God has chosen the poor to be rich in faith.

Rich In Faith

 

James 2:5 ESV / 12 helpful votes

 

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?

James 2:1-26 ESV / 9 helpful votes

 

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? ...

2 Corinthians 8:9 ESV / 6 helpful votes

 

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

James 1:1-27 ESV / 5 helpful votes

 

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. ...

James 3:1-18 ESV / 4 helpful votes

 

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! ...

James 2:26 ESV / 4 helpful votes

 

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

James 2:23 ESV / 4 helpful votes

 

And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.

James 2:19 ESV / 4 helpful votes

 

You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

James 2:18 ESV / 4 helpful votes

 

But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

Leviticus 19:18 ESV / 4 helpful votes

 

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Revelation 2:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes

 

“‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

James 2:21 ESV / 3 helpful votes

 

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

James 2:20 ESV / 3 helpful votes

 

Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

James 2:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes

 

So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

James 2:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

 

For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

James 2:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes

 

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.

James 2:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

 

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.

Hebrews 11:1-40 ESV / 3 helpful votes

 

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. ...

Romans 3:28 ESV / 3 helpful votes

 

For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Luke 14:12-14 ESV / 3 helpful votes

 

He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

Luke 12:33 ESV / 3 helpful votes

 

Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.

Luke 6:20 ESV / 3 helpful votes

 

And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Luke 6:20-21 ESV / 3 helpful votes

 

And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

Mark 4:19 ESV / 3 helpful votes

 

But the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

Matthew 6:24 ESV / 3 helpful votes

 

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Matthew 5:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes

 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Genesis 15:6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

 

And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Revelation 3:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

1 John 3:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?

James 5:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.

James 5:1-3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days.

James 5:1-6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. ...

James 4:1-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? ...

James 2:25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

James 2:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

James 2:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,

James 2:14-26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ...

James 2:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?

James 2:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.

James 2:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.

James 2:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

James 2:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

James 2:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?

James 2:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

Have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

James 2:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in,

James 1:27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

James 1:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

James 1:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Hebrews 11:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Titus 3:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.

1 Timothy 6:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,

1 Timothy 6:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

1 Timothy 6:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

Philippians 3:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.

Ephesians 4:28 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

Ephesians 2:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

Not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Galatians 6:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Galatians 5:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

Galatians 2:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

2 Corinthians 6:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 1:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

Romans 8:1-39 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ...

Romans 4:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

Romans 4:1-25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, ...

Acts 10:1-48 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. ...

Acts 7:1-60 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” And Stephen said: “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. ...

Acts 4:32-35 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

Acts 4:1-37 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand. On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, ...

Acts 2:44 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

And all who believed were together and had all things in common.

Luke 16:19-25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. ...

Luke 12:33-34 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Luke 12:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Luke 8:1-56 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means. And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. ...

Luke 6:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

Luke 6:1-49 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” ...

Luke 4:16-21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ...

Luke 3:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.”

Luke 1:1-80 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. ...

Mark 2:1-28 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” ...

Matthew 25:31-46 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ...

Matthew 25:14-30 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. ...

Matthew 16:27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.

Matthew 11:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

Matthew 6:33 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Matthew 6:19-21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:19-20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Jeremiah 9:23-24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

Isaiah 41:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them.

Isaiah 41:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend;

Isaiah 25:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat; for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall,

Proverbs 28:27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.

Proverbs 19:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.

Proverbs 14:31 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.

Leviticus 19:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

 

“You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.