A Few Thoughts on the Epistle of James—James 2:1-4

B2 Chapter 2

C1 The Christian life—no socioeconomic prejudice James 2:1-13

D1 Believers Should Treat All Christians Equally James 2:1-4

James 2:1-4 WEL My brothers, do not have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Glory [of God], with partiality. 2 For if a man with a gold ring and expensive clothes comes into your assembly, and a poor man with shabby clothes comes in also, 3 And you favor him who wears the impressive clothing and say to him, “Sit over in this place of honor,” but you say to the poor, “Stand over there,” or “Sit here under my feet.” 4 Are you not prejudiced in yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ= His Gospel, His Beliefs (doctrine), His life (worldview and lifestyle)

The Glory=

• Various interpretations as Lord of Glory, of the Glory (heaven or the only Glory), or the Glory (of God) as in the Shekinah Glory of God (See Robertson’s Word Pictures for example).
• Some verses
  • Luke 9:26 LITV For whoever is ashamed of Me and My Words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that one when He comes in His glory, and that of the Father, and of the holy angels.
  • Luke 9:31-32 LITV Appearing in glory, they spoke of His exodus, which He was about to accomplish in Jerusalem.  32  But Peter and those with him were pressed down with sleep. But fully awakening, they saw His glory, and the two men standing with Him.
  • John 17:5 NASB Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
  • Jesus is THE Glory, the standard, the ultimate, so compare: 1 Corinthians 15:41 NLT The sun has one kind of glory, while the moon and stars each have another kind. And even the stars differ from each other in their glory.

Partiality=

• The Greek word is προσωποληψία prosōpolēpsía. It means showing favoritism to one and disregarding the other.
• God has no partiality. He wants all to be saved and forgiven, not just a few that He elected before creation or, if you prefer, after Adam’s sin. 1 Timothy 2:4 NIV Who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
• This partiality is not treating our spouse better than other men or women, treating our children better than other children, treating a fellow Christian better than another.
• We are not to show partiality either, especially in the church (the people). Some brothers and sisters are rich and others are poor. We must treat and respect them equally.
• Reasons
  • God does not show favoritism or bias.
  • It will cause someone to sin. Perhaps, they will take advantage or ignore the needs of the poor and find excuse to do so. Proverbs 28:21 NIV To show partiality is not good--yet a person will do wrong for a piece of bread.
  • It causes divisions in the church. 1 Corinthians 3:3-4 NIV You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere human beings?
  • It might cause elders (pastors, ministers, overseers, bishops, etc.) to not be disciplined in the church. 1 Timothy 5:21 NIV I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism.
  • It is listed in the New Testament as sin that God will punish. James 2:9 NIV But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.

Sit...stand=

• What we really believe is seen in our actions in private and public.
• Actions like partiality are due to pride.
• A decision has been rendered, not according to justice but evil thoughts.
• Decisions like this come from an evil heart. Mark 7:21-23 NLT For from within, out of a person's heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.
• Vincent’s Word Studies comments: Their evil processes of thought lead to these unjust discriminations.
• Craig Keener comments on this passage (IVP Background Commentary): Roman laws explicitly favored the rich. Persons of lower class, who were thought to act from economic self-interest, could not bring accusations against persons of higher class, and the laws prescribed harsher penalties for lower-class persons convicted of offenses than for offenders from the higher class. Biblical law, most Jewish law and traditional Greek philosophers had always rejected such distinctions as immoral. In normal times, the public respected the rich as public benefactors, although the Zealots recognized in the Jerusalem aristocracy pro-Roman enemies. The Old Testament forbade partiality on the basis of economic status (Lev 19:15) and called judges among God’s people to judge impartially, as God did.

Questions

• Why is God so against this type of discrimination?
• How can we avoid this?