The Living Bible (388 page)

Hebrews
13

Continue to love each other with true brotherly love.
²
 Don’t forget to be kind to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!
³
 Don’t forget about those in jail. Suffer with them as though you were there yourself. Share the sorrow of those being mistreated, for you know what they are going through.

    
⁴
 Honor your marriage and its vows, and be pure; for God will surely punish all those who are immoral or commit adultery.

    
⁵
 Stay away from the love of money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never,
never
fail you nor forsake you.”
⁶
 That is why we can say without any doubt or fear, “The Lord is my Helper, and I am not afraid of anything that mere man can do to me.”

    
⁷
 Remember your leaders who have taught you the Word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and try to trust the Lord as they do.

    
⁸
 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
⁹
 So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your spiritual strength comes as a gift from God, not from ceremonial rules about eating certain foods—a method which, by the way, hasn’t helped those who have tried it!

    
¹⁰
 We have an altar—the cross where Christ was sacrificed—where those who continue to seek salvation by obeying Jewish laws can never be helped.
¹¹
 Under the system of Jewish laws, the high priest brought the blood of the slain animals into the sanctuary as a sacrifice for sin, and then the bodies of the animals were burned outside the city.
¹²
 That is why Jesus suffered and died outside the city, where his blood washed our sins away.

    
¹³
 So let us go out to him beyond the city walls (that is, outside the interests of this world, being willing to be despised
*
) to suffer with him there, bearing his shame.
¹⁴
 For this world is not our home; we are looking forward to our everlasting home in heaven.

    
¹⁵
 With Jesus’ help we will continually offer our sacrifice of praise to God by telling others of the glory of his name.
¹⁶
 Don’t forget to do good and to share what you have with those in need, for such sacrifices are very pleasing to him. 
¹⁷
 Obey your spiritual leaders and be willing to do what they say. For their work is to watch over your souls, and God will judge them on how well they do this. Give them reason to report joyfully about you to the Lord and not with sorrow, for then you will suffer for it too.

    
¹⁸
 Pray for us, for our conscience is clear and we want to keep it that way.
¹⁹
 I especially need your prayers right now so that I can come back to you sooner.

    
^20-21
 And now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he who became the great Shepherd of the sheep by an everlasting agreement between God and you, signed with his blood, produce in you through the power of Christ all that is pleasing to him. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.

    
²²
 Brethren, please listen patiently to what I have said in this letter, for it is a short one.
²³
 I want you to know that Brother Timothy is now out of jail; if he comes here soon, I will come with him to see you.
^24-25
 Give my greetings to all your leaders and to the other believers there. The Christians from Italy who are here with me send you their love. God’s grace be with you all. Good-bye.

James

1
 
2
 
3
 
4
 
5
 

James
1

From:
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

    
To:
Jewish Christians scattered everywhere. Greetings!

    
²
 Dear brothers, is your life full of difficulties and temptations? Then be happy,
³
 for when the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow.
⁴
 So let it grow, and don’t try to squirm out of your problems. For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete.

    
⁵
 If you want to know what God wants you to do, ask him, and he will gladly tell you, for he is always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask him; he will not resent it.
⁶
 But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to tell you, for a doubtful mind will be as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind;
^7-8
 and every decision you then make will be uncertain, as you turn first this way and then that. If you don’t ask with faith, don’t expect the Lord to give you any solid answer.

    
⁹
 A Christian who doesn’t amount to much in this world should be glad, for he is great in the Lord’s sight.
^10-11
 But a rich man should be glad that his riches mean nothing to the Lord, for he will soon be gone, like a flower that has lost its beauty and fades away, withered—killed by the scorching summer sun. So it is with rich men. They will soon die and leave behind all their busy activities.

    
¹²
 Happy is the man who doesn’t give in and do wrong when he is tempted, for afterwards he will get as his reward the crown of life that God has promised those who love him.
¹³
 And remember, when someone wants to do wrong it is never God who is tempting him, for God never wants to do wrong and never tempts anyone else to do it.
¹⁴
 Temptation is the pull of man’s own evil thoughts and wishes.
¹⁵
 These evil thoughts lead to evil actions and afterwards to the death penalty from God.
¹⁶
 So don’t be misled, dear brothers.

    
¹⁷
 But whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God, the Creator of all light, and he shines forever without change or shadow.
¹⁸
 And it was a happy day for him when
*
he gave us our new lives through the truth of his Word, and we became, as it were, the first children in his new family.

    
¹⁹
 Dear brothers, don’t ever forget that it is best to listen much, speak little, and not become angry;
²⁰
 for anger doesn’t make us good, as God demands that we must be.

    
²¹
 So get rid of all that is wrong in your life, both inside and outside, and humbly be glad for the wonderful message we have received, for it is able to save our souls as it takes hold of our hearts.

    
²²
 And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. So don’t fool yourselves.
²³
 For if a person just listens and doesn’t obey, he is like a man looking at his face in a mirror;
²⁴
 as soon as he walks away, he can’t see himself anymore or remember what he looks like.
²⁵
 But if anyone keeps looking steadily into God’s law for free men, he will not only remember it but he will do what it says, and God will greatly bless him in everything he does.

    
²⁶
 Anyone who says he is a Christian but doesn’t control his sharp tongue is just fooling himself, and his religion isn’t worth much.
²⁷
 The Christian who is pure and without fault, from God the Father’s point of view, is the one who takes care of orphans and widows, and who remains true to the Lord—not soiled and dirtied by his contacts with the world.

James
2

Dear brothers, how can you claim that you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, if you show favoritism to rich people and look down on poor people?

    
²
 If a man comes into your church dressed in expensive clothes and with valuable gold rings on his fingers, and at the same moment another man comes in who is poor and dressed in threadbare clothes,
³
 and you make a lot of fuss over the rich man and give him the best seat in the house and say to the poor man, “You can stand over there if you like or else sit on the floor”—well,
⁴
 judging a man by his wealth shows that you are guided by wrong motives.

    
⁵
 Listen to me, dear brothers: God has chosen poor people to be rich in faith, and the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs, for that is the gift God has promised to all those who love him.
⁶
 And yet, of the two strangers, you have despised the poor man. Don’t you realize that it is usually the rich men who pick on you and drag you into court?
⁷
 And all too often they are the ones who laugh at Jesus Christ, whose noble name you bear.

    
⁸
 Yes indeed, it is good when you truly obey our Lord’s command, “You must love and help your neighbors just as much as you love and take care of yourself.”
⁹
 But you are breaking this law of our Lord’s when you favor the rich and fawn over them; it is sin.

    
¹⁰
 And the person who keeps every law of God but makes one little slip is just as guilty as the person who has broken every law there is.
¹¹
 For the God who said you must not marry a woman who already has a husband also said you must not murder, so even though you have not broken the marriage laws by committing adultery, but have murdered someone, you have entirely broken God’s laws and stand utterly guilty before him.

    
¹²
 You will be judged on whether or not you are doing what Christ wants you to. So watch what you do and what you think;
¹³
 for there will be no mercy to those who have shown no mercy. But if you have been merciful, then God’s mercy toward you will win out over his judgment against you.

    
¹⁴
 Dear brothers, what’s the use of saying that you have faith and are Christians if you aren’t proving it by helping others? Will
that
kind of faith save anyone?
¹⁵
 If you have a friend who is in need of food and clothing,
¹⁶
 and you say to him, “Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat hearty,” and then don’t give him clothes or food, what good does that do?

    
¹⁷
 So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith. You must also do good to prove that you have it. Faith that doesn’t show itself by good works is no faith at all—it is dead and useless.

    
¹⁸
 But someone may well argue, “You say the way to God is by faith alone, plus nothing; well, I say that good works are important too, for without good works you can’t prove whether you have faith or not; but anyone can see that I have faith by the way I act.”

    
¹⁹
 Are there still some among you who hold that “only believing” is enough? Believing in one God? Well, remember that the demons believe this too—so strongly that they tremble in terror!
²⁰
 Fool! When will you ever learn that “believing” is useless without
doing
what God wants you to? Faith that does not result in good deeds is not real faith.

    
²¹
 Don’t you remember that even our father Abraham was declared good because of what he
did
when he was willing to obey God, even if it meant offering his son Isaac to die on the altar?
²²
 You see, he was trusting God so much that he was willing to do whatever God told him to; his faith was made complete by what he did—by his actions, his good deeds.
²³
 And so it happened just as the Scriptures say, that Abraham trusted God, and the Lord declared him good in God’s sight, and he was even called “the friend of God.”
²⁴
 So you see, a man is saved by what he does, as well as by what he believes.

    
²⁵
 Rahab, the prostitute, is another example of this. She was saved because of what she did when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road.
²⁶
 Just as the body is dead when there is no spirit in it, so faith is dead if it is not the kind that results in good deeds.