James 2
The chapter in full, then what it says, what the Greek or Hebrew decides, and where readers have disagreed.
James 2 WEB
- 1 My brothers, don't hold the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality.
- 2 For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in,
- 3 and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing and say, "Sit here in a good place;" and you tell the poor man, "Stand there," or "Sit by my footstool"
- 4 haven't you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
- 5 Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn't God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him?
- 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Don't the rich oppress you and personally drag you before the courts?
- 7 Don't they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?
- 8 However, if you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well.
- 9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.
- 10 For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.
- 11 For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not commit murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
- 12 So speak and so do as men who are to be judged by the law of freedom.
- 13 For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
- 14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him?
- 15 And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food,
- 16 and one of you tells them, "Go in peace. Be warmed and filled;" yet you didn't give them the things the body needs, what good is it?
- 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.
- 18 Yes, a man will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
- 19 You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe—and shudder.
- 20 But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead?
- 21 Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
- 22 You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected.
- 23 So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness," and he was called the friend of God.
- 24 You see then that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith.
- 25 In the same way, wasn't Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?
- 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.
James 2
What is happening
James writes to Jewish Christians scattered outside Palestine — "the twelve tribes which are of the Dispersion," as the letter opens — a congregation still calling its meeting a "synagogue" (2:2). The letter is blunt, practical, and closer in tone to Israel's wisdom literature and prophets than to the argued theology of Paul's letters. Chapter 2 falls into two halves that look separate but are not: verses 1–13 confront favoritism toward the rich and contempt for the poor; verses 14–26 confront the claim to have faith while doing nothing. Both halves press the same question from different angles: does what you say you believe show up in how you actually treat people?
The passage, walked through
James opens with a command: "don't hold the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality" (2:1). The Greek word behind "partiality," προσωπολημψία, literally means "receiving the face" — judging by appearance. James makes this concrete with a scene: a man with a gold ring and fine clothing enters the assembly, and a poor man in filthy clothing enters too. The well-dressed man gets ushered to a good seat; the poor man is told to stand, or to "sit by my footstool" (2:2–3). James calls this what it is: the congregation has "become judges with evil thoughts" (2:4).
Then the reversal: "Didn't God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom" (2:5)? The congregation has dishonored exactly the people God has honored — while the rich, James notes drily, are the ones oppressing them and dragging them into court (2:6–7).
He grounds the charge in law, not sentiment. Quoting Leviticus as "the royal law," he cites: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (2:8). Partiality breaks this law as surely as adultery or murder breaks the Ten Commandments — "he who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not commit murder'" (2:11). The law is one fabric; pull one thread and "he has become guilty of all" (2:10). This is not a claim that all sins are equally severe — it is a claim that the law cannot be kept selectively, obeyed where convenient and ignored where not. James calls this coming standard "the law of freedom" (2:12), and closes the section with a line that has outlasted most commentary on it: "judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment" (2:13).
The second half opens with the letter's most famous and most fought-over line: "What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him?" (2:14). James does not let this stay abstract — he gives the same kind of scene as before: a brother or sister without clothes or food, and someone saying "Go in peace. Be warmed and filled," while giving nothing (2:15–16). "What good is it?" he asks again — and answers: "faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself" (2:17).
James stages an imagined objector — "a man will say, 'You have faith, and I have works'" — and answers him: "Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works" (2:18). Faith, on this reckoning, is not directly visible; it is inferred from what it produces, the way a tree is known by its fruit. Then the sharpest line in the chapter: "You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe—and shudder" (2:19). Bare doctrinal assent, James says, is something even demons manage. It is not what he means by faith.
His two examples are deliberately mismatched: Abraham, father of the covenant, and Rahab, a Canaanite prostitute. Both are "justified by works" — Abraham "in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar" (2:21), Rahab "when she received the messengers and sent them out another way" (2:25). Of Abraham James says "faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected" (2:22) — the act did not replace the trust; it completed it, brought it to its intended shape. The chapter's thesis follows directly: "by works a man is justified, and not only by faith" (2:24). It ends where it began, with an image: "as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead" (2:26).
Where readers have disagreed
The long-standing crux is whether James 2:24 contradicts a doctrine of justification by faith found elsewhere in the New Testament. Read within this chapter alone, the tension is real: James plainly says a person "is justified... not only by faith." What can be said from the text itself is this: James's target throughout is not trust in Christ but claimed faith that produces nothing — "faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself" (2:17), a faith no better than what "the demons also believe" (2:19). His argument is that genuine faith is inseparable from its fruit, not that fruit is a second, independent basis of standing before God alongside faith. Whether that fully resolves the tension with Paul's language elsewhere is a question this chapter alone cannot settle, since only James 2 has been read here; but within James's own argument, "justified" functions as "shown to be genuine," demonstrated in the same way Abraham's trust in God was demonstrated at the altar.
A second point of disagreement concerns 2:10 — "whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all." Some read this as James's version of a doctrine of total moral bankruptcy before any single sin; others read it more narrowly, as directed specifically at the sin under discussion — partiality — showing that favoritism is not a minor lapse but a breach of the same law that forbids murder. The chapter's own argument (moving from "love your neighbor" directly into adultery and murder) supports the narrower reading: James is not offering a general theory of sin's uniformity so much as insisting that partiality cannot be waved off as trivial.
What it asks of a reader
The chapter refuses a division most people find comfortable — that what a person believes and how a person treats the poor, the plain-clothed, the socially disposable are separate questions. James makes them the same question. Chrysostom's comment on this territory sharpens what is at stake materially, not sentimentally: "Not to share our own wealth with the poor is theft from the poor and deprivation of their means of life; we do not possess our own wealth but theirs." James's own scene — the fine clothing seated well, the filthy clothing told to stand — does the same work without needing the commentary. The chapter does not ask for a feeling about the poor. It asks whether a congregation's actual seating chart, its actual response to hunger and nakedness, matches what it claims to believe about who God has chosen. Where those two things diverge, James's verdict is not delicate: the faith in question, whatever it calls itself, "is dead in itself."
The verses this turns on
My brothers, don't hold the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
Ἀδελφοί μου, μὴ ἐν προσωπολημψίαις ἔχετε τὴν πίστιν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τῆς δόξης.
- Ἀδελφοί ἀδελφός noun · vocative plural masculine G80
- μου, ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
- μὴ μή particle · nominative G3361
- ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
- προσωπολημψίαις προσωπολημψία noun · dative plural feminine G4382
- ἔχετε ἔχω verb · present active imperative, 2nd person plural G2192
- τὴν ὁ article · accusative singular feminine G3588
- πίστιν πίστις noun · accusative singular feminine G4102
- τοῦ ὁ article · genitive singular masculine G3588
- Κυρίου κύριος noun · genitive singular masculine G2962
- ἡμῶν ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
- Ἰησοῦ Ἰησοῦς noun · genitive singular masculine G2424
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Proverbs 24:23 These also are sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judgment is not good.
- James 2:9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.
- Leviticus 19:15 "'You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor show favoritism to the great; but you shall judge your neighbor in righteousness.
- Deuteronomy 16:19 You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality. You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous.
- Deuteronomy 1:17 You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God's. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it."
For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in,discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
ἐὰν γὰρ εἰσέλθῃ εἰς συναγωγὴν ὑμῶν ἀνὴρ χρυσοδακτύλιος ἐν ἐσθῆτι λαμπρᾷ, εἰσέλθῃ δὲ καὶ πτωχὸς ἐν ῥυπαρᾷ ἐσθῆτι,
- ἐὰν ἐάν conditional G1437
- γὰρ γάρ conjunction G1063
- εἰσέλθῃ εἰσέρχομαι verb · aorist active subjunctive, 3rd person singular G1525
- εἰς εἰς preposition G1519
- συναγωγὴν συναγωγή noun · accusative singular feminine G4864
- ὑμῶν σύ personal pronoun G4771
- ἀνὴρ ἀνήρ noun · nominative singular masculine G435
- χρυσοδακτύλιος χρυσοδακτύλιος adjective · nominative singular masculine G5554
- ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
- ἐσθῆτι ἐσθής noun · dative singular feminine G2066
- λαμπρᾷ, λαμπρός adjective · dative singular feminine G2986
- εἰσέλθῃ εἰσέρχομαι verb · aorist active subjunctive, 3rd person singular G1525
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Luke 15:22 "But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.
- Esther 3:10 The king took his ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews' enemy.
- Zechariah 3:3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the angel.
- Genesis 27:15 Rebekah took the good clothes of Esau, her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son.
- Esther 8:2 The king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.
haven't you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
οὐ διεκρίθητε ἐν ἑαυτοῖς καὶ ἐγένεσθε κριταὶ διαλογισμῶν πονηρῶν;
- οὐ οὐ particle · nominative G3756
- διεκρίθητε διακρίνω verb · aorist passive indicative, 2nd person plural G1252
- ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
- ἑαυτοῖς ἑαυτοῦ reflexive pronoun G1438
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- ἐγένεσθε γίνομαι verb · aorist middle deponent indicative, 2nd person plural G1096
- κριταὶ κριτής noun · nominative plural masculine G2923
- διαλογισμῶν διαλογισμός noun · genitive plural masculine G1261
- πονηρῶν; πονηρός adjective · genitive plural masculine G4190
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- John 7:24 Don't judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment."
- Job 34:19 He doesn't respect the persons of princes, nor respect the rich more than the poor, for they all are the work of his hands.
- Matthew 7:1 "Don't judge, so that you won't be judged.
- Psalm 82:2 "How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked?" Selah.
- James 4:11 Don't speak against one another, brothers. He who speaks against a brother and judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn't God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him?discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
Ἀκούσατε, ἀδελφοί μου ἀγαπητοί. οὐχ ὁ Θεὸς ἐξελέξατο τοὺς πτωχοὺς τῷ κόσμῳ πλουσίους ἐν πίστει καὶ κληρονόμους τῆς βασιλείας ἧς ἐπηγγείλατο τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτόν;
- Ἀκούσατε, ἀκούω verb · aorist active imperative, 2nd person plural G191
- ἀδελφοί ἀδελφός noun · vocative plural masculine G80
- μου ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
- ἀγαπητοί. ἀγαπητός adjective · vocative plural masculine G27
- οὐχ οὐ particle · nominative G3756
- ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
- Θεὸς θεός noun · nominative singular masculine G2316
- ἐξελέξατο ἐκλέγω verb · aorist middle indicative, 3rd person singular G1586
- τοὺς ὁ article · accusative plural masculine G3588
- πτωχοὺς πτωχός adjective · accusative plural masculine G4434
- τῷ ὁ article · dative singular masculine G3588
- κόσμῳ κόσμος noun · dative singular masculine G2889
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
- Luke 6:20 He lifted up his eyes to his disciples, and said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for God's Kingdom is yours.
- Revelation 2:9 "I know your works, oppression, and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
- 1 Corinthians 1:26 For you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble;
- 2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.
But you have dishonored the poor man. Don't the rich oppress you and personally drag you before the courts?discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
ὑμεῖς δὲ ἠτιμάσατε τὸν πτωχόν. οὐχ οἱ πλούσιοι καταδυναστεύουσιν ὑμῶν, καὶ αὐτοὶ ἕλκουσιν ὑμᾶς εἰς κριτήρια;
- ὑμεῖς σύ personal pronoun G4771
- δὲ δέ conjunction G1161
- ἠτιμάσατε ἀτιμάζω verb · aorist active indicative, 2nd person plural G818
- τὸν ὁ article · accusative singular masculine G3588
- πτωχόν. πτωχός adjective · accusative singular masculine G4434
- οὐχ οὐ particle · nominative G3756
- οἱ ὁ article · nominative plural masculine G3588
- πλούσιοι πλούσιος adjective · nominative plural masculine G4145
- καταδυναστεύουσιν καταδυναστεύω verb · present active indicative, 3rd person plural G2616
- ὑμῶν, σύ personal pronoun G4771
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- αὐτοὶ αὐτός personal pronoun · nominative plural masculine G846
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Proverbs 17:5 Whoever mocks the poor reproaches his Maker. He who is glad at calamity shall not be unpunished.
- Proverbs 14:31 He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker, but he who is kind to the needy honors him.
- 1 Corinthians 11:22 What, don't you have houses to eat and to drink in? Or do you despise God's assembly and put them to shame who don't have enough? What shall I tell you? Shall I praise you? In this I don't praise you.
- Psalm 14:6 You frustrate the plan of the poor, because Yahweh is his refuge.
- Amos 5:11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take taxes from him of wheat, you have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.
However, if you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
εἰ μέντοι νόμον τελεῖτε βασιλικὸν κατὰ τὴν γραφήν Ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν, καλῶς ποιεῖτε·
- εἰ εἰ conditional G1487
- μέντοι μέντοι conjunction G3305
- νόμον νόμος noun · accusative singular masculine G3551
- τελεῖτε τελέω verb · present active indicative, 2nd person plural G5055
- βασιλικὸν βασιλικός adjective · accusative singular masculine G937
- κατὰ κατά preposition G2596
- τὴν ὁ article · accusative singular feminine G3588
- γραφήν γραφή noun · accusative singular feminine G1124
- Ἀγαπήσεις ἀγαπάω verb · future active indicative, 2nd person singular G25
- τὸν ὁ article · accusative singular masculine G3588
- πλησίον πλησίον adverb G4139
- σου σύ personal pronoun G4771
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Leviticus 19:18 "'You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am Yahweh.
- Galatians 5:14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
- Matthew 22:39 A second likewise is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'
- Romans 13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
- James 2:12 So speak and so do as men who are to be judged by the law of freedom.
For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
ὅστις γὰρ ὅλον τὸν νόμον τηρήσῃ, πταίσῃ δὲ ἐν ἑνί, γέγονεν πάντων ἔνοχος.
- ὅστις ὅστις relative pronoun · nominative singular masculine G3748
- γὰρ γάρ conjunction G1063
- ὅλον ὅλος adjective · accusative singular masculine G3650
- τὸν ὁ article · accusative singular masculine G3588
- νόμον νόμος noun · accusative singular masculine G3551
- τηρήσῃ, τηρέω verb · aorist active subjunctive, 3rd person singular G5083
- πταίσῃ πταίω verb · aorist active subjunctive, 3rd person singular G4417
- δὲ δέ conjunction G1161
- ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
- ἑνί, εἷς adjective · dative singular neuter G1520
- γέγονεν γίνομαι verb · perfect active indicative, 3rd person singular G1096
- πάντων πᾶς adjective · genitive plural neuter G3956
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 3
- Galatians 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, "Cursed is everyone who doesn't continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them."
- Matthew 5:18 For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished.
- Deuteronomy 27:26 'Cursed is he who doesn't uphold the words of this law by doing them.' All the people shall say, 'Amen.'"
For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not commit murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
ὁ γὰρ εἰπών Μὴ μοιχεύσῃς, εἶπεν καί Μὴ φονεύσῃς· εἰ δὲ οὐ μοιχεύεις, φονεύεις δέ, γέγονας παραβάτης νόμου.
- ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
- γὰρ γάρ conjunction G1063
- εἰπών λέγω verb · aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine G3004
- Μὴ μή particle · nominative G3361
- μοιχεύσῃς, μοιχεύω verb · aorist active subjunctive, 2nd person singular G3431
- εἶπεν λέγω verb · aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular G3004
- καί καί conjunction G2532
- Μὴ μή particle · nominative G3361
- φονεύσῃς· φονεύω verb · aorist active subjunctive, 2nd person singular G5407
- εἰ εἰ conditional G1487
- δὲ δέ conjunction G1161
- οὐ οὐ particle · nominative G3756
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Exodus 20:13 "You shall not murder.
- Matthew 5:21 "You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, 'You shall not murder;' and 'Whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.'
- Deuteronomy 5:17 "You shall not murder.
- Romans 13:9 For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not covet," and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
- Matthew 19:18 He said to him, "Which ones?" Jesus said, "'You shall not murder.' 'You shall not commit adultery.' 'You shall not steal.' 'You shall not offer false testimony.'
From the interpretive tradition
Not to share our own wealth with the poor is theft from the poor and deprivation of their means of life; we do not possess our own wealth but theirs.
True religion, in great part, consists in holy affections.