Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

2 My brothers, practice the faith of our Lord Yeshua, the glorious Messiah, without showing favoritism. ² Suppose a man comes into your synagogue wearing gold rings and fancy clothes, and also a poor man comes in dressed in rags. ³ If you show more respect to the man wearing the fancy clothes and say to him, “Have this good seat here,” while to the poor man you say, “You, stand over there,” or, “Sit down on the floor by my feet,” ⁴ then aren’t you creating distinctions among yourselves, and haven’t you made yourselves into judges with evil motives?

⁵ Listen, my dear brothers, hasn’t God chosen the poor of the world to be rich in faith and to receive the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him? ⁶ But you despise the poor! Aren’t the rich the ones who oppress you and drag you into court? ⁷ Aren’t they the ones who insult the good name of Him to whom you belong? ⁸ If you truly attain the goal of Kingdom Torah, in conformity with the passage that says, “Love your neighbor as yourself,”^[a] you are doing well. ⁹ But if you show favoritism, your actions constitute sin, since you are convicted under the Torah as transgressors.

¹⁰ For a person who keeps the whole Torah, yet stumbles at one point, has become guilty of breaking them all. ¹¹ For the One who said, “Don’t commit adultery,”^[b] also said, “Don’t murder.”^[c] Now, if you don’t commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the Torah.

¹² Keep speaking and acting like people who will be judged by a Torah which gives freedom. ¹³ For judgment will be without mercy toward one who doesn’t show mercy; but mercy wins out over judgment.

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith but has no actions to prove it? Is such “faith” able to save him? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food, ¹⁶ and someone says to him, “Shalom! Keep warm and eat hearty!” without giving him what he needs, what good does it do? ¹⁷ Thus, faith by itself, unaccompanied by actions, is dead.

¹⁸ But someone will say that you have faith and I have actions. Show me this faith of yours without the actions, and I will show you my faith by my actions! ¹⁹ You believe that “God is one”?^[d] Good for you! The demons believe it too — the thought makes them shudder with fear!

²⁰ But, foolish fellow, do you want to be shown that such “faith” apart from actions is barren? ²¹ Wasn’t Avraham avinu declared righteous because of actions when he offered up his son Yitz’chak on the altar? ²² You see that his faith worked with his actions; by the actions the faith was made complete; ²³ and the passage of the Tanakh was fulfilled which says, “Avraham had faith in God, and it was credited to his account as righteousness.”^[e] He was even called God’s friend.^{[f] 24} You see that a person is declared righteous because of actions and not because of faith alone.

²⁵ Likewise, wasn’t Rachav the prostitute also declared righteous because of actions when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another route? ²⁶ Indeed, just as the body without a spirit is dead, so too faith without actions is dead.

3 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, since you know that we will be judged more severely. ² For we all stumble in many ways; if someone does not stumble in what he says, he is a mature man who can bridle his whole body. ³ If we put a bit into a horse’s mouth to make it obey us, we control its whole body as well. ⁴ And think of a ship — although it is huge and is driven by strong winds, yet the pilot can steer it wherever he wants with just a small rudder. ⁵ So too the tongue is a tiny part of the body, yet it boasts great things. See how a little fire sets a whole forest ablaze! ⁶ Yes, the tongue is a fire, a world of wickedness. The tongue is so placed in our body that it defiles every part of it, setting ablaze the whole of our life; and it is set on fire by Gei-Hinnom itself. ⁷ For people have tamed and continue to tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures; ⁸ but the tongue no one can tame — it is an unstable and evil thing, full of death-dealing poison! ⁹ With it we bless Adonai, the Father; and with it we curse people, who were made in the image of God.^{[g] 10} Out of the same mouth come blessing and cursing! Brothers, it isn’t right for things to be this way. ¹¹ A spring doesn’t send both fresh and bitter water from the same opening, does it? ¹² Can a fig tree yield olives, my brothers? or a grapevine, figs? Neither does salt water produce fresh.

¹³ Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him demonstrate it by his good way of life, by actions done in the humility that grows out of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you harbor in your hearts bitter jealousy and selfish ambition, don’t boast and attack the truth with lies! ¹⁵ This wisdom is not the kind that comes down from above; on the contrary, it is worldly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where there are jealousy and selfish ambition, there will be disharmony and every foul practice. ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is, first of all, pure, then peaceful, kind, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. ¹⁸ And peacemakers who sow seed in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.