Picture Study Bible with Maps and Background Information
james 2
1 - My brothers, don't hold the faith of our Lord JesusChrist of glory with partiality.
2 - For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in;
3 - and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing, and say, "Sit here in a good place"; and you tell the poor man, "Stand there," or "Sit by my footstool";
4 - haven't you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
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?
6 - But you have dishonored the poor man. Don't the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts?
7 - Don't they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?
8 - However, if you fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well.Leviticus 19:18
9 - But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.
10 - For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.
11 - For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not commit murder."Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:18 Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.Exodus 10:13; Deuteronomy 5:17
12 - So speak, and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of freedom.
13 - For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
14 - What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him?
15 - And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food,
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?
17 - Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.
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.
19 - You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder.
20 - But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead?
21 - Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
22 - You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected;
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.Genesis 15:6
24 - You see then that by works, a man is justified, and not only by faith.
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?
26 - For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.
