James 2:1-13

(James 2:1-13)

My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.  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; 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:  Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?  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?  But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?  Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.  For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.  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. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.  For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

 

 

James 2 can be divided into verses 1-13 and 14-26, verses 1-13 dealing with faith without action, and verses 14-26 dealing with faith with action. In other words, true faith must first be faith without appearance (1-13), and faith with action (14-26).

 

James emphasizes that the Saints should not be taken as appearances to one another. He explained a specific example of taking a person by his appearance. 『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; 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: Two people come into the synagogue, one wearing gold and beautiful clothes, and the other poor in dirty clothes.

 

James referred to the synagogue here, perhaps as the synagogue, the place where Jewish Christians gather. James is an illustration of why it is wrong to take a person in appearance. He said that he was wearing a beautiful piece of clothing with gold hem here, but in the original text, he is not a woman, but a man. Also, a person who wears beautiful clothes (Lampram in Greek, the basic form of which is Lampros) is a person who wears brilliant clothes when translated correctly.

 

In the Roman Empire, wearing hem was only available to wealthy people of the knight class during the republican era. However, since the Roman Empire, it has been generalized to the general public. Hence, a person wearing a lustrous garment with a gold hem in his hand indicates a powerful official or a wealthy man at the time. In contrast, poor people wear dirty clothes and enter the synagogue. The word dirty here is the Greek word for Luppara (the basic form is Lupparas), which means "shabby" rather than "dusty, unclean". This means the poor man's poor and insignificant appearance.

 

But how does the church treat them differently? 『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: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? 』The church treats the rich and the poor differently. The church welcomes the rich man in beautiful clothes and sits in a good position, and contempt the poor to sit anywhere or just stand in the corner. As such, it is a bad idea to judge the church differently from the rich and the poor. This discrimination is the opposite of God's principle of salvation.

 

James says, ``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? 』 James is asking you not to know. What you are called is whether you do not know on what occasion you are called. But how can we discriminate between the rich and the poor?

 

The reason God chooses the poor for the world is that they have no pride. Poor is not a condition of choice. Therefore, the poor should be viewed not only as an economic problem, but also because the soul is poor and there is no pride. Deuteronomy 7:6-8『 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 』

 

The reason God chose Israel among all the people is not because it has more people than others, but because it is the least. Israel is a model of the world. God is telling all nations to see and learn Israel.
James strongly rebuked these sins after revealing, "It is an evil idea against the will of God, and contradictory to the nature of the church contempt and tolerate those whom God has chosen and blessed.

 

In 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 『 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.  But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:  That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. 』

 

The reason God makes this choice is to embarrass those who are rich in the world. God removes all "what humans have, what they have achieved, what is good and what is righteous" to humans. Therefore, choosing the lowly things, the despised ones, and the other ones in the world means that they have no pride. “This is to make no body boast.” Only by Jesus Christ, we boast only the Lord by saying that we are clothed with wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption.

 

『If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. "The law as transgressors" is "Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the LORD" in Leviticus 19:18. 』

 
Neighbors are orphans, widows, and strangers. Soon all neighbors. Israel received God's mercy. But when they ate and became rich, Israel abused and despised the poor as it was originally. Jesus, who gave the law, came to this land. He came as the poorest. He came in a weak form. They treated this Jesus as an appearance and crucified him. By killing the one who gave the neighbor the law of love they knew as the law as transgressors, all their sins were revealed.