James 1 - 2 — Legacy Standard Bible

Testing Your Faith

1¹^,^aJames, a ^bslave of God and ^cof the Lord Jesus Christ, To ^dthe twelve tribes who are in the ^eDispersion: ^fGreetings.

²^aConsider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter ^bvarious ¹trials, ³knowing that ^athe testing of your ^bfaith brings about ^cperseverance. ⁴And let ^aperseverance have its perfect work, so that you may be ¹^,^bperfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

⁵But if any of you ^alacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and ¹without reproach, and ^bit will be given to him. ⁶But he must ^aask in faith, ^bdoubting nothing, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, ^cdriven and tossed by the wind. ⁷For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, ⁸being a ¹^,^adouble-minded man, ^bunstable in all his ways.

⁹^aBut the ¹brother of humble circumstances is to boast in his high position; ¹⁰and the rich man is to boast in his humiliation, because ^alike ¹flowering grass he will pass away. ¹¹For the sun rises with ¹^,^aa scorching heat and ^bwithers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.

¹²^aBlessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has ¹been approved, he will receive ^bthe crown of life which the Lord ^chas promised to those who ^dlove Him. ¹³Let no one say when he is tempted, “^aI am being tempted ¹by God”; for God cannot be tempted ²by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. ¹⁴But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. ¹⁵Then ^awhen lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when ^bsin is fully matured, it brings forth death. ¹⁶^aDo not be ¹deceived, ^bmy beloved brothers. ¹⁷Every good thing given and every perfect gift is ^afrom above, coming down from ^bthe Father of lights, ^cwith whom there is no variation or ¹shifting shadow. ¹⁸In the exercise of ^aHis will He ^bbrought us forth by ^cthe word of truth, so that we would be ¹a kind of ^dfirst fruits ²among His creatures.

Doers of the Word

¹⁹¹^,^aKnow this, ^bmy beloved brothers. But everyone must be quick to hear, ^cslow to speak and ^dslow to anger; ²⁰for ^athe anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. ²¹Therefore, ^alaying aside all filthiness and all ¹that remains of wickedness, in gentleness receive ^bthe implanted word, which is able to save your souls. ²²^aBut become doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. ²³For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his ¹natural face ^ain a mirror; ²⁴for once he looked at himself and has gone away, ¹he immediately forgot what kind of person he was. ²⁵But one who looks intently at the perfect law, ^athe law of freedom, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man will be ^bblessed in ¹what he does.

²⁶If anyone thinks himself to be religious while not ¹^,^abridling his tongue but deceiving his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. ²⁷Pure and undefiled religion ^abefore our God and Father is this: to ^bvisit ^corphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained ¹by ^dthe world.

The Sin of Favoritism

2^aMy brothers, ^bdo not hold your faith in our ¹^,^cglorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of ^dpersonal favoritism. ²For if a man comes into your ¹assembly with a gold ring and dressed in ^abright clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in ^bdirty clothes, ³and you ¹pay special attention to the one who is wearing the ^abright clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” ⁴have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges ^awith evil thoughts? ⁵Listen, ^amy beloved brothers: did not ^bGod choose the poor ¹of this world to be ^crich in faith and ^dheirs of the kingdom which He ^epromised to those who love Him? ⁶But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and they themselves ^adrag you into ¹court? ⁷^aDo they not blaspheme the good name ¹by which you have been called?

⁸If, however, you ^aare fulfilling the ¹royal law according to the Scripture, “^bYou shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. ⁹But if you ^ashow partiality, you are committing sin, being convicted by the ¹law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole ¹law and yet ^astumbles in one point, he has become ^bguilty of all. ¹¹For He who said, “^aDo not commit adultery,” also said, “^bDo not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the ¹law. ¹²So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by ^athe law of freedom. ¹³For ^ajudgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy ¹triumphs over judgment.

Faith and Works

¹⁴^aWhat use is it, ^bmy brothers, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can ¹that faith save him? ¹⁵^aIf a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, ¹⁶and one of you says to them, “^aGo in peace, ¹be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? ¹⁷Even so ^afaith, if it has no works, is ¹dead by itself.

¹⁸^aBut someone will say, “You have faith; and I have works. Show me your ^bfaith without the works, and I will ^cshow you my faith ^dby my works.” ¹⁹You believe that ¹^,^aGod is one. ^bYou do well; ^cthe demons also believe, and shudder. ²⁰But are you willing to recognize, ^ayou foolish fellow, that ^bfaith without works is useless? ²¹^aWas not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? ²²You see that ^afaith was working with his works, and ¹as a result of the ^bworks, faith was ²perfected. ²³And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “^aAnd Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness,” and he was called ^bthe friend of God. ²⁴You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵And in the same way, was not ^aRahab the harlot also justified by works ^bwhen she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? ²⁶For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also ^afaith without works is dead.