James 2
The Sin of Partiality
2 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord
of glory. 2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly,
and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one
who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the
poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made
distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my
beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith
and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have
dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who
drag you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by
which you were called?
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your
neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are
committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps
the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said,
“Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but
do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as
those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to
one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Faith Without Works Is Dead
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?
Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily
food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without
giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself,
if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart
from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is
one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown,
you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our
father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that
faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the
Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as
righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.24 You see that a person is justified
by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the
prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by
another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from
works is dead.
Today’s chapter, James 2, consists of two distinct sections. The whole book of James has
many distinct sections, a mix of practical directions and general encouragements, all under the
theme of helping believers live wisely for God. Let’s start w/ the second half, which is more
general.
The second half is about the relationship between faith and works. And I think verse 17
captures the main point well: “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is
dead.” James is basically saying that there can’t be just a theoretical faith in God, but rather
faith is lived out. True faith is accompanied by actions.
In verses 18-20, he responds to the hypothetical person who says, “You have faith and I have
works,” meaning that person is saying that faith and works can exist separate from each
other. James says, “Okay, show me how that’s possible. For me, I show my faith by my works,
by what I do.” And then he gets a little bit harsher in v 19 : he calls that person foolish, since
“faith apart from works is useless.” That person may have the correct theological
understanding, but understanding w/o submission and action that follows, is useless, since
that’s just like what demons do too.
James gives a positive example of faith and works w/ Abraham. In verses 21 to 23, he
describes how Abraham was justified by works when he offered up Isaac on the altar. Zooming
into verse 21, some people may be alarmed about the phrase “justification by works.” How can
we be justified by works when our justification is built on Jesus’ work on the cross, by the grace
of God alone? However, v 22 shows that James is not talking about earning one’s salvation
through works alone. That’s not possible since all of our works are like filthy rags before God. V
22 says that “Abraham’s faith was active along w/ his works and completed by his
works.” When Abraham pulled up the knife to sacrifice Isaac, he was not proving to God that
he trusted in Him. God knows already. You could say that he’s justified his faith to himself and
to others; he’s shown his faith. There’s a relationship between faith and works where true faith
is demonstrated by works.
And in the following verse, we have another example of works flowing out from faith in
Rahab. She was the prostitute who lived in Jericho and hid the Israelite spies when they were
scoping out the Promised Land. Like Abraham, she heard of God and trusted that He is the real
God, and she acted out of that trust. Rahab was justified - her trust in God was shown - to the
Israelites, and b/c of her action, she joined the people of God and even shows up in Jesus’
genealogy. And finally, v 26 reiterates that it only makes sense that faith goes hand in hand w/
works.
I think all of us agree w/ what James says here. In a meta-way, it is easy to agree w/ James
theologically. What really matters though is our response to this truth. We can easily be like the
foolish person if we simply agree w/ what James says w/o actually doing anything. Remember,
James is a book on wisdom, which is lived out. It’s kind of like if you want to learn how to rock
climb, reading a book on “how to rock climb” alone cannot be all you do - you actually have to
go rock climbing! James’ readers, including us, need to put our faith into action.
So going into a more specific application, let’s loop back to the first section for a bit, which is
about not showing partiality. James gives an example of how we are not to favor the man in
fine clothing over a poor man in shabby clothing if they both come into our
assembly. Why? Because from verse 5, “has not God chosen those who are poor in the world
to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” B/c
God loves the poor in the world just as much as the rich, we are to love the poor in the same
way. We are to love people regardless of how much they have. And more generally, from
verses 8 and 9, if we show partiality, we are breaking God’s law to “love your neighbor as
yourself.” Showing partiality makes us judges w/ evil thoughts, which of course God does not
intend for us to be. And to drive home how serious it is, James says showing partiality makes
us transgressors, similar to committing murder or adultery. Instead, we are to live under the law
of liberty, realizing that we should extend mercy b/c we have been shown tremendous mercy
and grace from God.
Today, let’s examine how we are loving our neighbors, how we are living out our faith through
loving them. Has there been a situation recently where you’ve shown partiality towards
somebody b/c of their appearance or b/c of something else you perceived? Let’s repent for any
ways that we’ve shown partiality lately and pray that we would love our neighbor as
ourselves. As God leads us to live out our faith in various ways, let’s act in obedience. Let’s
pray.
