James 2

My dear friends, don’t let public opinion influence how you live out our glorious, Christ-originated faith. If a man enters your church wearing an expensive suit, and a street person wearing rags comes in right after him, and you say to the man in the suit, “Sit here, sir; this is the best seat in the house!” and either ignore the street person or say, “Better sit here in the back row,” haven’t you segregated God’s children and proved that you are judges who can’t be trusted?

My brothers and sisters, you are believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. So treat everyone the same.

Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes. And suppose a poor man in dirty old clothes also comes in.

Would you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes? Would you say, “Here’s a good seat for you”? Would you say to the poor man, “You stand there”? Or “Sit on the floor by my feet”?

If you would, aren’t you treating some people better than others? Aren’t you like judges who have evil thoughts?

Listen, dear friends. Isn’t it clear by now that God operates quite differently? He chose the world’s down-and-out as the kingdom’s first citizens, with full rights and privileges. This kingdom is promised to anyone who loves God. And here you are abusing these same citizens! Isn’t it the high and mighty who exploit you, who use the courts to rob you blind? Aren’t they the ones who scorn the new name—“Christian”—used in your baptisms?

My dear brothers and sisters, listen to me. Hasn’t God chosen those who are poor in the world’s eyes to be rich in faith? Hasn’t he chosen them to receive the kingdom? Hasn’t he promised it to those who love him?

But you have disrespected poor people. Aren’t rich people taking advantage of you? Aren’t they dragging you into court?

Aren’t they speaking evil things against the worthy name of Jesus? Remember, you belong to him.

You do well when you complete the Royal Rule of the Scriptures: “Love others as you love yourself.” But if you play up to these so-called important people, you go against the Rule and stand convicted by it. You can’t pick and choose in these things, specializing in keeping one or two things in God’s law and ignoring others. The same God who said, “Don’t commit adultery,” also said, “Don’t murder.” If you don’t commit adultery but go ahead and murder, do you think your non-adultery will cancel out your murder? No, you’re a murderer, period.

The royal law is found in Scripture. It says, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18) If you really keep this law, you are doing what is right.

But you sin if you don’t treat everyone the same. The law judges you because you have broken it.

Suppose you keep the whole law but trip over just one part of it. Then you are guilty of breaking all of it.

God said, “Do not commit adultery.” (Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:18) He also said, “Do not commit murder.” (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17) Suppose you don’t commit adultery but do commit murder. Then you have broken the law.

Talk and act like a person expecting to be judged by the Rule that sets us free. For if you refuse to act kindly, you can hardly expect to be treated kindly. Kind mercy wins over harsh judgment every time.

Faith in Action

Speak and act like people who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom.

Those who have not shown mercy will not receive mercy when they are judged. To show mercy is better than to judge.

Show Your Faith by What You Do

Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?

Suppose a person claims to have faith but doesn’t act on their faith. My brothers and sisters, can this kind of faith save them?

Suppose a brother or a sister has no clothes or food.

Suppose one of you says to them, “Go. I hope everything turns out fine for you. Keep warm. Eat well.” And suppose you do nothing about what they really need. Then what good have you done?

It is the same with faith. If it doesn’t cause us to do something, it’s dead.

I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, “Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I’ll handle the works department.”

Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.

But someone will say, “You have faith. I do good deeds.”

Show me your faith that doesn’t cause you to do good deeds. And I will show you my faith by the goods deeds I do.

Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?

You believe there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that. And they tremble!

You foolish person! Do you want proof that faith without good deeds is useless?

Wasn’t our ancestor Abraham “made right with God by works” when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? Isn’t it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are “works of faith”? The full meaning of “believe” in the Scripture sentence, “Abraham believed God and was set right with God,” includes his action. It’s that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named “God’s friend.” Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?

Our father Abraham offered his son Isaac on the altar. Wasn’t he considered to be right with God because of what he did?

So you see that what he believed and what he did were working together. What he did made his faith complete.

That is what Scripture means where it says, “Abraham believed God. God accepted Abraham because he believed. So his faith made him right with God.” (Genesis 15:6) And that’s not all. God called Abraham his friend.

So you see that a person is considered right with God by what they do. It doesn’t happen only because they believe.

The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn’t her action in hiding God’s spies and helping them escape—that seamless unity of believing and doing—what counted with God? The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.

Didn’t God consider even Rahab the prostitute to be right with him? That’s because of what she did for the spies. She gave them a place to stay. Then she sent them off in a different direction.

A person’s body without their spirit is dead. In the same way, faith without good deeds is dead.