James Chapter 2 (NASB)
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My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with [an attitude of] personal favoritism.
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For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes,
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and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, 'You sit here in a good place,' and you say to the poor man, 'You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,'
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have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?
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Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world [to be] rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?
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But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?
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Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?
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If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,' you are doing well.
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But if you show partiality, you are committing sin [and] are convicted by the law as transgressors.
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For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one [point], he has become guilty of all.
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For He who said, 'DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,' also said, 'DO NOT COMMIT MURDER.' Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
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So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by [the] law of liberty.
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For judgment [will be] merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
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What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?
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If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,
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and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,' and yet you do not give them what is necessary for [their] body, what use is that?
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Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, [being] by itself.
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But someone may [well] say, 'You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.'
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You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
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But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?
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Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
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You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;
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and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, 'AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,' and he was called the friend of God.
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You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
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In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?
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For just as the body without [the] spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
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