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About loving each other in the same way
1 Brothers and sisters, listen to this. You believe in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ our Lord is the greatest one of all. He loves all of us different people in the same way, not only some of us but all of us. So you should love all different people in the same way yourselves.
2 When you meet together, suppose a rich man comes and joins you, wearing good clothes and gold rings. And suppose a poor man comes, wearing old, dirty clothes. 3 Maybe when you see the rich man you will say to him, “Come inside and sit down here.” But when you see the poor man you will say to him, “Stay outside and sit over there.” 4 That is wrong. If you say that, you are not loving all different people in the same way. You are not thinking straight, your minds are crooked.
5 My dear brothers and sisters, listen to this. God has chosen the poor people in this world to trust in him. He has chosen them to be his children and to go to heaven. Long ago God said, “Any of you who love me will go to heaven.” 6 But you have made those poor people ashamed. Poor people are helpless, but rich people are powerful. Rich people are the ones who make trouble for you. Some of them take you to the judge so he will put you in jail. 7 They are the people who make fun of Jesus Christ. They speak bad words and they use his name in a bad way. But his name is the one people used when they baptized you. 8 God's law tells us, “You should love your neighbour as you love yourself.” If you obey that law, you will be doing the right thing. 9 But if you only love some people and not everyone, you will be breaking God's laws and doing wrong.
10 If you break just one of God's laws, even if you don't break the others, God will say, “You have broken all my laws.” 11 God said, “Don't take another man's wife.” And the same God said, “Don't murder anyone.” So, if you don't take another man's wife, but you murder someone, you are breaking all God's laws. 12 God has given us his laws that set us free. So you should speak and do what those laws say.
13 Because of that, you must forgive people when they make trouble for you. If you don't have pity and forgive other people their sins, God won't have pity and forgive you your sins. So remember that God has pity on us. If you forgive other people who have made trouble for you, then you will go with a clean heart because God will also forgive you your sins.
About trusting God and doing good
14 Brothers and sisters, if one of you says, “I trust in God all the time,” but you don't obey God, you think God will save you just because of what you said, don't you! No, he won't! God won't save you just because you speak like that.
15 Listen! Suppose some men and women who belong to God are poor. They have no money, and wear old clothes, and are always hungry. 16 If you don't give them clothes and food, then don't say, “You poor things, may God be with you! Don't worry! Go home and put on some warm clothes to keep yourself warm and have something to eat.” If you don't help those people and don't do anything for them, that's a terrible thing to say to them. You should help those poor people.
17 When any of you believe in God but don't obey him, that is very wrong. You should believe in God and also obey him. That is good.
18 Maybe one of you will say to me, “Look! That man believes in God but he doesn't obey him. And this man doesn't believe in God but he is always doing good.” Then I will answer you, “If a person doesn't obey God, how can he believe in him? I obey God and you can see everything I do. When you see me doing good, you will know that I really believe in him.”
19 You will say to me, “We know there is only one God.” That is very true, but the evil spirits also say, “We know that there is only one God.” But they are afraid of God and shake with fear. And they don't obey him.
20 If you say, “I believe in God,” but you don't obey him and you don't love other people, you are tricking yourself. You aren't talking sense.
21 Remember Abraham. You know that our ancestor Abraham lived long ago. And God said, “Abraham is right with me.” Why did God say that about him? And how did Abraham become right with God? He became right with God when he obeyed him. God said to him, “Give me your son Isaac. Put him up on the stone altar you have made and kill him.” And Abraham didn't refuse, he put Isaac on the altar. 22 Then God said, “Don't kill him!” Abraham really believed in God and obeyed him. And when he obeyed God he was showing him that he really believed in him. 23 Listen to this word from God's book.
“Abraham believed God, and so God said, ‘This man is right with me.’ ”
That word became true, and God and Abraham became friends.
24 If any of you believe in God and obey him, God will say, “You are right with me.” But if you don't obey God, even if you really believe in him, God won't say that about you.
25 Listen to another story about long ago, when a woman who didn't belong to Israel lived in Jericho. She was called Rahab. She was a bad woman because she slept with many men. Even though she didn't belong to Israel, she helped two men who were from Israel. They visited Jericho to see if it was a strong city. Rahab hid the men and they got away by a different road and went back to Israel safely. Because she helped them, God was pleased with her.
26 Look! If you say, “I believe in God,” but you speak carelessly, just speaking words with your lips and nothing more than that, then you are just like a dead person. A dead person can't move, he can't do anything good, he can't obey God. And if you don't obey God, you will be the same as a dead person.