James 2:5
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5 Lis ten, my dear broth ers and sis ters: Has not God cho sen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to in her it the king dom he prom ised those who love him? 6 But you have dis hon ored the poor. Is it not the rich who are ex ploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are blas phem ing the no ble name of him to whom you be long?
8 If you real ly keep the roy al law found in Scrip ture,“ Love your neigh bor as yourself,” a you are do ing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as law break ers. 10 For who ev er keeps the whole law and yet stum bles at just one point is guilty of break ing all of it. 11 For he who said,“ You shall not commit adul tery,” b also said,“ You shall not mur der.” c If you do not com mit adul tery but do com mit mur der, you have be come a lawbreaker.
12 Speak and act as those who are go ing to be judged by the law that gives free dom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to any one who has not been mer ciful. Mer cy tri umphs over judg ment.
Faith and Deeds
14 What good is it, my broth ers and sisters, if some one claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Sup pose a broth er or a sis ter is with out clothes and dai ly food. 16 If one of you says to them,“ Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does noth ing about their phys i cal needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by it self, if it is not ac com pa nied by ac tion, is dead.
18 But some one will say,“ You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith with out deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You be lieve that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that— and shudder.
20 You fool ish per son, do you want ev i dence that faith with out deeds is use less d? 21 Was not our fa ther Abra ham con sid ered righ teous for what he did when he of fered his son Isaac on the al tar? 22 You see that his faith and his ac tions were work ing togeth er, and his faith was made com plete by what he did. 23 And the scrip ture was ful filled that says,“ Abra ham be lieved God, and it was cred it ed to him as righ teousness,” e and he was called God’ s friend. 24 You see that a per son is con sid ered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was not even Ra hab the pros ti tute con sid ered righ teous for what she did when she gave lodg ing to the spies and sent them off in a dif fer ent direction? 26 As the body with out the spir it is dead, so faith with out deeds is dead.
Taming the Tongue
Not many of you should be come teachers, my fel low be liev ers, be cause you
3 know that we who teach will be judged more strict ly. 2 We all stum ble in many ways. Any one who is nev er at fault in what they say is per fect, able to keep their whole body in check.
3 When we put bits into the mouths of hors es to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an exam ple. Al though they are so large and are driv en by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rud der wher ev er the pilot wants to go. 5 Like wise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Con sid er what a great for est is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It cor rupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’ s life on fire, and is it self set on fire by hell.
7 All kinds of an i mals, birds, rep tiles and sea crea tures are be ing tamed and have been tamed by man kind, 8 but no hu man be ing can tame the tongue. It is a rest less evil, full of dead ly poi son.
9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Fa ther, and with it we curse hu man be ings, who have been made in God’ s like ness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and curs ing. My broth ers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh wa ter and salt wa ter flow from the same spring? 12 My broth ers and sis ters, can a fig tree bear ol ives, or a grape vine bear figs? Nei ther can a salt spring pro duce fresh wa ter.
Two Kinds of Wisdom
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the hu mil i ty that comes from wis dom. 14 But if you har bor bit ter envy and self ish am bi tion in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such“ wis dom” does not come down from heav en but is earth ly, un spir i tu al,
a 8 Lev. 19:18 b 11 Exodus 20:14; Deut. 5:18 c 11 Exodus 20:13; Deut. 5:17 d 20 Some early manuscripts dead e 23 Gen. 15:6