have faith and I have works.”

Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ¹⁹ You believe that there is one God; you do well. The demons also believe and tremble.

²⁰ But do you want to be shown, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? ²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²² Do you see how faith worked with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? ²³ The Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,”^[d] and he was called the friend of God. ²⁴ You see then how by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

²⁵ Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? ²⁶ As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead.

The Tongue

3 My brothers, not many of you should become teachers, knowing that we shall receive the greater judgment. ² We all err in many ways. But if any man does not err in word, he is a perfect man and able also to control the whole body.

³ See how we put bits in the mouths of horses that they may obey us, and we control their whole bodies. ⁴ And observe ships. Though they are so great and are driven by fierce winds, yet they are directed with a very small rudder wherever the captain pleases. ⁵ Even so, the tongue is a little part of the body and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles. ⁶ The tongue is a fire, a world of evil. The tongue is among the parts of the body, defiling the whole body, and setting the course of nature on fire, and it is set on fire by hell.

⁷ All kinds of beasts, and birds, and serpents, and things in the sea are tamed or have been tamed by mankind. ⁸ But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

⁹ With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the image of God. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. ¹¹ Does a spring yield at the same opening sweet and bitter water? ¹² Can the fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a vine, figs? So no spring can yield both salt water and fresh water.

The Wisdom From Above

¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show his works by his good life in the meekness of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, do not boast and do not lie against the truth. ¹⁵ This wisdom descends not from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, and devilish. ¹⁶ For where there is envying and strife, there is confusion and every evil work.

¹⁷ But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. ¹⁸ And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.