James · 26 verses
James 2
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
Even demons believe that God is one, and at least have the good manners to shudder.
A gold ring at the doorvv. 1–13
The first scene is a meeting with a remarkably quick seating policy: the man in fine clothes is given the honourable chair, while the poor man is directed to stand or sit at someone’s feet. Such arrangements turn people into judges with evil thoughts before anyone has had time to be interesting. The royal law says to love a neighbour as oneself, while the law’s stern arithmetic declares that stumbling at one point makes a person a lawbreaker. Mercy, meanwhile, is the one thing that triumphs over judgment.
Faith puts on its bootsvv. 14–26
A farewell wishing warmth and fullness, offered to someone without clothes or daily food, is exposed as a particularly polished form of uselessness. Faith by itself is dead if it never manages to become action; even demons believe that God is one, and shudder, which is more movement than a merely verbal profession has yet produced. Abraham is brought forward with Isaac on the altar, and Rahab—identified with admirable bluntness as “the prostitute”—is placed beside him because she welcomed the spies and sent them away by another route. The chapter ends with a body and a spirit, an image in which faith without deeds is plainly the corpse.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Jas 2:1My brothers, as you hold out your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, do not show favoritism.
Jas 2:2Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in.
Jas 2:3If you lavish attention on the man in fine clothes and say, “Here is a seat of honor,” but say to the poor man, “You must stand” or “Sit at my feet,”
Jas 2:4have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
Jas 2:5Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?
Jas 2:6But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?
Jas 2:7Are they not the ones who blaspheme the noble name by which you have been called?
Jas 2:8If you really fulfill the royal law stated in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.
Jas 2:9But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
Jas 2:10Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
Jas 2:11For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
Jas 2:12Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom.
Jas 2:13For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Jas 2:14What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith, but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?
Jas 2:15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
Jas 2:16If one of you tells him, “Go in peace; stay warm and well fed,” but does not provide for his physical needs, what good is that?
Jas 2:17So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead.
Jas 2:18But someone will say, “You have faith and I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.
Jas 2:19You believe that God is one. Good for you! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
Jas 2:20O foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is worthless?
Jas 2:21Was not our father Abraham justified by what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
Jas 2:22You see that his faith was working with his actions, and his faith was perfected by what he did.
Jas 2:23And 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.
Jas 2:24As you can see, a man is justified by his deeds and not by faith alone.
Jas 2:25In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute justified by her actions when she welcomed the spies and sent them off on another route?
Jas 2:26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 395 passages were voted onto 26 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 10Galatians 3:10All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
- 14Matthew 7:26–27But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
- 5Matthew 5:3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
- 1Proverbs 24:23These also are sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judgment is not good.
- 13Matthew 5:7Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
- 5Luke 6:20Looking up at His disciples, Jesus said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
- 23Genesis 15:6Abram believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
- 19Luke 4:34“Ha! What do You want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”
- 13Matthew 6:15But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.
- 13Proverbs 21:13Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too shall cry out and receive no answer.
- 14Matthew 7:21–23Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
- 1James 2:9But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
- 17James 2:26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
- 10Matthew 5:18–19For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
- 172 Peter 1:5–9For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge;
- 23Isaiah 41:8“But you, O Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham My friend—
Onward