James 2
2.1-9 Treat everyone in the same way
Here James says that you must treat all
people in the same way.
It is a sin to be nice to some people and
be bad to other people.
1 Our wonderful Lord Jesus is the Christ.
My friends, you love and have faith in Jesus.
That is why you must not think:
This person is better than that other person.
You must not treat some people better than other people.
2 This is an example:
Two men go into a meeting at church.
One of the men has nice clothes and gold rings.
The other man is poor and has old clothes.
3 You are kind to the man with nice clothes and say to him:
You can have this good seat.
But you are not kind to the poor man and say to him:
You must stand here or you can sit there on the floor.
4 That is not right.
You haven’t treated both men the same way.
You think:
The rich man is better than the poor man.
But you have been like bad judges.
You think and do wrong.
5 My dear friends who love Jesus, you must listen.
The world says:
These people are poor.
But for God, these people are rich spiritually.
God chose these people to believe in him.
God made a promise to these people, he said:
These people can go to heaven.
God will give a place in heaven to all the people who love him.
6 But you treat poor people badly.
That is why these people feel bad.
But the people who treat you badly are not the poor but the rich.
Rich people use judges against you.
7 You are Christians.
You have the good name of Christ.
But rich people say that Christ is bad.
8 The Bible says:
You already love yourselves.
Now you must love other people as much as you love yourselves.
Doing that is obeying the most important law.
9 Some people think:
This person is better than that person.
Thinking that way is wrong.
God’s law shows that you are wrong.
“Two men go into a meeting at church.
One of the men has nice clothes and gold rings.
The other man is poor and has old clothes”.
2.10-11 Obeying the entire Law
Here James says that you must obey
each one of the rules of God’s Law.
Some people obey some of the rules but
disobey other rules.
That is wrong.
10 We must obey all the Law of God.
Disobeying only one rule is the same as disobeying the entire Law.
11 For example the Law says:
You must not have sex with anyone besides your husband or wife.
The law also says:
You must not kill anyone.
Maybe you don’t have the wrong kind of sex but you kill someone.
That means you don’t obey God’s Law.
2.12-13 God’s mercy
Here James says that you must show
mercy to other people.
That way, God will show his mercy to you.
12 One day, in the future, God will judge us by his Law.
(The Law of God sets us free from sin.)
That is why you must think carefully before you say or do anything.
13 There are 2 groups of people.
The people in group 1 don’t have mercy on other people now.
Because of this, God won’t have mercy on them.
But the people in group 2 do have mercy on other people now.
Because of this, God will have mercy on them and they will do well on the day of judgment.
2.14-20 Faith and actions
Here James says that you must do good actions.
Without good actions words are useless.
14 My dear friends, there are 2 groups of people.
The people in group 1 do good actions and say:
I believe in God.
That way, all the people know that the people in group 1 believe in God.
The people in group 2 also say:
I believe in God.
But the people in group 2 don’t do good actions.
The people in group 2 don’t really believe in God.
This kind of faith cannot help anyone.
This kind of faith is not able to save anyone.
15 For example a Christian at church says:
I need some help.
I don’t have any clothes or food.
16 You say to this person:
Blessings to you.
Have a nice day.
Wear good clothes and eat plenty of food!
But you don’t give any clothes or food to this person.
Talking that way but not helping people is useless!
Blessing with words but not helping is wrong.
You must bless people with words.
But you also must help people.
17 Faith is like this example.
Some people say:
I believe in God.
But these people don’t help other people.
This kind of faith is useless and dead.
18 Other people say:
You believe in God but I help other people.
The person who believes in God must show his faith by helping other people.
19 You believe,
There is only one God.
There is no other God.
Well, evil spirits believe the same thing and they are very afraid of God.
20 You must not be foolish people.
You must understand something very important:
Believing in God but not helping other people is useless.
2.21-24 The example of Abraham
Here James tells the story of Abraham.
Abraham had faith.
Abraham’s faith produced actions.
God accepted Abraham because of his faith and actions.
21 I will explain this with an example.
Do you remember our ancestor Abraham?
Abraham laid down his son Isaac upon the altar.
Why?
To give Isaac to God as a sacrifice.
After Abraham did that good thing, God said:
Abraham is a good man.
22 Abraham had faith in God.
Abraham also obeyed God and did good actions.
The faith and the good actions of Abraham worked together.
Why was Abraham’s faith complete?
Because it also had actions.
23 So the Bible says this about Abraham:
Abraham believed God’s promise and that is why God said:
“I think Abraham is a good man.”
God also said:
Abraham is my friend.
24 Now you are able to understand.
Abraham’s example teaches something important:
A person must have faith and also do good actions.
Then God will say:
That person is good.
2.25 The example of Rahab
Here James tells the story of Rahab.
Like Abraham, Rahab had faith and did good actions.
Like Abraham, God accepted Rahab.
25 Here is another example:
Do you remember Rahab, the prostitute?
A long time ago, two men of the Israelite army came to the house of Rahab.
The men were enemies of the city where Rahab lived.
These men came to explore the city as spies.
After that the men wanted to destroy that city.
Rahab kept them safe in her house and later helped them to escape.
Because of this God said:
I think Rahab is good.
Why?
Because Rahab did good actions.
2.26 Useless faith
Here James says that faith without actions is useless.
It is like a person who doesn’t breathe air.
Faith without actions doesn’t help.
26 I have another example:
A person who doesn’t breathe is dead.
It is the same with faith.
Dead faith doesn’t help other people.
That kind of faith is useless.