James 2

The Royal Rule of Love

1 My dear friends, don't let public opinion influence how you live out our glorious, Christ-originated faith.2 If a man enters your church wearing an expensive suit, and a street person wearing rags comes in right after him,3 and you say to the man in the suit, "Sit here, sir; this is the best seat in the house!" and either ignore the street person or say, "Better sit here in the back row,"4 haven't you segregated God's children and proved that you are judges who can't be trusted?

5 Listen, dear friends. Isn't it clear by now that God operates quite differently? He chose the world's down-and-out as the kingdom's first citizens, with full rights and privileges. This kingdom is promised to anyone who loves God.6 And here you are abusing these same citizens! Isn't it the high and mighty who exploit you, who use the courts to rob you blind?7 Aren't they the ones who scorn the new name-"Christian"-used in your baptisms?

8 You do well when you complete the Royal Rule of the Scriptures: "Love others as you love yourself."9 But if you play up to these so-called important people, you go against the Rule and stand convicted by it.10 You can't pick and choose in these things, specializing in keeping one or two things in God's law and ignoring others.11 The same God who said, "Don't commit adultery," also said, "Don't murder." If you don't commit adultery but go ahead and murder, do you think your non-adultery will cancel out your murder? No, you're a murderer, period.

12 Talk and act like a person expecting to be judged by the Rule that sets us free.13 For if you refuse to act kindly, you can hardly expect to be treated kindly. Kind mercy wins over harsh judgment every time.

Faith in Action

14 Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it?15 For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved16 and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup-where does that get you?17 Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?

18 I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I'll handle the works department." Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.

19 Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them?20 Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?

21 Wasn't our ancestor Abraham "made right with God by works" when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar?22 Isn't it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are "works of faith"?23 The full meaning of "believe" in the Scripture sentence, "Abraham believed God and was set right with God," includes his action. It's that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named "God's friend."24 Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?

25 The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn't her action in hiding God's spies and helping them escape-that seamless unity of believing and doing-what counted with God?26 The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.

James 3

When You Open Your Mouth

1 Don't be in any rush to become a teacher, my friends. Teaching is highly responsible work. Teachers are held to the strictest standards.2 And none of us is perfectly qualified. We get it wrong nearly every time we open our mouths. If you could find someone whose speech was perfectly true, you'd have a perfect person, in perfect control of life.

3 A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse.4 A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds.

5 A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything-or destroy it!6 A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.

7 This is scary: You can tame a tiger,8 but you can't tame a tongue-it's never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer.9 With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image.

10 Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!11 A spring doesn't gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it?12 Apple trees don't bear strawberries, do they? Raspberry bushes don't bear apples, do they? You're not going to dip into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear, cool water, are you?

Live Well, Live Wisely

13 Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here's what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It's the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts.14 Mean-spirited ambition isn't wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn't wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn't wisdom.15 It's the furthest thing from wisdom-it's animal cunning, devilish conniving.16 Whenever you're trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others' throats.

17 Real wisdom, God's wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced.18 You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.

James 4

Get Serious

1 Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves.

2 You lust for what you don't have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn't yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.3 And why not? Because you know you'd be asking for what you have no right to. You're spoiled children, each wanting your own way.

4 You're cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way.5 And do you suppose God doesn't care? The proverb has it that "he's a fiercely jealous lover."6 And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you'll find. It's common knowledge that "God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble."

7 So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper.8 Say a quiet yes to God and he'll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field.9 Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious.10 Get down on your knees before the Master; it's the only way you'll get on your feet.

11 Don't bad-mouth each other, friends. It's God's Word, his Message, his Royal Rule, that takes a beating in that kind of talk. You're supposed to be honoring the Message, not writing graffiti all over it.12 God is in charge of deciding human destiny. Who do you think you are to meddle in the destiny of others?

Nothing but a Wisp of Fog

13 And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, "Today-at the latest, tomorrow-we're off to such and such a city for the year. We're going to start a business and make a lot of money."14 You don't know the first thing about tomorrow. You're nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing.15 Instead, make it a habit to say, "If the Master wills it and we're still alive, we'll do this or that."

16 As it is, you are full of your grandiose selves. All such vaunting self-importance is evil.17 In fact, if you know the right thing to do and don't do it, that, for you, is evil.