| Former half | Relation | Latter half |
| 1 Salutation (1:1-18) And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (1:4) | Patience | 9 Warning to rich oppressors (5:7-20) Make your hearts firm, because the coming of the Lord is at hand (5:8) |
| 2 Hearing and doing the word (1:19-27) Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. (1:22) | Doers | 8 Boasting about tomorrow (4:13-5:6) So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it is a sin. (4:17) |
| 3 Warning against partiality (2:1-13) So speak and so act as people who will be judged by the law of freedom. (2:12) | The law and judgment | 7 Friendship with the world (4:1-12) Whoever speaks evil of a brother or judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law.(4:11) |
| 4 Faith without works is dead (2:14-26) What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? (2:14) | Doers | 6 Two kinds of wisdom (3:13-18) Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show his works by a good life in the humility that comes from wisdom. (3:13) |
| Former half | Relation | Latter half |
| 1 Salutation (1:1-18) 1:4 And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (1:4) | Perfect | 5 Taming the tongue (3:1-12) 3:2 for we all fall short in many respects. If anyone does not fall short in speech, he is a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body also. (3:2) |
| 2 Hearing and doing the word (1:19-27) Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. (1:22) | Doers | 4 Faith without works is dead (2:14-26) What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? (2:14) |
| Former half | Relation | Latter half |
| 5 Taming the tongue (3:1-12) Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you realize that we will be judged more strictly, (3:1) | Judgment | 9 Warning to rich oppressors (5:7-20) Do not complain, brothers, about one another, that you may not be judged. (5:9) |
| 6 Two kinds of wisdom (3:13-18) For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice (3:16) | Evil | 8 Boasting about tomorrow (4:13-5:6) But now you are boasting in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (4:16) |