Lesson 6

James 2:1-13 New King James

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 dishonored 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 fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor 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. ¹³ For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

First Impression?

Pretty harsh? I like this dig into that fact that even the simplest sin is too much.

What is partiality?

Treating one better than another. I see this as putting our preferences before equality of God.

How do you avoid it?

Put the love of God before your own partiality. I think a lot of this is about showing us how we hang on to our sin (natural preferences) without even realizing what we do.

What evil thoughts might one be having?

Personal trick question. I set it with my standard definition of anything without God is evil.

Is James saying we are to be poor to inherit the kingdom?

I do not think it is a formula. I think our sin nature is to go after stuff to not be poor and the opposite would be to not go after stuff but after the kingdom. Seek and you shall find.

What is our duty to the poor?

Obey God. Our church should look after the poor in our own congregation and to some degree our community. Any additional help to the poor should be God guided. Again, any activity needs to glorify God and not be following anything else.

Why does he specifically say the rich blaspheme the noble name and not just everyone?

I think this is an either or. You are either poor or rich and there is no in between. If you are poor, but chasing stuff, then by this definition you are rich too.

Is partiality sin?

Apparently.

What is the law of liberty and what does it allow us to do?

Anything. But again, we can only do anything that God directs us to. Helping the poor is a sin if God told you not to.

The contrast is in attitude. What can I do for them vs. what can they do for me. Serving others is freedom. Wanting from others is sin. Wealth or lack thereof, mercy or lack thereof, partiality or judgement; none of these matter. Do you love God enough to serve others or do you love yourself so much you want?

Rhetorical.

Any sin is too much, yet God’s mercy overcomes all judgement of our sin. Forgiven, we are free to love. How important is this fact before we move on?

I got stuck here. Mainly people in my space talking. But also because I set this one up to cause thought. I do not think we can love others truly until our sins are forgiven and we recognize our dependence upon Jesus for everything. I go back to “Not my will, but thy will be done.” Until that is all we do, we fall short.