James 2:5

James 2:5

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.

Commentaries:

Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)

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Did not God choose? (oux o qeov ecelecato). Affirmative answer expected. First aorist middle (indirect, God chose for himself) indicative of eklegw, the very form used by Paul three times of God's choice in I Corinthians 1:27 f.

As to the world (tw kosmw). The ethical dative of interest, as the world looks at it as in Acts 7:20; I Corinthians 1:18; II Corinthians 10:4; James 4:4. By the use of the article (the poor) James does not affirm that God chose all the poor, but only that he did choose poor people (Matthew 10:23-26; I Corinthians 1:26-28).

Rich in faith (plousiouv en pistei). Rich because of their faith. As he has shown in James 1:9 f.

Which he promised (hv epeggeilato). Genitive of the accusative relative hn attracted to the case of the antecedent basileiav (the Messianic kingdom), the same verb and idea already in James 1:12 (ephggeilato). Cf. the beatitude of Jesus in Matthew 5:3 for the poor in spirit.

**Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing James 2:5:**

James 2:1
James 4:6
Revelation 2:9

<< James 2:4

James 2:6 >>

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