November
15th James 2 Prejudice and respect
1: My brethren, have not the faith
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. 2: For if
there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and
there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; 3: And ye have respect to him
that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place;
and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: 4: Are
ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? 5:
Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich
in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love
him? 6: But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw
you before the judgment seats? 7: Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the
which ye are called? 8: If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: 9: But if ye have respect
to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. 10:
For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is
guilty of all. 11: For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not
kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a
transgressor of the law. 12: So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be
judged by the law of liberty. 13: For he shall have judgment without mercy,
that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
Faith
in action
14: What doth it profit, my
brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save
him? 15: If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16: And
one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled;
notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body;
what doth it profit? 17: Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being
alone. 18: Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy
faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 19: Thou
believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and
tremble. 20: But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
21: Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac
his son upon the altar? 22: Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by
works was faith made perfect? 23: And the scripture was fulfilled which saith,
Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was
called the Friend of God. 24: Ye see then how that by works a man is justified,
and not by faith only. 25: Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by
works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
26: For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead
also.
James cautions his Jewish brethren
not to have faith in Christ with prejudice. We must never allow ourselves to be
overawed by the rich or powerful and treat them with respect, while ignoring or even
despising the poor. In our celebrity focused society this could not be more
appropriate. He says, hasn’t God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in
faith? James describes this as a sin, a very grevious sin. And he says brothers
you might keep the whole law, but if you act in this disgraceful way to a poor
man, who has no power to defend himself, then you have broken all the law. (Christians
are not under the Mosaic Law, however the exhortation to non partiality could
be applied to us. We should not have prejudice to ward any brother but treat
all brothers with equal respect. This does not mean lowering our respect to
include all but raising respect to be applied to all.) next James turns to our
treatment of the poor. James says if a poor man comes into your synagogue[1]
then you are not to treat him in any inferior way, if a rich man follows him
in, wearing a gold ring – a symbol of authority and power) He continues to says,
its one thing to say l will pray for the hungry and homeless, but that does not
fill a hungry stomach or clothe a person shivering in the cold. Faith should
have action attached to it. And if a person says, l have faith - then that
faith can be justifiable questioned if there is no charity expressed. (For the
Jews charity was the height of righteousness) James gives the example of
Abraham and Rahab who not only believed God and were justified before God but
who did acts of practical charity. Faith without action is worthless.
[1] There
is no excuse of any translator to turn the word synagogue into assembly or
church it is referring to a Jewish synagogue.
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