THE FOLLY OF FAVORTISM
2 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
- Behind James’ discussion is the thought that partiality is being shown to wealthy individuals who attend worship because those with less are hoping to benefit from their preferential treatment by some financial means.
- “partiality” – God does not play favorites. Yet we do. Jesus tells us to love others as we love ourselves (Mark 12.31). However, partiality is one of the clearest examples of loving ourselves more than we love others.
- When favoritism is displayed, the nature of faith is undermined and the display of faith is compromised.
- The nature of faith – 1 Cor. 1.26 – 26 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. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
- “hold the faith” – “To have or possess”, but here, in an active, imperative voice, thus it is translated “hold”.
- APP: When you consider that each believer already holds in their hand the treasure of the gospel and of Jesus Christ, it becomes absurd to actively replace, or supplement, such a valuable faith with money.
- “faith” – Faith is the means God gives by which we apprehend or appropriate who Christ is and what he has done. We know Christ by faith.
- “our Lord Jesus Christ” – Jesus is only mentioned by name 2 times in James. Some find fault in this statistic. However, here and in 1.1, James clearly demonstrates a clear understanding of the deity and priority Jesus holds in his life.
- “the Lord of glory” – Understanding Jesus as such is only done with a heart and mind that has been changed by God.
2 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, 3 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,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
- God is Judge. Not us.
- All will stand before Him. (Rom. 3.6)
- He is a righteous and just judge. (Rom. 1.18)
- He is an impartial judge. (Rom. 2.11)
- “Our great calling in this life is to live for the glory of the Lord Jesus, who has loved us and saved us. We do not glorify him if we are not gripped with the same spirit that brought him on his saving mission. And that was not the spirit of favouritism! The ground is level at the foot of the cross!” – Roger Ellsworth, Opening up James, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2009), 80.
5 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? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?
- “has God not chosen” – THEO: God deems who is ‘worthy’ of the gospel, not us. Rom. 9:15,16.
- Favoritism dishonors the foundation of the gospel. God did not play favorites when he chose us for salvation, instead, he gifted it to the disadvantaged. The foundation of the gospel is grace.
- The whole situation was ironic. James’s readers were suffering persecution because the more wealthy in society were playing favorites, and now they themselves were doing the very same thing when they came together for worship.
- “Can there be any doubt that James’s letter has a lot to say to us? Ours is also a day in which Christians are increasingly being oppressed because of their faith. Why is this oppression happening? Why is it unacceptable to belittle any group in society, but Bible-believing Christians are fair game? How is it possible for a city official in a major city in the United States to declare that Christians don’t belong in his city and should get out? How is it that people can speak against Christians and not be guilty of hate, but Christians cannot faithfully declare the Word of God without being charged with hate? It is all because of this ugly thing of favouritism. Powerful segments of many societies have decided that certain minorities should be protected, and Christians are not on the list! Therefore, when we practise favouritism in the church, we are cuddling up with the very thing that is causing us so much trouble!” – Roger Ellsworth, Opening up James, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2009), 79–80.
8 If you really fulfill 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. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 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. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
- “royal law” – James reminds the readers of one of the foundational commands of the nation of Israel, see Lev. 19.18.Why does Jesus refer to this command as “the royal” law?1. Because it summarizes the whole law.2. Because of the nature of the Law Giver.
- “you are committing sin.” – To claim obedience as a believer while neglecting the obvious command to love others (even the poor) as yourself, is a colossal failure.
- “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” – James’ Point of Emphasis: Selective obedience IS NOT obedience.
- All of the law is unified and held together by God’s character. It cannot be segmented and separated and selected for obedience by man.
- “judged under the law of liberty” – Speak and act (as well as other areas of obedience), with judgment in mind.
- “judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy” – Consider Luke 7.41-47 -“A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”
LIVING FAITH IS LIVED OUT
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 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? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
- “Can that faith save him?” – Many have sought to put James and Paul at odds with one another. Many have said that James has a poor understanding of the gospel.
- “James believed firmly in salvation by faith, but he believed just as firmly that saving faith inevitably shows up in good works. Kent Hughes helpfully explains, ‘Paul’s teaching about faith and works focuses on the time before conversion, and James’s focus is after conversion’ (italics are his)” – Roger Ellsworth, Opening up James, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2009), 91.
- v. 15-16 – James gives a sarcastic example of a faith without works.
18 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. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
- “show you my faith by my works” – James is making the same point that the apostle John made: ‘My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth’ (1 John 3:18). Jesus said it this way: ‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven’ (Matt. 5:16). Jesus also spoke of a tree that should produce good fruit. And that seeds planted on good soil produce 60, 80, or even 100 times what was initially planted.
- “You believe” – We are saved only by faith in the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus. But there is such a thing as true faith, and there is such a thing as false faith. One of the marks of false faith is that it contents itself with mere belief in the existence of God.
- ILL: True faith sits in the chair.
- “and shudder” –Presumably because they are aware of impending judgment.
“Gordon Keddie writes of the demons, They actually have a more informed ‘faith’ than human hypocrites! Men and women can make their easy professions of faith and live their worldly lives as if there were not God at all. Their casual blasphemies about ‘the man upstairs’ can roll off their tongues with never the slightest tremble at the consequences of offending a sovereign and holy God! Why is it that demons tremble, while sinners can sail on in blissful unconcern? The answer is that the demons are not so blind as people. They know their latter end … They really fear the wrath to come. But careless sinners say they believe in God positively, go on in daily life to live as if he did not exist and yet can dream that they are safe in the everlasting arms!” – Roger Ellsworth, Opening up James, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2009), 93–94.
FAITH LIVED OUT: 2 EXAMPLES
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 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. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
- Note: James’ example of Abraham and Issac is from Gen. 22; after the declaration of Abraham’s belief being counted as righteousness in Gen. 15. Gen. 22 is a test or building up of faith, not a means of initiating faith.
- “completed by his works” – literally, ‘his faith works’. Or his faith was shown to be ‘whole’ by his works. Abraham’s obedience brought legitimacy to his faith. Would Noah be a man of faith without building an ark?
25 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? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
- For evidence of preexisting faith in Rahab, see Josh. 2.11 – “And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.
- FOR FURTHER DISCUSSION:
- Why is favoritism such a temptation? What makes it so dangerous to God’s Kingdom?
- What examples of selective obedience can you see in today’s evangelical church?
- If demons are aware of their impending judgment for rebelling against God, why don’t they repent and seek forgiveness?