James Chapter 2

¹ My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

² For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;

³ And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:

⁴ Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

If I needed an urgent answer to a prayer, like for a healing to something beyond what medicine can help with…. you can bet I won’t go to someone who is weak in faith to pray for me, I’m heading to the person who has lived his life working his faith. Rich people haven’t had to draw close to God…. they can meet all of their needs themselves, but a person who lives by faith is close to God. The poor who live by faith are spiritually wealthy….and we need to be spiritually minded enough to value their lives as much as we value the people who have worldly wealth. God loves both and commands us to love them as well.

⁵ Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

⁶ But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?

⁷ Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?

⁸ If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

⁹ But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.

¹⁰ For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

There are two ways that the Bible gives for a person to be saved, one is impossible…. that one is to keep the entire law of Moses and never break a single commandment….and the second way is to receive salvation through the blood of Jesus.
If a person decided to try to keep The Law of Moses….they would be obligated to never break even one of the commandments…. if they break one commandment it’s a complete breach of Law. It doesn’t matter if the person keeps 9 of the 10. It’s all or nothing….and since mankind is sinful at his core, keeping the Law is impossible…. we must rely on Jesus and his payment for our sins to be saved. Prior to the Law, sin was still there… our moral compasses pointed out our shortcomings…. but when the Law was given the sinful nature of mankind became very clear and undeniable. Now that there was a Law that defined what a sin was, we were guilty and could not rationalize that we weren’t such a bad person….the Law was the Law and any sin was a violation. It shows us that we need Jesus.

¹¹ For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.

¹² So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.

¹³ For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

The Bible is clear about this… we are getting back what we have dished out to others. If we can’t forgive people, then we won’t be forgiven either.

¹⁴ What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?

There is POWER in the blood of Jesus… and when we become a born again believer for real, we will be transformed by the blood. We are implanted with Jesus when we receive him…..and as a result, we will bear good fruit. If we are not bearing fruit, then we really need to examine our hearts. Fruit can be as simple as reaching out to a person you know is lonely for a chat about their day….. any act of love and kindness can be fruit.

¹⁵ If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,

¹⁶ And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

Today, the way we would say, “Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled” is “I’m praying for you.” and not taking any helpful actions. If you have absolutely nothing you can give to help the person and all you have is prayer to give, then that’s fine….most often it’s not the case. Prayer is always a good idea, but couple it with going into your pantry for some food to give to the hungry…. or closet for some clothing. If we really love others, seeing them going hungry and naked would effect our hearts and inspire our actions.

¹⁷ Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

¹⁸ Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

¹⁹ Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

²⁰ But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?

²² Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?

²³ And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

²⁴ Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

²⁵ Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?

²⁶ For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
You plant vegetable seeds in your garden, the plants come up….they look fantastic. When the time for harvest comes, you find that only some of these plants actually produced fruit. The plants that produced food to feed us are like the faith that produces fruit… and the plants that never produced are the faith that never produced works.