Thematic Bible

James 2:1

My brothers, as you believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Glory, pay no servile regard to people.

James 2:2

Suppose there comes into your meeting a man who wears gold rings and handsome clothes, and also a poor man in dirty clothes;

James 2:3

if you attend to the wearer of the handsome clothes and say to him, "Sit here, this is a good place," and tell the poor man, "You can stand," or "Sit there at my feet,"

James 2:4

are you not drawing distinctions in your own minds and proving that you judge people with partiality?

James 2:5

Listen, my beloved brothers; has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the realm which he has promised to those who love him?

James 2:6

Now you insult the poor. Is it not the rich who lord it over you and drag you to court?

James 2:7

Is it not they who scoff at the noble Name you bear?

James 2:8

If you really fulfil the royal law laid down by scripture, You must love your neighbour as yourself, well and good;

James 2:9

but if you pay servile regard to people, you commit a sin, and the Law convicts you of transgression.

James 2:10

For whoever obeys the whole of the Law and only makes a single slip, is guilty of everything.

James 2:11

He who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not kill. Now if you do not commit adultery but if you kill, you have transgressed the Law.

James 2:12

Speak, act, as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom;

James 2:13

for the judgment will be merciless to the man who has shown no mercy ??whereas the merciful life will triumph in the face of judgment.

James 2:14

My brothers, what is the use of anyone declaring he has faith, if he has no deeds to show? Can his faith save him?

James 2:15

Suppose some brother or sister is ill-clad and short of daily food;

James 2:16

if any of you says to them, "Depart in peace! Get warm, get food," without supplying their bodily needs, what use is that?

James 2:17

So faith, unless it has deeds, is dead in itself.

James 2:18

Someone will object, 'And you claim to have faith!' Yes, and I claim to have deeds as well; you show me your faith without any deeds, and I will show you by my deeds what faith is!

James 2:19

You believe in one God? Well and good. So do the devils, and they shudder.

James 2:20

But will you understand, you senseless fellow, that faith without deeds is dead?

James 2:21

When our father Abraham offered his son Isaac on the altar, was he not justified by what he did?

James 2:22

In his case, you see, faith co-operated with deeds, faith was completed by deeds,

James 2:23

and the scripture was fulfilled: Abraham believed God, and this was counted to him as righteousness ??he was called God's friend.

James 2:24

You observe it is by what he does that a man is justified, not simply by what he believes.

James 2:25

So too with Rahab the harlot. Was she not justified by what she did, when she entertained the scouts and got them away by a different road?

James 2:26

For as the body without the breath of life is dead, so faith is dead without deeds.