James 2 :: Amplified Bible (AMP)

The Sin of Partiality

My fellow believers, do not practice your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of partiality [toward people—show no favoritism, no prejudice, no snobbery].

Jas 2:2

Jas 2:2For if a man comes into your [fn]meeting place [fn]wearing a gold ring and [fn]fine clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes also comes in,

Jas 2:3

Jas 2:3and you pay special attention to the one who wears the [fn]fine clothes, and say to him, “You sit here in this good seat,” and you tell the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down [on the floor] by my footstool,”

Jas 2:4

Jas 2:4have you not discriminated among yourselves, and become judges with wrong motives?

Jas 2:5

Jas 2:5Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters: has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and [as believers to be] heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

Jas 2:6

Jas 2:6But you [in contrast] have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress and exploit you, and personally drag you into the courts of law?

Jas 2:7

Jas 2:7Do they not blaspheme the [fn]precious name [of Christ] by which you are called?

Jas 2:8

If, however, you are [really] fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF [that is, if you have an unselfish concern for others and do things for their benefit]” you are doing well.

Jas 2:9

Jas 2:9But if you show partiality [prejudice, favoritism], you are committing sin and are convicted by the Law as offenders.

Jas 2:10

Jas 2:10For whoever keeps the whole Law but stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of [breaking] all of it.

Jas 2:11

Jas 2:11For He who said, “DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,” also said, “DO NOT MURDER.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you murder, you have become [fn]guilty of transgressing the [entire] Law.

Jas 2:12

Jas 2:12Speak and act [consistently] as people who are going to be judged by the law of liberty [that moral law that frees obedient Christians from the bondage of sin].

Jas 2:13

Jas 2:13For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; but [to the one who has shown mercy] mercy triumphs [victoriously] over judgment.

Faith and Works

(cf. Gen 22; Jos 2 )

Jas 2:14

What is the benefit, my fellow believers, if someone claims to have faith but has no [good] works [as evidence]? Can that [kind of] faith save him? [No, a mere claim of faith is not sufficient—genuine faith produces good works.]

Jas 2:15

Jas 2:15If a brother or sister is without [adequate] clothing and lacks [enough] food for each day,

Jas 2:16

Jas 2:16and one of you says to them, “Go in peace [with my blessing], [keep] warm and feed yourselves,” but he does not give them the necessities for the body, what good does that do?

Jas 2:17

Jas 2:17So too, faith, if it does not have works [to back it up], is by itself dead [inoperative and ineffective].

Jas 2:18

But someone may say, “You [claim to] have faith and I have [good] works; show me your [alleged] faith without the works [if you can], and I will show you my faith by my works [that is, by what I do].”

Jas 2:19

Jas 2:19You believe that [fn]God is one; you do well [to believe that]. The demons also believe [that], and shudder and bristle [in awe-filled terror—they have seen His wrath]!

Jas 2:20

Jas 2:20But are you willing to recognize, you foolish [spiritually shallow] person, that faith without [good] works is useless?

Jas 2:21

Jas 2:21Was our father Abraham not [shown to be] justified by works [of obedience which expressed his faith] when he offered Isaac his son on the altar [as a sacrifice to God]?

Jas 2:22

Jas 2:22You see that [his] faith was working together with his works, and as a result of the works, his faith was completed [reaching its maturity when he expressed his faith through obedience].

Jas 2:23

Jas 2:23And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND THIS [faith] WAS CREDITED TO HIM [by God] AS RIGHTEOUSNESS and AS CONFORMITY TO HIS WILL,” and he was called the friend of God.

Jas 2:24

Jas 2:24You see that a man (believer) is justified by works and not by faith alone [that is, by acts of obedience a born-again believer reveals his faith].

Jas 2:25

Jas 2:25In the same way, was Rahab the prostitute not justified by works too, when she received the [Hebrew] [fn]spies as guests and protected them, and sent them away [to escape] by a different route?

Jas 2:26

Jas 2:26For just as the [human] body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works [of obedience] is also dead.

See the AMP Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

AMP Footnotes

(2:2)

Lit synagogue. This word comes directly from the Greek for “gather together,” and in the present context might refer in particular to a synagogue where Christians were allowed to meet.

(2:2)

In the Greco-Roman world men wore simple clothing and no jewelry except for a ring. The wealthy were distinguished by the cleanliness of their clothes and a gold signet ring.

(2:2)

Lit brightly shining.

(2:3)

Lit brightly shining.

(2:7)

Lit good.

(2:11)

Lit a transgressor of Law.

(2:19)

A reference to the Shema, the Jewish confession of faith.

(2:25)

Lit messengers.