1 My brothers and sisters, if you truly believe in our glorified Lord, Jesus Christ, you will not discriminate between persons.
2 Suppose a person enters the synagogue where you are assembled, dressed magnificently and wearing a gold ring; at the same time, a poor person enters dressed in rags.
3 If you focus your attention on the well-dressed and say, "Come and sit in the best seat," while to the poor one you say, "Stay standing or else sit down at my feet,"
4 have you not, in fact, made a distinction between the two? Have you not judged, using a double standard?
5 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters, did God not choose the poor of this world to receive the riches of faith and to inherit the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him?
6 Yet you despise them! Is it not the rich who are against you and drag you to court?
7 Do they not insult the holy name of Christ by which you are called?
8 If you keep the Law of the Kingdom, according to Scripture: Love your neighbor as yourself, you do well;
9 but if you make distinctions between persons, you break the law and are condemned by the same law.
10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one aspect, is guilty of breaking it all.
11 For he who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not kill. If, then, you do not commit adultery but you do commit murder, you have broken the Law.
12 Therefore, speak and behave like people who are going to be judged by the law of freedom.
13 There will be justice without mercy for those who have not shown mercy, whereas mercy has nothing to fear of judgment.
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, to profess faith without showing works? Such faith has no power to save you.
15 If a brother or sister is in need of clothes or food
16 and one of you says, "May things go well for you; be warm and satisfied," without attending to their material needs, what good is that?
17 So it is for faith without deeds: it is totally dead.
18 Say to whoever challenges you, "You have faith and I have good deeds; show me your faith apart from actions and I, for my part, will show you my faith in the way I act."
19 Do you believe there is one God? Well enough, but do not forget that the demons also believe and tremble with fear!
20 You foolish one, do you have to be convinced that faith without deeds is useless?
21 Think of our father Abraham. Was he not justified by the act of offering his son Isaac on the altar?
22 So you see, his faith was active along with his deeds and became perfect by what he did.
23 The word of Scripture was thus fulfilled, Abraham believed in God so he was considered a righteous person and he was called the friend of God.
24 So you see, a person is acknowledged by works and not by faith alone.
25 Likewise, we read of Rahab, the prostitute, that she was acknowledged and saved because she welcomed the spies and showed them another way to leave.
26 So, just as the body is dead without its spirit, so faith without deeds is also dead.
Versículos relacionados com James, 2:
St. James 2 deals with the importance of a faith that manifests itself in actions, not just in words. The chapter emphasizes that true faith must be evidenced by works of justice and that faith without works is killed. Following are five verses related to the topics covered in St. James 2, in order of proximity to the chapter:
Romans 2:13: "For it is not the ones who hear the law that are righteous in the eyes of God; rather, those who obey the law will be declared righteous." This verse points out that obedience is essential to be considered justly by God, which relates to St. James' emphasis on the importance of works.
Matthew 7:21: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the will of my father who is in heaven." This verse points out that true obedience to God involves actions, not just words, which relates to St. James' theme about the importance of faith manifested in works.
Ephesians 2:10: "For we are His Fitness, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God in advance prepared for us to walk in them." This verse points out that God created us to do good works, which relates to St. James' theme about the importance of faith manifested in works of justice.
1 John 3:18: "Little children, let us not love word or language, but for works and in truth." This verse points out that true love manifests itself in actions, not just in words, which relates to St. James' theme about the importance of faith manifested in works of justice.
Galatians 5:6: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has no value, but the faith that acts for love." This verse points out that true faith must manifest itself through love in action, which relates to St. James' theme about the importance of faith manifested in works of justice.
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