James 1–2

GREETING

1James,^a a servant of God^b and of the Lord Jesus Christ:

To the twelve tribes^c dispersed abroad.^Ad

Greetings.^e

TRIALS AND MATURITY

²Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials,^{f 3}because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. ⁴And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

⁵Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him.^{g 6}But let him ask in faith without doubting.^B For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord, ⁸being double-minded and unstable in all his ways.^Ch

⁹Let the brother of humble circumstances boast in his exaltation, ¹⁰but let the rich boast in his humiliation because he will pass away like a flower of the field.^{i 11}For the sun rises and, together with the scorching wind, dries up the grass; its flower falls off, and its beautiful appearance perishes. In the same way, the rich person will wither away while pursuing his activities.^j

¹²Blessed is the one who endures trials, because when he has stood the test he will receive the crown^k of life that God^D has promised to those who love him.^l

¹³No one undergoing a trial should say, “I am being tempted by God,” since God is not tempted by evil, and he himself doesn’t tempt anyone. ¹⁴But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire.^{m 15}Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.ⁿ

¹⁶Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.^{o 17}Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.^{p 18}By his own choice, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.^q

HEARING AND DOING THE WORD

¹⁹My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,^{r 20}for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness. ²¹Therefore, ridding yourselves of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent,^E humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.^s

²²But^t be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face^A in a mirror. ²⁴For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was. ²⁵But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works—this person will be blessed in what he does.^u

²⁶If anyone^B thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue,^v his religion is useless and he deceives himself. ²⁷Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows^w in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world.^x

THE SIN OF FAVORITISM

2My brothers and sisters, do not show favoritism as you hold on to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.^{y 2}For if someone comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and a poor person dressed in filthy clothes also comes in, ³if you look with favor on the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here in a good place,” and yet you say to the poor person, “Stand over there,” or “Sit here on the floor by my footstool,” ⁴haven’t you made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Didn’t God choose the poor in this world^a to be rich in faith^b and heirs^c of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? ⁶Yet you have dishonored the poor.^d Don’t the rich oppress you and drag^e you into court? ⁷Don’t they blaspheme the good name that was invoked over you?^f

⁸Indeed, if you fulfill the royal law prescribed in the Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself,^Cg you are doing well. ⁹If, however, you show favoritism,^h you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all.^{i 11}For he who said, Do not commit adultery,^D also said, Do not murder.^Ej So if you do not commit adultery, but you murder, you are a lawbreaker.

¹²Speak and act as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom.^{k 13}For judgment is without mercy to the one who has not shown mercy.^l Mercy triumphs over judgment.

FAITH AND WORKS

¹⁴What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him?

¹⁵If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food ¹⁶and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it?^{m 17}In the same way faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.

¹⁸But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith by my works.^{n 19}You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder.^o

²⁰Senseless person! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless? ²¹Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works in offering Isaac his son on the altar? ²²You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was made complete,^{p 23}and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,^Aq and he was called God’s friend.^{r 24}You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works in receiving the messengers and sending them out by a different route?^{s 26}For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.