Partiality Forbidden

¹ My brothers, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality.

² For if someone¹ enters into your assembly² in fine clothing with a gold ring on his finger, and a poor person in filthy clothing also enters,

1. Literally “a man,” but clearly in a generic sense here meaning “someone, a person”
2. Literally “synagogue,” but here probably referring to a Christian assembly

³ and you look favorably on the one wearing the fine clothing and you say, “Be seated here in a good place,” and to the poor person you say, “You stand or be seated there¹ by my footstool,”

1. Some manuscripts have “you stand there or be seated”

⁴ have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵ Listen, my dear brothers! Did not God choose the poor of the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?

⁶ But you have dishonored the poor! Are not the rich exploiting you and they themselves dragging you into the courts?

⁷ Do they themselves not blaspheme the good name ⌞of the one to whom you belong⌟¹?

1. Literally “that was called over you”

⁸ However, if you carry out the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,”¹ you are doing well.

1. A quotation from Lev 19:18

⁹ But if you show partiality, you commit sin, and thus¹ are convicted by the law as transgressors.

1. *Here “and thus” is supplied as a component of the participle (“are convicted”) which is understood as result

¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles in one point only has become guilty of all of it.

¹¹ For the one who said “Do not commit adultery”¹ also said “Do not murder.”² Now if you do not commit adultery but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

1. A quotation from Exod 20:14; Deut 5:18
2. A quotation from Exod 20:13; Deut 5:17

¹² Thus speak and thus act as those who are going to be judged by the law of liberty.

¹³ For judgment is merciless to the one who has not practiced mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Faith and Works

¹⁴ What is the benefit, my brothers, if someone says that he has faith but does not have works? That faith is not able to save him, is it?¹

1. *The negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here

¹⁵ If a brother or a sister is poorly clothed and lacking food for the day,

¹⁶ and one of you should say to them, “Go in peace, keep warm and ⌞eat well⌟¹,” but does not give them what is necessary for the body, what is the benefit?

1. Literally, “be satisfied”

¹⁷ Thus also faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.”¹ Show me your faith apart from your² works, and I will show you my³ faith by my works.

1. Some see the quotation by “someone” extending to the end of v. 18, while others see it extending through v. 19
2. *Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
3. *Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun

¹⁹ You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe, and shudder!

²⁰ But do you want to know, O foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he¹ offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

1. *Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“offered up”) which is understood as temporal

²² You see that faith was working together with his works, and by the works the faith was perfected.

²³ And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness,”¹ and he was called God’s friend.

1. A quotation from Gen 15:6

²⁴ You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

²⁵ And likewise was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she¹ welcomed the messengers and sent them out by a different route?

1. *Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“welcomed”) which is understood as temporal

²⁶ For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.