James 2:1–13

Partiality Forbidden

2My brothers, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality. ²For if someone^a enters into your assembly^b in fine clothing with a gold ring on his finger, and a poor person in filthy clothing also enters, ³and you look favorably on the one wearing the fine clothing and you say, “Be seated here in a good place,” and to the poor person you say, “You stand or be seated there^c by my footstool,” ⁴have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? ⁵Listen, my dear brothers! Did not God choose the poor of the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? ⁶But you have dishonored the poor! Are not the rich exploiting you and they themselves dragging you into the courts? ⁷Do they themselves not blaspheme the good name of the one to whom you belong^d?

⁸However, if you carry out the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,”^e you are doing well. ⁹But if you show partiality, you commit sin, and thus^* are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles in one point only has become guilty of all of it. ¹¹For the one who said “Do not commit adultery”^f also said “Do not murder.”^g Now if you do not commit adultery but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹²Thus speak and thus act as those who are going to be judged by the law of liberty. ¹³For judgment is merciless to the one who has not practiced mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.