²⁷Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: sto visit torphans and widows in their affliction, and uto keep oneself vunstained from the world.

²⁷Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: sto visit torphans and widows in their affliction, and uto keep oneself vunstained from the world.

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The Sin of Partiality

¹My brothers,1 wshow no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, xthe Lord of glory. ²For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, ³and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” ywhile you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” ⁴have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become zjudges with evil thoughts? ⁵Listen, my beloved brothers, ahas not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be brich in faith and heirs of cthe kingdom, dwhich he has promised to those who love him? ⁶But you ehave dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who fdrag you ginto court? ⁷Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable hname by which you were called?

⁸If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, i“You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. ⁹But if you jshow partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point khas become guilty of all of it. ¹¹For he who said, l“Do not commit adultery,” also said, l“Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹²So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under mthe law of liberty. ¹³For njudgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

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