James 2:1-13 addresses an issue that was not new to secular society then when he wrote it over two thousand years ago and which is still very prominent today. However, James was not only addressing a secular societal issue which was common outside of the fellowship of the church when he wrote about it; but like many other issues of a secular society, this particular issue was also common in many of the churches he was writing to and also still common with some congregations today.
Before we study about what James wrote concerning this issue, we need to know some facts concerning who James was.
“James was one of several brothers of Jesus, probably the oldest since he heads the list in” Matthew 13:55, “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?
After Jesus’s resurrection, James is recognized in the New Testament as a prominent and influential leader of the Church. Three years after the apostle Paul was converted he went to Jerusalem and stayed with Peter (Galatians. 1:18) and he said, “I saw none of the other apostles — only James, the Lord’s brother, Galatians 1:19. In Galatians 2:9 Paul recognized James as one of the three “pillars” of the church.
Upon Peter’s miraculous escape from prison Acts 12:1-19, Peter tells those who were praying for him to inform James about his escape from prison, Acts 12:17, “Tell James and the brothers about this”.
In the meeting of the leadership that the Church had concerning a crucial doctrinal issue, it was James who proposed the solution that everyone present accepted and adapted as a doctrinal standard for all the churches. Acts 15:13-23.
In Acts 21:17-19 on Paul’s last trip to Jerusalem it was James and the elders who Paul “reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.”
What was the sinful issue in the church that James was addressing? In most of our Bibles, the heading of James chapter two says something similar to this, “The Sin Of Favoritism”, “Favoritism Forbidden” or “A Warning Against Prejudice”. In some of these different translations of the Bible, they translate the word of the particular issue that James was addressing as, “Favoritism” – NIV and NASU, or “Partiality”– NKJV and ESV”.
How did James become aware of this issue that had infiltrated the life of the Church? In verses one to four James give his readers an example of how this sinful mindset and practice of favoritism was happening in the churches. The understanding that James had about favoritism in the churches was possibly something he experienced or seen first-hand.
James as a leader of the church had the relationship, respect and responsibility of the Churches to address an issue such as this and encourage the Churches to change the sinful practice of favoritism.
How could a church be unified and supposedly be demonstrating agape love when the practice of favoritism as James explains it, was a normal and accepted occurrence? The favoritism or partiality that was happening in the churches was a sin and contrary to Jesus’ teaching concerning the second “greatest commandment”, 39 “And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:39-40. The apostle Paul also confirmed this in his letter to the churches in Galatia, Galatians 5:14 “The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
What fed this mentality of sinful favoritism in the churches? Favoritism is an outward manifestation or symptom of a spiritual condition of the heart. When we look at the synonyms and secular definition of favoritism, it will partially help us understand the unseen spiritual cause, and also how favoritism manifests in our churches today. Favoritism – “A display of partiality toward a favored person or group. The state of being held in special favor.” One of the synonyms of favoritism is discrimination; “Discrimination – Treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit; partiality or prejudice.” Another synonym is prejudice, “The act or state of holding unreasonable preconceived judgments or convictions. Irrational suspicion or hatred of a particular group, race, or religion.”
The spiritual condition of the heart that causes favoritism is the way of thinking and doing things before we received Christ into our lives. 2 Corinthians 5:17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! The apostle Paul had to write and remind the churches about this. Ephesians 4:22-24, “22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Colossians 3:9-11, “…since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”
There can be many causes for sinful favoritism in a Christian, such as pride, ignorance of the scripture or the influence of the way secular society thinks and acts. James points out very clearly in verse five one interesting cause. “Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?” Wuest in his translation says, “those who are poor in the world’s estimation”.
Are we as Christians looking at others, our “neighbor” with “the eyes of the world”? If we are seeing others in and outside of the church this way, then we will be seeing some as poor, underprivileged, unfortunate, lower class or uncultured and lesser educated. The result will be we will not see or treat them as Jesus would and the tendency will be not loving them as Jesus commands us, “Love your neighbor as yourself”. Loving our neighbor as our self happens when we see our neighbor with the eyes of Jesus, when we do we will see “…the visitor is a Christian, we can accept him because Christ lives in him. If he is not a Christian, we can receive him because Christ died for him, It is Christ who is the link between us and others, and He is a link of love. The basis for the way we love our neighbor or others is the person and work of Jesus Christ in our lives first.
Pastor John
