Twentieth Century [1904], THE TWENTIETH CENTURY NEW TESTAMENT A TRANSLATION INTO MODERN ENGLISH Made from the Original Greek (Westcott & Hort's Text) (The Fleming H. Revell Company, NEW YORK & CHICAGO) [word count] [B14200].
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III.—Warning upon Various Subjects.
note
1 My Brothers, are you really trying to combine
faith in Jesus Christ, our glorified Lord, with the
worship of rank?
2 Suppose a man should enter
your Synagogue, with gold rings and in grand
clothes, and suppose a poor man should come in also, in
shabby clothes,
3 and you are deferential to the man who is
wearing grand clothes, and say—“There is a good seat for
you here,” but to the poor man—“You must stand; or sit
down there by my footstool,”
4 is not that to make distinctions
among yourselves, and to show yourselves prejudiced
judges? ⪆⪆
5 Listen, my dear Brothers. Has not God
chosen those who are poor in the things of this world to be rich
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through their faith, and to possess the Kingdom which he has
promised to those who love him?
6 But you—you insult the
poor man! Is not it the rich who oppress you? Is not it they
who drag you into law-courts?
7 Is not it they who malign that
honourable Name which has been bestowed upon you?
8 Yet, if
you keep the royal law which runs—‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour
as thou dost thyself,’ you are doing right; note
9 but, if you
worship rank, you commit a sin, and stand convicted by that
same law of being offenders against it. ⪆⪆
10 For a man who
has laid the Law, as a whole, to heart, but has failed in one
particular, is liable for breaking all its provisions.
11 He who said
‘Thou shalt not commit adultery’ also said ‘Thou shalt not
murder.’ If, then, you commit murder but not adultery, you
are still an offender against the Law. note
12 Therefore, speak and
act as men who are to be judged by the ‘Law of Freedom.’
13 For there will be justice without mercy for him who has not
acted mercifully. Mercy triumphs over Justice.
note
14 My Brothers, what is the good of a man's saying
that he has faith, if he does not prove it by actions?
15 Can such faith save him? Suppose some Brother
or Sister should be in want of clothes and of daily
bread,
16 and one of you were to say to them—“Go, and peace
be with you; find warmth and food for yourselves,” and yet you
were not to give them the necessaries of life, what good would
it be to them?
17 In just the same way faith, if not followed by
actions, is, by itself, a lifeless thing.
18 Some one, indeed, may
say—“You are a man of faith, and I am a man of action.”
“Then show me your faith,” I reply, “apart from any actions,
and I will show you my faith by my actions.”
19 It is a part of
your Faith, is it not, that there is one God? Good; yet even
the demons have that faith, and tremble at the thought.
20 Now
do you really want to understand, you foolish man, how it is
that faith without actions leads to nothing?
21 Look at our
ancestor, Abraham. Was not it the result of his actions that he
was pronounced righteous after he had offered his son, Isaac,
on the altar? note
22 You see how, in his case, faith and actions
went together; that his faith was perfected as the result of his
actions;
23 and that in this way the words of Scripture came
true—“Abraham believed God, and that was regarded by God
as righteousness,” and “He was called the friend of God.” note
24 You see, then, that it is as the result of his actions that a man is
pronounced righteous, and not of his faith only.
25 Was not it
the same with the prostitute, Rahab? Was not it as the result
of her actions that she was pronounced righteous, after she
had welcomed the messengers and hastened them away by a
different road?
26 Exactly as a body is dead without a spirit,
so faith is dead without actions.
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Twentieth Century [1904], THE TWENTIETH CENTURY NEW TESTAMENT A TRANSLATION INTO MODERN ENGLISH Made from the Original Greek (Westcott & Hort's Text) (The Fleming H. Revell Company, NEW YORK & CHICAGO) [word count] [B14200].
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