James 2 (NMV)
1 My brothers and sisters, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with favoritism.
2 For suppose someone comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in,
3 and you pay special attention to the one wearing fine clothes and say, "You sit here in a good seat," while you say to the poor person, "You stand there," or "Sit at my feet,"
4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom He has promised to those who love Him?
6 But you have dishonored the poor. Isn't it the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?
7 Aren't they the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you have been called?
8 If you really fulfill the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well.
9 But if you show favoritism, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as a lawbreaker.
10 For whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
11 For He who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." So if you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom.
13 For judgment without mercy will be shown to the one who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save them?
15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacks daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, stay warm and be well fed," but you do not give them what the body needs, what good is that?
17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
19 You believe that there is only one God. Good! Even the demons believe that, and shudder.
20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless?
21 Was not our father Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
22 You see that his faith was active along with his works, and his faith was made complete by what he did.
23 And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called a friend of God.
24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, wasn't Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another route?
26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.