James 2:5-13

Introduction

Okay, in this study video, we want to begin in James chapter 2 verse 5. We’ll be looking in James chapter 2 verses 5 through 13. This is a continuation of our earlier study in James chapter 2 verses 1 through 4, where he had condemned them for the practice of holding their faith with partiality, that is, of discriminating and being prejudiced against one class of people over another one. He had shown the inconsistency that if we have faith in our Lord who does not show partiality, who does not give preference to rich over poor, does not judge based upon the color of one’s skin or their ethnic origin, then neither can we who hold the faith of Jesus show partiality. And he discusses a scenario in which two men may come into their assemblies, one a rich man in fine apparel, and the other one a poor man in filthy clothes.

And they paid attention to the rich man. But to the poor man they said, You stand there, or you sit here at my footstool. And then he condemns them in verse 4 by saying, Have you not shown partiality among yourselves? And have become judges with evil thoughts. He shows us that we cannot separate our faith from the one in whom we have faith. God is not a respecter of persons, and neither should we be. And so the condemnation is we’ve shown partiality, and we become judges with evil thoughts if we hold or attempt to hold our faith with partiality. Now, after making that strong and blanket condemnation of such behavior, he now moves, beginning in chapter 2, verse 5, to showing just really the practical inconsistency of such actions.

1. God Has Chosen the Poor

When he says, 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.

When it’s the poor that God has chosen, God through the gospel chooses these poor individuals, chooses them in the sense that that’s who really the gospel seeks out. Those who see the need, much like the sick that Jesus talked about, who need a physician. The poor seek God and they find him in the gospel. And it is the rich who oppress, he’s going on to say, who oppress you and drag you into the courts.

Remember in chapter 1, verse 9, he said, Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation. And so the poor are those who are more apt to respond to the gospel and are going to be elevated in their spiritual status. And so why would you mistreat them? Why would you discount them coming into your assembly to hear the word of God? God has chosen these people. But he says, by your actions, their actions that they had shown in their assemblies, but you’ve dishonored the poor man. And do not the rich oppress you and drag you into courts? And so why are you showing preference for the rich when it’s the rich who largely are mistreating you? So not only is this a sin, but it just doesn’t make sense.

It’s the poor who are most receptive to the gospel, and it is the rich who are most likely to oppress you and to drag you into courts. And do they not, still speaking of the rich, do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? They were dragging them into the courts, they were oppressing them, and they were blaspheming the name, most likely the name of Christ, by which these Christians were called, and persecuting them. So why are you showing preference to somebody, first of all, period? Because God doesn’t show partiality.

2. The Royal Law: Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

When he says in verse 8, if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, and he states that law, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, you do well. But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. We need to pay attention to verse 9. Because he says, if we show partiality, if we make a distinction based upon someone’s wealth, based upon the color of someone’s skin, he says that is sin, and we will be convicted of that sin. Because we’re transgressors of the law, the royal law that says you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

3. Stumble in One Point, Guilty of All

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

If we do not keep the law that says you shall love your neighbor as yourself, it doesn’t matter if we’ve kept all the other commandments. If we violated that one, we are a transgressor of the law. He illustrates it in verse 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’ve become a transgressor of the law. And so, in this imagined scenario, someone commits murder, but they can’t use as their defense, saying, Well, I didn’t commit adultery. Well, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter that you didn’t violate that one law because you violated this law. And that makes you a transgressor of the law. And so we may wear a mantle of piety all that we want and say, I did this, I did this, I did this.

4. Judged by the Law of Liberty

But if we show partiality and prejudice in our hearts and actions, then we commit sin, and we’re going to be convicted by the law because we’re transgressors of the law. And so, what’s the conclusion? Verse 12, so speak, and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. He talked about the law of liberty in chapter 1 and in verse 25. In that context of us being hearers and doers of the word.

5. Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment

Example of how we can be a doer of the word. We love our neighbor as ourselves, all of our neighbors, rich and poor, black or white. We so speak and we so do as those who will be judged by this law. And a practical application of that point, as we’d expect James to make, is found in verse 13. For judgment is without mercy to the one who is shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. And so the subject here is judgment. Judgment that we’ve made. Is it going to be a partial judgment or an impartial judgment? Or as he had said earlier, are we going to become judges with evil thoughts by showing partiality? If so, then judgment will be shown to us without mercy. This is a principle that’s common throughout scripture.

Is the idea of the reciprocity of love and forgiveness? That God will love us and forgive us as we love and forgive our fellow man.

Conclusion

But if we show mercy, if we hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ without partiality and prejudice, then mercy will triumph over judgment. It really boils down to this question. How do I want God to deal with me in judgment? Do I want Him to be a harsh judge with partiality? Or do I want Him to be merciful and forgiving? I have faith in God, then I’ll live out that faith the same way that He views and treats me. I’ll live out that faith in my own personal life because I want mercy to triumph over judgment.