James 2

God’s Choice of the Poor James 2:5–7

⁵Verse 5. Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him? ⁶Verse 6. But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts? ⁷Verse 7. Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?

The Royal Law and Judgment James 2:8–13

⁸Verse 8. However, if you fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well. ⁹Verse 9. But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰Verse 10. For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. ¹¹Verse 11. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹²Verse 12. So speak, and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of freedom.

¹³Verse 13. For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Faith and Works Defined James 2:14–17

¹⁴Verse 14. What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him? ¹⁵Verse 15. And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, ¹⁶Verse 16. and one of you tells them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled”; and yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it? ¹⁷Verse 17. Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.

Examples of Justifying Faith James 2:18–26

¹⁸Verse 18. Yes, a man will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith. ¹⁹Verse 19. You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder. ²⁰Verse 20. But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead? ²¹Verse 21. Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? ²²Verse 22. You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected; ²³Verse 23. and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God.

²⁴Verse 24. You see then that by works, a man is justified, and not only by faith. ²⁵Verse 25. In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works, in that she received the messengers, and sent them out another way? ²⁶Verse 26. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.