2:1 My brothers and sisters, do not show favoritism; honor the faith of our Master Jesus the Anointed!

2:2 If someone comes to your meeting wearing fine jewelry and fancy clothes, and another in filthy rags,

2:3 you tell the rich one to take the seat of honor and the poor one to stand in the back like a slave!

2:4 Did you not discriminate among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

2:5 Listen! Doesn’t God choose the poor of the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom promised to those who love him?

2:6 Yet you insult the poor! Aren’t the rich the ones who harass you and drag you into court?

2:7 Are they not the ones who speak disrespectfully against the ideal Name you bear?

2:8 The best thing to do is to fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “Love others as yourself.”

2:9 But if you play favorites you are failing and are exposed by the law as criminals,

2:10 because anyone who keeps the whole law but trips over just one thing is guilty of lawbreaking nonetheless.

2:11 The One who said “Do not commit adultery” also said “Do not murder,” so if you don’t commit adultery but do commit murder, you have still broken the law.

2:12 So speak and act as those who are about to be judged by the law of freedom,

2:13 for the Judge will show no mercy to those who don’t show mercy. Mercy trumps judgment!

2:14 My brothers and sisters, what do you gain when you say you have faith but never act on it? That is not a faith that saves.

2:15 Suppose a brother or sister is lacking food and clothing,

2:16 and you just send them away with “Well, I hope you get some food and clothes”; what good is that?

2:17 In the same way, faith that is never put into action is dead because it is alone.

2:18 Now someone may say, “You have faith and I have actions.” But without actions, how will anyone know you have faith?

2:19 So you believe in one God— fine, but so do the demons, who not only believe but shake with fear!

2:20 Are you demanding, empty-headed one, to know why this invisible faith is useless?

2:21 Look at our ancestor Abraham; wasn’t he shown to be just when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

2:22 You can see that his faith and actions worked together, and the actions completed the faith.

2:23 And that fulfilled the scripture, “Abraham believed God, so he was credited with righteousness,” and he was called the Friend of God.

2:24 So you can see that a person is shown to be righteous from works and not only from faith.

2:25 Likewise with the prostitute Rahab; was she not shown to be righteous by her actions when she sheltered the army scouts and then sent them out by another route?

2:26 Just as the body is dead when separated from the spirit, so also faith is dead when separated from actions.