James 2:14–26

We Show Our Faith by What We Do

¹⁴My brothers and sisters, what good does it do if someone claims to have faith but doesn’t do any good things? Can this kind of faith save him? ¹⁵Suppose a believer, whether a man or a woman, needs clothes or food ¹⁶and one of you tells that person, “God be with you! Stay warm, and make sure you eat enough.” If you don’t provide for that person’s physical needs, what good does it do? ¹⁷In the same way, faith by itself is dead if it doesn’t cause you to do any good things. 

¹⁸Another person might say, “You have faith, but I do good things.” Show me your faith apart from the good things you do. I will show you my faith by the good things I do. ¹⁹You believe that there is one God. That’s fine! The demons also believe that, and they tremble with fear. 

²⁰You fool! Do you have to be shown that faith which does nothing is useless? ²¹Didn’t our ancestor Abraham receive God’s approval as a result of what he did when he offered his son Isaac as a sacrifice on the altar? ²²You see that Abraham’s faith and what he did worked together. His faith was shown to be genuine by what he did. ²³The Scripture passage came true. It says, “Abraham believed God, and that faith was regarded as the basis of Abraham’s approval by God.” So Abraham was called God’s friend. ²⁴You see that a person receives God’s approval because of what he does, not only because of what he believes. ²⁵The same is true of the prostitute Rahab who welcomed the spies and sent them away on another road. She received God’s approval because of what she did. 

²⁶A body that doesn’t breathe^ais dead. In the same way faith that does nothing is dead.