James 2:1-26 NASB20 - Bible AI

¹My brothers and sisters, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.

²For if a man comes into your [28]assembly with a gold ring and is dressed in bright clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes also comes in,

³and you [29]pay special attention to the one who is wearing the bright clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,”

⁴have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil [30]motives?

⁵Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters: did God not choose the poor [31]of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

⁶But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and [32]personally drag you into [33]court?

⁷Do they not blaspheme the good name [34]by which you have been called?

⁸If, however, you are fulfilling the [35]royal law according to the Scripture, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,” you are doing well.

⁹But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the Law as violators.

¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole Law, yet stumbles in one point, has become guilty of all.

¹¹For He who said, “DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,” also said, “DO NOT MURDER.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do murder, you have become a violator of the Law.

¹²So speak, and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom.

¹³For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy [36]triumphs over judgment.

Faith and Works

¹⁴What use is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can [37]that faith save him?

¹⁵If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,

¹⁶and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, [38]be warmed and be filled,” yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?

¹⁷In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is [39]dead, being by itself.

¹⁸But someone [40]may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

¹⁹You believe that [41]God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.

²⁰But are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless?

²¹Was our father Abraham not justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

²²You see that faith was working with his works, and [42]as a result of the works, faith was [43]perfected;

²³and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called a friend of God.

²⁴You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

²⁵In the same way, was Rahab the prostitute not justified by works also when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

²⁶For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.