A few weeks ago, I viewed a documentary on Ed Sullivan, the host of the Sunday Evening Hour, which was a variety show that he oversaw for 27 years. One of the things that Ed Sullivan was noted for was helping to integrate African American entertainers into his program during a time of deep segregation and prejudice, particularly in the deep south of the U. S. One of the reasons for his commitment to this concern came from his own family background as they were Irish immigrants to the U.S. He knew firsthand the pain of discrimination and favoritism.
In James 2, we find that same concern regarding prejudice, judgment, and discrimination. James exposes the reality of our deepest attitudes as reflected in our actions. How we treat people reveals the kind of person we are. More importantly, how does God treat people? When we view the life of Christ, we see the pattern or the model for the way we should be treating others. Jesus reached out to the marginalized in society. Jesus reached out to those who were looked down upon because of their economic, social, and racial differences with the mainstream of society. Jesus was known as the friend of sinners. He reached past gender and racial barriers to reach women and Samaritans who were considered defiled and impure. We see Jesus deeply impacting and transforming their lives. So, what happens in our lives when we begin to treat others like Jesus?
James was certainly impacted by the example of Jesus, and he also knew God’s attitude as revealed from some Old Testament texts, one of which is “‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly (Leviticus 19:15).”
N. T. scholar, Douglas Moo explains what James is challenging us with.
In his typically practical manner, James in this paragraph gives voice to an important Christian value: the equal worth of all people in the sight of God. Worldly culture is marked by distinctions: between one ethnic group and another, men and women, rich and poor, and so on. These distinctions are not erased in the church, but they are relativized in light of the revelation of God’s radical grace to all humans in Christ. ‘There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:28).’[i]
There is an equality of personhood we discover from Scripture. Every human being is created in God’s image and should be treated with respect and dignity. Here in James 2, we find three aspects of this issue of favoritism or discrimination that he is addressing as not being godly. He begins with an exhortation, then gives an example, followed by an explanation of the consequences of this kind of sinful behaviour.
THE FIRST ASPECT REGARDING THE ISSUE OF DISCRIMINATION IS THE EXHORTATION
Exhortation is simply a strong and emphatic urging to either embrace or refrain from a certain behaviour. In this case James is explaining the need to not show favoritism. “My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism (James 2:1).”
Favouritism translates a Greek word that means, literally, ‘receiving the face’ (prosōlēmpsia). It is first used in the New Testament as a literal rendering of the Old Testament Hebrew language for partiality. To ‘receive the face’ is to make judgments and distinctions based on external considerations, such as physical appearance, social status or race. This God never does, as the Old Testament repeatedly affirms.[ii]
For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.[iii]
Once God’s love has filled our hearts, it will affect our past prejudices and former distinctions. We now learn that we are not to judge things as the world judges things. We learn from the story of Samuel how as human beings we look at things from an outward perspective. What we can’t see is the heart of a person. While trying to anoint a new king from Jesse’s family, we read God’s correction to Samuel.
When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.’ But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’[iv]
- The subtlety of showing parental favoritism.
We can easily look down on this behavior of prejudice and discrimination, but we can practice it unknowingly in our own lives. It happens everyday in families. When we treat one child better than another, we are showing partiality, which has severe consequences. We see that played out in the story of Isaac and Rebekkah. We read of this favoritism and partiality in Genesis 25:8. (Issac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekkah loved Jacob.)
As you follow along in that story, you will discover that this parental behavior caused deep division in the lives of not only the sons, but also in the way the parents responded to their children. The problem did not just stop in their generation but was perpetrated later in Jacob showed favoritism to his son, Joseph over his other sons, which again caused alienation, jealousy, and anger in the lives of Joseph’s other brothers. The end result is seen in the hatred that motivated Joseph’s brothers to sell him into slavery.
- Our society shows favoritism toward the rich and famous.
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.[v]
The term world needs to be understood as the values that are in rebellion against God and His value system. John explains how our social structure rewards the beautiful, intelligent, successful, and athletic. This is often the motivation for people to pursue things like riches, fame, power, and fortune, in which they are trying to create a sense of personal value. However, God values each person as He is our Creator and values us because we are made in His image. It is the same reason why we irrationally love our children, as they are extension of us. Our value is not just what we do, but who we are as created in the image of God. What sin does is deface that image of God in our lives.
- A new pattern and value system.
In James’ introductory remark of being a believer in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, we are reminded that we are now in His kingdom. This kingdom has a totally different value system than what is championed by our society which is in rebellion toward God and is held captive by the kingdom of darkness. What should distinguish us as believers is how we treat people. It begins with how we treat each other as believers. Jesus left us a new commandment.
‘A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’[vi]
What makes this commandment new is not that we should love others, for the Old Testament taught that, but that we should love as Jesus loves us. How does Jesus love you and me? He lays aside His rights and life for each of us. When we see this self-giving love being extended to each other, this is a powerful attraction for people. The greatest need each of us has in life is to be loved, and showing favoritism and discriminating against others is the very opposite of what Jesus both taught and modeled. Jesus even goes on to teach that we are to love those who hate us. James now moves to give a practical illustration of showing favoritism in a simple form.
THE SECOND ASPECT REGARDING THE ISSUE OF DISCRIMINATION IS THE EXAMPLE
James uses a social and economic distinction that reveals one form of favoritism that he is warning against.
Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, ‘Here’s a good seat for you,’ but say to the poor man, ‘You stand there’ or ‘Sit on the floor by my feet,’ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? [vii]
The dynamics of the scene are instantaneously recognizable: James sketches human behavior that is virtually universal. The rich and powerful are the ones who can benefit us, and the favor shown them, it is assumed, will come back to us. No great grasp of cultural comparison is required to make this example come alive: it is enacted daily in countless ways. But James does provide us a glimpse of the ordinary way in which the honor and shame worked in the patronage system of the ancient Mediterranean world. In the ‘way of the world’ those who have possessions and power and prestige are shown honor, whereas none is due those lacking such signs of status. James’ perception of such behavior is strongly negative.[viii]
An example for us is a homeless person who arrives at church. Obviously, they don’t have much in the way of clothes, maybe hungry, and because they don’t have a place to shower, they stink. Now someone else arrives, well dressed and wearing expensive clothing and accessories. They looked put together, and we then focus on this person by showing them around and being attentive to their needs, while ignoring the homeless person. This text speaks directly to that situation. We are judging people from an external perspective.
When we make those kinds of distinctions, we are sinning, acting in an ungodly manner. We are being unlike God. We are revealing that we have embraced the values of our ungodly world. We are judging based on the external and outward, rather than knowing the true condition of the heart.
Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: 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? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong? [ix]
Are we not being inconsistent with God’s own action toward us? We need to remind ourselves that God is not selecting us based on our worldly value. Paul reminds the Corinthians of that very thing, that God has chosen the weak and foolish in our world, so that He gains the glory. While the believers were being reproved by James for selecting the rich over the poor, motivated by some hope of gain, God was choosing the poor of this world. This was revealing a different value than God was expressing and a wrong motivation.
Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.[x]
In keeping with the rest of the New Testament, James traces the Christian’s salvation back to the sovereign choice of God. Thus, the many poor people who had embraced the gospel could stand as powerful testimony to God’s own attitude. These people, poor in the eyes of the world, were in fact rich in the sight of God. It is from this spiritual vantage point, not the material, that Christians should judge others. Whether believers or unbelievers, people should not be evaluated by Christians according to the standards of the world.[xi]
In that ancient world in which James was writing, living in a shame/honor culture, God was showing honor to those who were economically poor, while the church here was dishonoring them. The attitude and behavior of favoritism is being censored by James. While James is focusing on this specific example of greeting people who come among us as believers, this attitude of being a respecter of person, or treating people differently because of some social status extends into every situation in life. We are constantly encountering people, making initial judgments both favorable and unfavorable simply based on outward considerations. God wants us to move passed such shallow and sinful behavior and see people like He does.
THE FINAL ASPECT REGARDING THE ISSUE OF DISCRIMINATION IS THE EXPLANATION
James continues with why this is so critical. He wants us to understand how we should treat people. As believers we have received the nature of Christ, which in turn should help us become more like Jesus, and therefore treat others like He does. Though we have a sinful nature with all of its past attitudes and actions that need to be addressed, we also now have God’s nature within us and need to allow Christ’s nature to rule over us. As we surrender to Jesus, we are empowered by His presence, to treat others as He does.
If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.[xii]
Love is the result of a genuine faith because of the way it affects relationships, foremost with God and then toward others. However, we need to understand the nature of love as defined by Scripture (1 Cor. 13:4-8). Alec Motyer explains the nature of this love.
Everything conspires today to define ‘love’ primarily in emotional terms. Scripturally, love is to be defined in caring terms, for the love that is owed to our neighbour is the love we expend on ourselves. …The essence of the royal law is that whenever there is a need there is an obligation to extend the sort of love we lavish on ourselves; the essence of partiality is to select the recipients of our care on some ground other than that they are in need.[xiii]
In other words, we choose to love people based on certain criteria, such as, if they are nice to us, or if we want something from them. But God’s love is shown to people who don’t deserve or earn it. God expressed His love to us when we least deserved, when we were in rebellion against Him, He made a provision for us to be forgiven and transformed. Genuine love is about giving not getting.
So, what does God do in our lives so that we can reflect that self-giving love? He brings needy people into our lives. Though we may not have the resources to minister to all of them, we must not discriminate against them based on ethnicity or social distinctions but must do what we can to the degree that we can. What should motivate us is to see Christ in them, and our own neediness in them. If I were in their place, what would I want someone to do for me?
Though we do not keep the law to be saved from our sin, the moral law is a standard revealing to us what is right in God’s eyes. Here James is explaining, as Jesus did, the summary of the law which is simply that we love. If we love, we will not sin against God and others. This is why love is defined as the expression of God’s nature, for God is love.
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.[xiv]
It will be upon this ground that God will judge us all. The nature of biblical faith will produce love. However, a simple intellectual assent to truth promotes judgment and censorship of others.
He has argued that partiality is a sin against the love commandment and that this commandment is a touchstone of the ‘royal law’ that governs those who profess faith in Jesus Christ. As such this law will serve as a standard by which believers’ speech and actions will be judged.[xv]
But you might say to me, “But Pastor, once we receive Jesus all our sins are cleansed. I thought we would not be judged since we received Jesus since He took all our sin upon himself as our substitute. What judgment are you talking about?” There are two judgments: one for sin and the other regarding whether we as believers acted in a way that was good and had value or was without value. God will judge our lives based on what we did with what He gave us: forgiveness, gifts, and opportunities.
You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’ So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.[xvi]
We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad [literally: without value].[xvii]
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘You shall not murder.’ If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. [xviii]
James answers, the law, the will of God for his people, is an indivisible whole, and to violate one part of it is to be at odds with all of it. The unity of the law, with the corollary that it had to be observed in its entirety, was a widely held notion.[xix]
We can think of it this way. To commit just one sin makes us a sinner, and if a sinner, then what we need is salvation and freedom from that state of sin. Now we know that Jesus saves us from our sin, but what we often fail to consider is that sin also brings us into bondage, so when we overcome sin in our lives, we can live in freedom. But once we have experienced God’s forgiveness, then to go and sin can cause us to live a defeated Christian life. James now talks about a different law, or spiritual principle. Do the right thing so that we experience the right consequences: freedom. James admonishes us to behave in such a manner that we live in freedom and victory, rather than in spiritual defeat and bondage. “Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, (James 2:12)”. That’s the crucial point of James’ message is that we can live free. Paul explains this very thing to the Roman church in terms of something that was commonplace in the Roman Empire, the issue of slavery.
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.[xx]
James’ final point is simply that the way we treat people will be what God is evaluating about our lives. Do we show mercy and understanding rather than criticism and censorship? How we treat others will impact how God will treat us. “because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2:13).”
When we show partiality by discriminating against someone, we are not showing them mercy. We are, in essence, flying in the face of God’s mercy to us. We are behaving like the religious Pharisees who were busy judging others, while being blind to their own prejudices and sins. Or to give us another understanding of the inconsistency of this behavior, we who have received God’s forgiveness and been shown His mercy must do what He does, by reciprocating that to others. Douglas Moo relates the idea of this verse regarding learning to show mercy rather than being filled with a critical and judgmental attitude toward others.
If failure to show mercy receives a severe penalty, the opposite is also true: mercy triumphs over judgment. This can be interpreted as a statement about the relative weight of two attributes of God, the point being that God rejoices in being able to overcome his judgment with his mercy. But it is better to take the mercy as human: our showing mercy triumphs over God’s judgment in that it defends us before God’s judgment seat.[xxi]
Maybe the best way I can state this principle of not discriminating or showing partiality against others is by having us imagine for a moment that Jesus appeared to us in the flesh. How do you think He would respond to each of us? My vision of Jesus walking into our life and others at this moment would be for Him to approach each of us with love and compassion in His eyes and focus for a moment on each of us individually. No one would be ignored or forgotten, but that something important would be communicated to each of us. No one would be perceived as better than anyone else. We would all know that we are precious to Him.
May we take the time to reach out to one another as Jesus would to us and consider what you would like Jesus to do for you; then may we do that for one another. May God so open our hearts that we would treat each person we meet the way Jesus would, with dignity, respect, and a deep loving concern, irrespective of racial, social, and any other worldly distinction.
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[i] Douglas Moo, James: An Introduction and Commentary, TNTC, Second Edition, E. J. Schnabel, Ed., Vol. 16, (InterVarsity Press, 2015), 132.
[ii] Ibid, 119.
[iii] Deuteronomy 10:17-18, The New International Version of the Bible, Zondervan, 2011.
[iv] 1 Samuel 16:6-7.
[v] 1 John 2:15-16.
[vi] John 13:34-35.
[vii] James 2:2-4.
[viii] Timothy Luke Johnson, (New Haven: CT: Yale University Press, 1995), 227-28.
[ix] James 2:5-7.
[x] 1 Corinthians 1:26-30.
[xi] Douglas Moo, James: An Introduction and Commentary, 123.
[xii] James 2:8-9.
[xiii] Alec Motyer, The Message of James, The Bible Speaks Today, (Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1982), 97.
[xiv] 1 John 4:7-8.
[xv] Douglas Moo, James: An Introduction and Commentary, 129-30.
[xvi] Romans 14:10-12.
[xvii] 2 Corinthians 5:8-10.
[xviii] James 2:10-11.
[xix] Douglas Moo, James: An Introduction and Commentary, 132.
[xx] Romans 6:15-18.
[xxi] Douglas Moo, James: An Introduction and Commentary, 131.
