1 My brothers, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, together with respect of persons.
2 For if there comes into your synagogue a man with gold rings on his fingers, in bright clothing, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothing,
3 and you fix your eyes on the one who wears the bright clothing and say, "You sit here in a good place," but to the poor man you say, "You stand there," or, "Sit here below my footstool,"
4 have you not drawn distinctions among yourselves and become judges whose reasonings are evil?
5 Listen, my beloved brothers. Did not God choose the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?
6 But you have treated the poor man with dishonor. Is it not the rich who lord it over you, and they themselves who drag you before the courts?
7 Is it not they who blaspheme the worthy name that was called upon you?
8 If, however, you carry out the royal law as the Scripture has it, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well.
9 But if you favor some persons over others, you are working sin, and you stand convicted by the law as transgressors.
10 For whoever keeps the law as a whole but trips at one point has become liable for all of it.
11 For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," said too, "Do not kill." Now if you do not commit adultery but do kill, you have become a transgressor of the law.
12 So speak and so act as men about to be judged by the law of liberty.
13 For the judgment will be without mercy to the one who has done no mercy; mercy exults over judgment.
14 What use is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? That faith cannot save him, can it?
15 If a brother or a sister is without clothing and short of daily food,
16 and someone from among you says to them, "Go your way in peace, be warm and be fed," but you do not give them the things the body requires, what use is that?
17 Even so faith, if it does not have works, is dead in itself.
18 But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
19 You believe that God is one; you do well. The demons also believe, and they shiver.
20 But are you willing to recognize, you hollow man, that faith apart from works is dead?
21 Abraham our father—was he not justified by works when he brought Isaac his son up onto the altar?
22 You see that faith was cooperating with his works, and out of the works faith was perfected;
23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness," and he was called the friend of God.
24 You see, then, that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
25 And in the same way Rahab the harlot too—was she not justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another road?
26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.