For God, who said [through Moses, Ex. 20:13f], "You must not be sexually unfaithful to your mate," also said, "You must not murder." Now if you are sexually faithful to your mate and yet murder [someone], you have become a lawbreaker.

Was not our forefather Abraham made right with God by deeds [of obedience] when he offered his son Isaac [as a sacrifice] on the Altar?

[Do you not] see that faith cooperated together with his deeds, and faith was made complete by [his] deeds?

[So], you see, it is by deeds that a person is made right with God, and not by faith alone.

And in the same way, was not the prostitute Rahab made right with God by [her] deeds when she welcomed [and protected] the messengers, and [then] sent them away by a different road?

Or, do you think that the Scripture says [this] for nothing? [Note: No specific passage is here cited, but the idea occurs in several Old Testament passages]. "The Holy Spirit, whom God has made to live in us, longs jealously [for us to be faithful to God]."