James Chapter 2

No Discrimination Against the Poor

2^:1 Fellow Christians, don’t discriminate against people while claiming to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. ² If a man comes into your assembly dressed nice with a gold ring on his finger, and a poor man comes in wearing shabby clothes, ³ and you give preference to the one in fine clothes and say, “Sit here in a nice place,” but say to the poor man, “Stand over there,” or “Sit by my footstool,” ⁴ aren’t you discriminating and makiing judgments from bad motives?                                                                       James 2:1-4

⁵ Listen, hasn’t God chosen poor people to be rich in faith and inherit the kingdom he promised to people that care about him? ⁶ But you’ve looked down on poor people. Don’t rich people bully you and take you to court? ⁷ Don’t they slander the good name you wear? ⁸ But, you do well to fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself” [Lev 19:18]. ⁹ If you discriminate, you sin, and the Law convicts you of being a sinner. ¹⁰ Whoever keeps the whole Law but stumbles in one point, has become liable to the Law as such. ¹¹ The One that said, “Do not commit adultery” [Ex 20:14; Deut 5:18] is the same One that said, “Do not murder” [Ex 20:13; Deut 5:17]. If you don’t commit adultery but commit murder, you’re still a law breaker. ¹² Speak and do like people that are evaluated by a “law” of liberty. ¹³ Condemnation is without mercy to people that haven’t shown mercy. Showing mercy is better than criticizing.                                    James 2:5-13

Doing

vs. Believing

¹⁴ What good is it to say you believe but don’t do? Believing can’t save you, can it? ¹⁵ When a brother or sister needs clothes or daily food, what good is it ¹⁶ if somebody says, “Have a good day; keep warm and fed,” but doesn’t give them what they need? ¹⁷ It’s the same way if belief doesn’t do anything; it’s dead by itself.                                                                         James 2:14-17

¹⁸ Somebody might say, “You have belief; I have deeds.” Show me your belief without doing anything, and I’ll show you my belief by what I do. ¹⁹ You believe there’s one God; that’s nice. Demons believe that too—and tremble. ²⁰ Can’t you see that believing without doing is useless? ²¹ Wasn’t our ancestor Abraham justified by what he did when he sacrificed his son Isaac? ²² Belief combined with his deeds; his deeds completed his belief. ²³ He fulfilled the scripture that said, “Abraham believed God, and God considered him righteous” [Gen 15:6], and he was called “God’s friend” [2 Ch 20:7; Is 41:8]. ²⁴ That shows we’re justified by what we do, not simply by what we believe. ²⁵ The same with Rahab the prostitute; wasn’t she justified by what she did when she received the messengers and sent them out a different way? ²⁶ As the body is dead if it doesn’t breathe, believing is dead if it doesn’t do anything.                                                                    James 2:18-26