- 2:1My brothers, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with respect of persons.
- 2:2For if there comes into your synagogue a man with gold rings in splendid clothing, and there also comes in a poor man in filthy clothing,
- 2:3And you look upon the one wearing the splendid clothing and say, You sit here in a good place, and to the poor man you say, You stand there, or sit under my footstool;
- 2:4Have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil reasonings?
- 2:5Listen, my beloved brothers: Did not God choose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which He promised to those who love Him?
- 2:6But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you and is it not they who drag you to the courts?
- 2:7Is it not they who blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?
- 2:8If indeed you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well;
- 2:9But if you respect persons, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.
- 2:10For whoever keeps the whole law yet stumbles in one point has become guilty of all.
- 2:11For He who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not murder. Now if you do not commit adultery, but you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
- 2:12So speak and so do as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom.
- 2:13For the judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
- 2:14What is the profit, my brothers, if anyone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
- 2:15If a brother or sister is without clothing and lacks daily food,
- 2:16And any one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, yet you do not give them the necessities of the body, what is the profit?
- 2:17So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead in itself.
- 2:18But someone will 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.
- 2:19You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe and shudder.
- 2:20But are you willing to know, O vain man, that faith without its works is useless?
- 2:21Was not Abraham our father justified by works in that he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar?
- 2:22You see that faith worked together with his works, and by these works faith was perfected.
- 2:23And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness"; and he was called the friend of God.
- 2:24You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith only.
- 2:25And in like manner was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works in that she received the messengers and sent them out by a different way?
- 2:26For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.