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James 2:2
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Beware of Personal Favoritism

1 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, athe Lord of glory, with bpartiality.  
2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in1 fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in2 filthy clothes,  
3 and you1 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 not1 shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?  
5 Listen, my beloved brethren: aHas God not chosen the poor of this world to be brich in faith and heirs of the kingdom cwhich He promised to those who love Him?  
6 But ayou have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you band drag you into the courts?  
7 Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are acalled?  
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, a“You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well;  
9 but if you1 show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as atransgressors.  
10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet astumble in one point, bhe is guilty of all.  
11 For He who said, a“Do not commit adultery,” also said, b“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 athe law of liberty.  
13 For ajudgment is without mercy to the one who has shown bno cmercy. dMercy triumphs over judgment.  

Faith Without Works Is Dead

14 aWhat does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?  
15 aIf a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,  
16 and aone of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?  
17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” aShow me your faith without your works, band I will show you my faith by2 my works.  
19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!
20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is1 dead?  
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works awhen he offered Isaac his son on the altar?  
22 Do you see athat faith was working together with his works, and by bworks faith was made perfect?  
23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, a“Abraham believed God, and it was1 accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called bthe friend of God.  
24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise, awas not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?  
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
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James 2:2-3

"If there chance to have come" [ALFORD].

assembly—literally, "synagogue"; this, the latest honorable use, and the only Christian use of the term in the New Testament, occurs in James's Epistle, the apostle who maintained to the latest possible moment the bonds between the Jewish synagogue and the Christian Church. Soon the continued resistance of the truth by the Jews led Christians to leave the term to them exclusively (Revelation 3:9). The "synagogue" implies a mere assembly or congregation not necessarily united by any common tie. "Church," a people bound together by mutual ties and laws, though often it may happen that the members are not assembled [TRENCH and VITRINGA]. Partly from James' Hebrew tendencies, partly from the Jewish Christian churches retaining most of the Jewish forms, this term "synagogue" is used here instead of the Christian term "Church" (ecclesia, derived from a root, "called out," implying the union of its members in spiritual bonds, independent of space, and called out into separation from the world); an undesigned coincidence and mark of truth. The people in the Jewish synagogue sat according to their rank, those of the same trade together. The introduction of this custom into Jewish Christian places of worship is here reprobated by James. Christian churches were built like the synagogues, the holy table in the east end of the former, as the ark was in the latter; the desk and pulpit were the chief articles of furniture in both alike. This shows the error of comparing the Church to the temple, and the ministry to the priesthood; the temple is represented by the whole body of worshippers; the church building was formed on the model of the synagogue. See VITRINGA [Synagogue and Temple].

goodly apparel . . . gay clothing—As the Greek, is the same in both, translate both alike, "gay," or "splendid clothing."




Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing James 2:2:

Luke 15:22
James 2:6
1 Peter 2:5
Revelation 2:9

 

<< James 2:1   James 2:3 >>

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