^aMy fellow believers, ^bdo not practice your faith in our glorious ^cLord Jesus Christ with an attitude of ^dpartiality toward people—show no favoritism, no prejudice, no snobbery. 2 For if a man comes into your ¹meeting place ²wearing a gold ring and ^3afine clothes, and a poor man in ^bdirty clothes also comes in, 3 and you pay special attention to the one who wears the ^1afine clothes, and say to him, “You sit here in this good seat,” and you tell the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down on the floor by my footstool,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves, and become judges ^awith wrong motives? 5 Listen, ^amy beloved brothers and sisters: has not ^bGod chosen the poor of this world to be ^crich in faith and as believers to be ^dheirs of the kingdom which He ^epromised to those who love Him? 6 But you in contrast have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress and exploit you, and personally ^adrag you into the courts of law? 7 ^aDo they not blaspheme the ¹precious name of Christ by which you are called?

8 If, however, you ^aare really fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “^bYOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF that is, if you have an unselfish concern for others and do things for their benefit” you are doing well. Lev 19:18 9 But if you ^ashow partiality prejudice, favoritism, you are committing sin and are convicted by the Law as offenders. 10 For whoever keeps the whole Law but ^astumbles in one point, he has become ^bguilty of breaking all of it. 11 For He who said, “^aDO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,” also said, “^bDO NOT MURDER.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you murder, you have become ¹guilty of transgressing the entire Law. Ex 20:13, 14; Deut 5:17, 18 12 Speak and act consistently as people who are going to be judged by ^athe law of liberty that moral law that frees obedient Christians from the bondage of sin. 13 For ^ajudgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; but to the one who has shown mercy mercy triumphs victoriously over judgment.

14 ^aWhat is the benefit, ^bmy fellow believers, if someone claims to have faith but has no good works as evidence? Can that kind of faith save him? No, a mere claim of faith is not sufficient—genuine faith produces good works. 15 ^aIf a brother or sister is without adequate clothing and lacks enough food for each day, 16 and one of you says to them, “^aGo in peace with my blessing, keep warm and feed yourselves,” but he does not give them the necessities for the body, what good does that do? 17 So too, ^afaith, if it does not have works to back it up, is by itself dead inoperative and ineffective.

18 ^aBut someone may say, “You claim to have faith and I have good works; show me your alleged ^bfaith without the works if you can, and I will ^cshow you my faith ^dby my works that is, by what I do.” 19 You believe that ^1aGod is one; ^byou do well to believe that. ^cThe demons also believe that, and shudder and bristle in awe-filled terror—they have seen His wrath! Deut 6:4; 11:13-21; Mark 12:29 20 But are you willing to recognize, ^ayou foolish spiritually shallow person, that ^bfaith without good works is useless? 21 ^aWas our father Abraham not shown to be justified by works of obedience which expressed his faith when he offered Isaac his son on the altar as a sacrifice to God? Gen 22:1-14 22 You see that his ^afaith was working together with his works, and as a result of the ^bworks, his faith was ^ccompleted reaching its maturity when he expressed his faith through obedience. 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “^aABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND THIS faith WAS CREDITED TO HIM by God AS RIGHTEOUSNESS and AS CONFORMITY TO HIS WILL,” and he was called ^bthe friend of God. Gen 15:6; 2+@Chr 20:7; Is 41:8 24 You see that a man (believer) is justified by works and not by faith alone that is, by acts of obedience a born-again believer reveals his faith. 25 In the same way, was ^aRahab the prostitute not justified by works too, ^bwhen she received the Hebrew ¹spies as guests and protected them, and sent them away to escape by a different route? Josh 2:1-21 26 For just as the human body without the spirit is dead, so ^afaith without works of obedience is also dead.

^aMy brethren, ^bdo not hold your faith in our ^cglorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of ^dpersonal favoritism. 2 For if a man comes into your ¹assembly with a gold ring and dressed in ^2afine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in ^bdirty clothes, 3 and you ¹pay special attention to the one who is wearing the ^afine 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,” 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges ^awith evil ¹motives? 5 Listen, ^amy beloved brethren: did not ^bGod choose the poor ¹of this world to be ^crich in faith and ^dheirs of the kingdom which He ^epromised to those who love Him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and ¹personally ^adrag you into ²court? 7 ^aDo they not blaspheme the fair name ¹by which you have been called?

8 If, however, you ^aare fulfilling the ¹royal law according to the Scripture, “^bYOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,” you are doing well. 9 But if you ^ashow partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the ¹law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole ¹law and yet ^astumbles in one point, he has become ^bguilty of all. 11 For He who said, “^aDO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,” also said, “^bDO NOT COMMIT MURDER.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the ¹law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by ^athe law of liberty. 13 For ^ajudgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy ¹triumphs over judgment.

14 ^aWhat use is it, ^bmy brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can ¹that faith save him? 15 ^aIf a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “^aGo in peace, ¹be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so ^afaith, if it has no works, is ¹dead, being by itself.

18 ^aBut someone ¹may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your ^bfaith without the works, and I will ^cshow you my faith ^dby my works.” 19 You believe that ^1aGod is one. ^bYou do well; ^cthe demons also believe, and shudder. 20 But are you willing to recognize, ^ayou foolish fellow, that ^bfaith without works is useless? 21 ^aWas not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that ^afaith was working with his works, and ¹as a result of the ^bworks, faith was ²perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “^aAND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called ^bthe friend of God. 24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, was not ^aRahab the harlot also justified by works ^bwhen she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also ^afaith without works is dead.