James 2:1-9

1: My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. 
2: For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, 
3: and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” 
4: have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? 
5: Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 
6: But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? 
7: Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?

8: If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,” you are doing well.
9: But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

***    

James addressed the practice of showing favoritism toward the rich. By treating the rich better—giving them a place of honor in their gatherings while not doing so for the poor—they were doing wrong. They’d held their faith with an attitude of personal favoritism. The practice in Jewish synagogues at the time was to sit according to rank with those of the same trade together.1 James instructed them not to judge outwardly according to these kinds of worldly standards.

James asked, "Have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil motives?" An evil motive might be the thought that one could personally benefit from a person’s wealth or worldly position. This would be looking for what you might gain from that person rather than what you could give to him. Instead, look for how you can minister the life and love of God to a person rather than looking for what he can do for you. Jesus Himself was criticized for eating with sinners (Mark 2:16-17). Yet we are to follow His example. Shouldn’t we welcome everyone to Christ equally as He offered Himself for all?

Worldly riches do not equate spiritual riches. Being rich in faith and being heirs to the kingdom of God is promised to those who love Him. These are the riches we are to strive for and look for in others. Love of the Lord and faith in Him are great riches. James asked if it wasn’t the rich who had oppressed them, dragged them into court, and blasphemed the name of the Lord!

He quoted Leviticus 19:18 calling it the royal law to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus also quoted this in Matthew 22:39. To show partiality and dishonor to the poor as they had done, was to commit sin and be convicted by this royal law—the law of love and liberty—the Word of God Himself.

1 https://biblehub.com/commentaries/jfb/james/2.htm retrieved September 8, 2021


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Galatians 1:1-10

1: Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), 2: and all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: 3: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4: who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5: to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen. 6: I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7: which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8: But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9: As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! 10: For am I now see...
Read more

2 Corinthians 7:8-16

8: For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it—for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while— 9: I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. 10: For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11: For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter. 12: So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the offender nor for the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness on our behalf might be made known to you i...
Read more

2 Corinthians 10:1-11

1: Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent! 2: I ask that when I am present I need not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some, who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3: For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4: for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5: We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, 6: and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete. 7: You are looking at things as they are outwardly. If anyone is confident in himself that he is Christ’s, let him consider this again within himself, that just as he is Christ’s, so also are we. 8: For even if I boast somewh...
Read more