James 2:1-10

Goodspeed(i) 1 My brothers, do you try to combine faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with acts of partiality? 2 For if a finely dressed man with a gold ring comes into a meeting, and a poor man in shabby clothes comes in also, 3 and you pay attention to the man in the fine clothes and say to him, "Sit here; this is a good place!" and say to the poor man, "Stand up, or sit on the floor at my feet," 4 have you not wavered and shown that your judgments are guided by base motives? 5 Listen, my dear brothers. Has not God chosen the world's poor to be rich in faith, and to possess the kingdom that he promised to those who love him? 6 But you humiliate the poor. Are not the rich your oppressors? Is it not they who drag you into court? 7 Is it not they who slander the noble name you bear? 8 If you really obey the supreme law where the Scripture says, "You must love your neighbor as you do yourself," you are doing right, 9 but if you show partiality, you are committing a sin, and stand convicted before the Law as lawbreakers. 10 For anyone who obeys the whole of the Law but makes one single slip is guilty of breaking it all.