Iacobi 2
1 Fratres mei, nolite in personarum acceptione habere fidem Domini nostri Jesu Christi gloriæ.
My friends, are you really trying to combine faith in Jesus Christ, our glorified Lord, with discrimination?
2 Etenim si introierit in conventum vestrum vir aureum annulum habens in veste candida, introierit autem et pauper in sordido habitu,
Suppose a visitor should enter your synagogue, with gold rings and in grand clothes, and suppose a poor man should come in also, in shabby clothes,
3 et intendatis in eum qui indutus est veste præclara, et dixeritis ei: Tu sede hic bene: pauperi autem dicatis: Tu sta illic; aut sede sub scabello pedum meorum:
and you show more respect to the visitor 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 nonne judicatis apud vosmetipsos, et facti estis judices cogitationum iniquarum?
Haven’t you made distinctions among yourselves, and used evil standards of judgement?
5 Audite, fratres mei dilectissimi: nonne Deus elegit pauperes in hoc mundo, divites in fide, et hæredes regni, quod repromisit Deus diligentibus se?
Listen, my dear friends. Has not God chosen those who are poor in the things of this world to be rich through their faith, and to possess the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him?
6 vos autem exhonorastis pauperem. Nonne divites per potentiam opprimunt vos, et ipsi trahunt vos ad judicia?
But you – you insult the poor man! Isn’t it the rich who oppress you? Isn’t it they who drag you into law courts?
7 nonne ipsi blasphemant bonum nomen, quod invocatum est super vos?
Isn’t it they who malign that honourable name spoken over you at your baptism?
8 Si tamen legem perficitis regalem secundum Scripturas: Diliges proximum tuum sicut teipsum: bene facitis:
If you keep the royal law which runs – “You must love your neighbour as you love yourself,” you are doing right;
9 si autem personas accipitis, peccatum operamini, redarguti a lege quasi transgressores.
but, if you discriminate, you commit a sin, and stand convicted by that same law of being offenders against it.
10 Quicumque autem totam legem servaverit, offendat autem in uno, factus est omnium reus.
For a person who has laid the Law, as a whole, to heart, but has failed in one particular, is accountable for breaking all its provisions.
11 Qui enim dixit: Non mœchaberis, dixit et: Non occides. Quod si non mœchaberis, occides autem, factus es transgressor legis.
He who said “You must not commit adultery” also said “You must not murder.” If, then, you commit murder but not adultery, you are still an offender against the Law.
12 Sic loquimini, et sic facite sicut per legem libertatis incipientes judicari.
Therefore, speak and act as people who are to be judged by the “Law of freedom.”
13 Judicium enim sine misericordia illi qui non fecit misericordiam: superexaltat autem misericordia judicium.
For there will be justice without mercy for the person who has not acted mercifully. Mercy triumphs over Justice.
14 Quid proderit, fratres mei, si fidem quis dicat se habere, opera autem non habeat? numquid poterit fides salvare eum?
My friends, what good is it if someone claims that they have faith, but they do not prove it by actions? Can such faith save them?
15 Si autem frater et soror nudi sint, et indigeant victu quotidiano,
Suppose some brother or sister should be in need of clothes and of daily bread,
16 dicat autem aliquis ex vobis illis: Ite in pace, calefacimini et saturamini: non dederitis autem eis quæ necessaria sunt corpori, quid proderit?
and one of you says to them – ‘Go, and peace be with you; keep warm and eat well!’ and yet you do not actually give them the necessities of life, what good would it be to them?
17 Sic et fides, si non habeat opera, mortua est in semetipsa.
In just the same way faith, if not followed by actions, is, by itself, a lifeless thing.
18 Sed dicet quis: Tu fidem habes, et ego opera habeo: ostende mihi fidem tuam sine operibus: et ego ostendam tibi ex operibus fidem meam.
Someone, 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 Tu credis quoniam unus est Deus: bene facis: et dæmones credunt, et contremiscunt.
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 Vis autem scire, o homo inanis, quoniam fides sine operibus mortua est?
Now do you really want to understand, fool, how it is that faith without actions leads to nothing?
21 Abraham pater noster nonne ex operibus justificatus est, offerens Isaac filium suum super altare?
Look at our ancestor, Abraham. Was he not justified by his actions after he had offered his son, Isaac, on the altar?
22 Vides quoniam fides cooperabatur operibus illius: et ex operibus fides consummata est?
You see how, in his case, faith and actions went together; that his faith was perfected as the result of his actions;
23 Et suppleta est Scriptura, dicens: Credidit Abraham Deo, et reputatum est illi ad justitiam, et amicus Dei appellatus est.
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.’
24 Videtis quoniam ex operibus justificatur homo, et non ex fide tantum?
You see, then, that a person is justified by actions, and not by faith alone.
25 Similiter et Rahab meretrix, nonne ex operibus justificata est, suscipiens nuntios, et alia via ejiciens?
Wasn’t it the same with the prostitute, Rahab? Was she not justified by her actions, after she had welcomed the messengers and helped them escape by another road?
26 Sicut enim corpus sine spiritu mortuum est, ita et fides sine operibus mortua est.
Just as a body is dead without a spirit, so faith is dead without actions.
