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Faith and Discrimination

James 2:1 to 12

Once again the words "my brethren" are used: clearly what follows is addressed to believers in Christ, mostly Jewish at the time the letter was written, hence the frequent references to the law of Moses.

We are prohibited from holding, or having the habit of holding, the "faith in our Lord Jesus Christ" with respect of persons. The Lord Jesus is called here simply "the Glory": the words "Lord of" are not in the Greek text. He is the Presence of God amongst us, what was called in Hebrew the Shekinah Glory of God. (See also Romans 9:4; 2 Corinthians 4:6; Ephesians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3.) The faith is the body of truth which He gave us, not our trust or dependence on Him.

Respect of persons is to be partial towards particular persons, and is a Hebrew idiom meaning, "to lift up the face on a person" to be favourable and so partial to him. Snobbery and cast distinctions are utterly inconsistent with Christian teaching. Elsewhere we are taught that proper respect should be given to rulers, masters, elders and parents, but here it has to do with showing obsequious deference to people because of their dress and appearance.

The Law was clear: "You shall do no injustice in judgement. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbour." (Leviticus 19:15).

We find illustrations of this principle in verses two and three, which are self-explanatory.

The Greek word translated meeting or assembly in verse 2 is synagogue, the place where believers met. It was called synagogue among some Christians until well into the fourth century. Originally the local church was led by elders and deacons and met and worshipped in a similar way to the Jews in their synagogues.

It may seem almost incredible that within a Christian assembly such differential treatment could be given to people just because of their dress. Maybe there is some exaggeration to make a point, which is that often we are inclined to make judgements of a person's worth based only on their outward appearance, not only regarding how they dress, but also their race, the colour of their skin, hair and eyes and even their accent when they speak. Such discrimination is contrary to Christian principles, and if we practice it we make ourselves judges with evil thoughts.

In the following verses of this section, we are told how we are to treat people who are found in extreme circumstances in society, the rich and the poor. It has to with God's attitude to poverty and riches: it is not the same as the world's.

We are given four strong reasons why it is incompatible for a believer to honour the rich and despise the poor:

1. To look down on the poor, as a class, is to dishonour people who are honoured by God. God has chosen the poor people of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him. It doesn't read that God chose all the poor, but only that he did choose poor people to be rich because of their faith and to be among the heirs of the kingdom (as in chapter 1:9; see also Luke 6:20; 1 Corinthians 1:26-28). A poor believer certainly is looked down upon in certain churches, and yet he may be the richest man spiritually in that church. The Bible says a lot about the mistreatment by the rich and powerful of the poor, and that they will have to answer to Him for it. God has a concern and consideration for the poor, clearly evidenced when His Son took on our humanity and lived amongst us. The poor can be rich in spiritual things, and that is the important thing for us all to see. In the kingdom they will occupy positions of wealth, authority and glory. It is therefore foolish to ill-treat now those who are destined to be exalted at the perennial kingdom of Christ

2. To show deference to the rich, as a class, is to honour those who characteristically abuse the power their wealth gives them to oppress their fellow men and to drag them into law courts to make them pay what they have had to borrow. In those days poor believers were feeling pressure from rich Jews who were their overlords, and receiving harsh treatment from the judges before whom they were taken for law enforcement.

3. To honour the rich is to be partial to those who habitually use evil or harsh speech involving the name of Christ. They are puffed up because of their self-importance and speak evil of the beautiful name by which we were called. This is possibly the name of Christ (Acts 11:26; Acts 26:28; 1 Peter 4:14, 16). It was blasphemy to speak against Christ as some Jews and Gentiles were doing (Acts 13:45; 18:6; 26:11; 1 Corinthians 12:3; 1 Timothy 1:13). Alternatively, believers are baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus, and this is the very name by which the rich habitually blaspheme, and not only they. The traits which accompany riches are not ordinarily honouring to the Lord Jesus.

4. Any such discrimination breaks the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbour as yourself." It is royal because it was given by our King and it is the summary of all man-ward laws given by God. It means looking after others who are near us as we look after ourselves. It is our human nature to be self-centred and to favour the rich hoping to be benefited by our association, and to neglect the poor because they have nothing to offer us. From the parable of the good Samaritan we learn that our neighbour is anyone we come across who we are able to help.

To show partiality, is to commit sin, which is to fall short of the standard required of us by God. His law also convicts us because it has been transgressed: the law is embodied in this commandment so by disobeying it we are convicted of the whole law. Certain acts may be sinful only because they are unrighteous, but if there is a law against them they become transgressions.

Any transgression of the law brings condemnation, no matter whether all the rest of the law has been obeyed. Partiality is a sin because it is unrighteous in itself, but it is also a transgression because the law forbids it.

All people are transgressors of the law of God, as no-one has been able to comply with all its clauses during all his life. It is like a chain link - if we break one link the whole chain is broken. It is because of this that the Lord Jesus came into the world and uniquely lived a life free from sin, fully up to the standard of righteousness required by God. This also meant that he never transgressed the law, because it is itself righteous. All who believe in Him and trust in Him are clothed with His righteousness, because He gave Himself as a sacrifice for our sin and this is acceptable to God.

The law of Moses was the law of bondage, and believers are no longer under it, as a rule of life, as we read in the teaching of the New Testament, for example: "You are not under law but under grace" (Romans 6:14); "We have been delivered from the law" (Romans 7:6); "You also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ" (Romans 7:4).

Now we are under the law of liberty and must speak and do as those who will be judged by it. The law of liberty means liberty to do what is right. The law of bondage made us transgressors because we were unable to comply with all its statutes, and brought condemnation, but the law of liberty clears us from condemnation and enables us to live a righteous life with the power of the Holy Spirit. Christ, not the law, is the believer's pattern and certain principles of the law are of abiding value. Under the law of liberty we shall be rewarded for obeying them, hence the judgement to which we shall be submitted. We find these principles in the New Testament - for example nine of the ten commandments. The one left out concerns observing the Sabbath for it was given as a sign to the Jews only and is not repeated in the New Testament as a requirement of believers.

 

R David Jones

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.

2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes,

3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, "You sit here in a good place," and say to the poor man, "You stand there," or, "Sit here at my footstool,"

4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen 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 dishonoured the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?

7 Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?

8 If you really fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbour as yourself," you do well;

9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.

11 For He who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.