Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

Partiality Forbidden

2 My brothers, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality. ² For if someone^[a] enters into your assembly^[b] in fine clothing with a gold ring on his finger, and a poor person in filthy clothing also enters, ³ and you look favorably on the one wearing the fine clothing and you say, “Be seated here in a good place,” and to the poor person you say, “You stand or be seated there^[c] by my footstool,” ⁴ have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? ⁵ Listen, my dear brothers! Did not God choose the poor of the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor! Are not the rich exploiting you and they themselves dragging you into the courts? ⁷ Do they themselves not blaspheme the good name of the one to whom you belong^[d]?

⁸ However, if you carry out the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,”^[e] you are doing well. ⁹ But if you show partiality, you commit sin, and thus^[f] are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles in one point only has become guilty of all of it. ¹¹ For the one who said “Do not commit adultery”^[g] also said “Do not murder.”^[h] Now if you do not commit adultery but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹² Thus speak and thus act as those who are going to be judged by the law of liberty. ¹³ For judgment is merciless to the one who has not practiced mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Faith and Works

¹⁴ What is the benefit, my brothers, if someone says that he has faith but does not have works? That faith is not able to save him, is it?^{[i] 15} If a brother or a sister is poorly clothed and lacking food for the day, ¹⁶ and one of you should say to them, “Go in peace, keep warm and eat well^[j],” but does not give them what is necessary for the body, what is the benefit? ¹⁷ Thus also faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.”^[k] Show me your faith apart from your^[l] works, and I will show you my^[m] faith by my works. ¹⁹ You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe, and shudder! ²⁰ But do you want to know, O foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? ²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he^[n] offered up his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that faith was working together with his works, and by the works the faith was perfected. ²³ And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness,”^[o] and he was called God’s friend. ²⁴ You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵ And likewise was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she^[p] welcomed the messengers and sent them out by a different route? ²⁶ For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

Restraining the Tongue

3 Not many should become teachers, my brothers, because you^[q] know that we will receive a greater judgment.^{[r] 2} For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect individual,^[s] able to hold in check his whole body also. ³ And if we put bits in the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we also guide their whole bodies. ⁴ Behold also ships: although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot wishes. ⁵ So also the tongue is a small member of the body^[t] and boasts great things. Behold how small a fire sets ablaze how great a forest! ⁶ And the tongue is a fire! The world of unrighteousness,^[u] the tongue, is set among our members, defiling the whole body and setting on fire the course of human existence^[v], being set on fire by hell.

⁷ For every species of animals and birds, of reptiles and sea creatures, is being tamed and has been tamed by the human species, ⁸ but no human being is able to tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹ With it we bless the^[w] Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. ¹⁰ From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so! ¹¹ A spring does not pour forth from the same opening fresh and bitter water, does it?^{[x] 12} A fig tree is not able, my brothers, to produce olives, or a grapevine figs. Neither can a saltwater spring produce fresh water.

The Wisdom That Comes Down from Above

¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his^[y] good behavior his works, with the humility of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth. ¹⁵ This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and every evil practice. ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, obedient, full of mercy and good fruits, nonjudgmental, without hypocrisy, ¹⁸ And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace among^[z] those who make peace.