By Dale Manry

James 2:1-13

Introduction

Not long ago, I sat in a workshop on dressing for success. This was part of a larger transition assistance program the Army mandates for all retiring and separating service members. Sophia, a professional clothier with a high-end shop in Georgetown, gave us some advice on purchasing a suit for interviews. He spoke of thread count, color, accessories, and a number of other topics that threatened to put me to sleep. I woke up quickly when he gave the bottom line. In his experience, an interviewer will not take you seriously if the suit you are wearing is not worth at least $500. Basically, he said “you have to spend money to make money”. When the applicant walks in the room for an interview, the interviewer will form an initial impression based on looks within the first 8 seconds.

Like it or not, this type of discrimination or bias is a fact of life. Apparently this was also true in the early church as well. Let’s look at the first 4 verses of James 2:

James 2:1-4 (NIV): My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Sounds like James and Sophia have seen the same thing happen. Sophia saw it in the business world; James has seen favoritism or partiality in the church. While Sophia would tell us to accept it, James commands us to not show favoritism.

Today we’re going to look at:

1)      The meaning of partiality;

2)      Why we must reject partiality; and

3)      How we can avoid partiality.

The Meaning of Partiality

In verse 1 of James 2, James says “don’t show favoritism” (NIV), or to not have faith “with respect of persons” (KJV), or with “partiality” (NKJV). Partiality here comes from the Greek word prosopolepsia (pros-o-pol-ape-see’-ah). The Spirit Filled Life Bible says that this partiality “denotes a biased judgment which gives respect to rank, position or circumstances instead of considering the intrinsic conditions”. So it is a bias based on the external appearance of something or someone without any regard to the internal or true nature.

This Greek word prosopolepsia comes from two other Greek words:

Prosopon – the face or outward circumstance; and

Lambano – to lay hold of; to take with the hand.

So literally, partiality means to take hold of the outward circumstances. Earlier this year, Susan Boyle, then a 47 year-old Scottish woman, appeared on the television show Britain’s Got Talent. The cameras loved showing the initial impressions Susan received from the judges and the audience as she walked on the stage. As reported by the Today Show:

“Simon Cowell sneered and the huge audience at the “Britain’s Got Talent” show made the sort of faces associated with a bad smell. The object of their disaffection was contestant No. 43212, a plain, middle-aged woman from Scotland with bushy eyebrows and a dress and hairdo that might have been stylish when Dwight Eisenhower was president.”

The audience clearly had taken hold of her outward circumstances. When Boyle began to sing I Dreamed a Dream from the musical Les Miserables, the audience was on their feet applauding by the first few bars, and the judges were shocked into silence, including Simon Cowell. At the end of the performance, Susan received a standing ovation. After reading about it in The Washington Post, I watched the video of her performance on YouTube, along with over 9 million other viewers.

Our text in James paints a similar picture. In verse 2, we see two different people coming into the church. The Message paraphrases it this way, the first man is “wearing an expensive suit”, and the second man is “a street person wearing rags”. Let’s read that again:

James 2:2-4 (NIV): Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Partiality is when we show special attention or favoritism to the well dressed man, giving him the good seat.

Why We Must Reject Partiality

So far, we’ve read James’ command to us not to show partiality, and then James gave us a story to help define partiality. For the next few verses, James now tells us why partiality contradicts with our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s start with verse 4 and read through verse 7.

James 2:4-7 (NIV): “… have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?”

From this passage, we can see three pitfalls of partiality.

1)      The first pitfall, from verse 4, is we “become judges with evil thoughts”. In Matthew 15, Jesus is approached by “some Pharisees and teachers of the law”. They were upset that his disciples did not adhere to their strict cleansing rituals. These rituals were part of the oral tradition not the written law. But the Pharisees believed them to be as equally binding as the written law. Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for “teaching as doctrines the commandments of men”. Jesus explained that man isn’t defiled by what goes in his mouth. So the ritual cleansing before eating doesn’t prevent a man from being defiled. Rather what comes out of the mouth is the source of defilement. Remember, this passage is about ritual cleansing not personal hygiene. Let’s read Matthew 15:16-20 to see what things defile man.

“Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean.’ “

Notice “evil thoughts” is the first thing mentioned. James tells us if we show partiality, we “become judges with evil thoughts”, and Jesus tells us evil thoughts come out of the mouth from the heart and make us unclean.

2)      The second pitfall of partiality is it contradicts the very nature of God. Deuteronomy 10:17 says:

For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.

And in Romans 2:11, we read “there is no partiality with God”. God is impartial. He loves all mankind and makes salvation available to all sinners.

1 Timothy 2:3-4 (NIV):

This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

A website at mouseprint.org is dedicated to turning “advertising on its head by focusing on an ad’s asterisked fine print footnote rather than the headline”. One advertising example was Travelocity’s PriceGuardian plan. This plan guaranteed compensation when someone else booked the same travel package on Travelocity as you did but for a lower price. Travelocity would refund you the difference. However, the fine print reveals the details on this guarantee.

“If another Travelocity.com customer books the same Flight+Hotel Vacation Package that you booked, meaning their Vacation Package contains the same flight and hotel combination (the same dates/times of travel, on the same airline/s, with the same flight numbers, for the same passenger type, itinerary, cabin, and subject to the same fare refundability, or other restrictions, and the same hotel and room type), and the price they pay is at least $10 lower than the price you booked, then Travelocity will refund the difference to you, up to a maximum of $500 per package.”

I am glad that God’s word does not have fine print or asterisks. God is impartial. He tells us this throughout his word. If we show favoritism, we contradict the very nature of God.

3)      The final pitfall of partiality is dishonoring the poor brother by unjustly honoring the rich man. Let’s read James 2:6-7 again:

But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?

How have the brothers insulted the poor in this passage? Have they treated them harshly? Have they said mean things to the poor? No. Honoring someone not worthy of honor is the insult.

In my office, the government civilians are managed by the National Security Personnel System or NSPS. You may have read about this in The Washington Post. On paper, this is a good system because it rewards high performers with higher pay raises. However, a good plan on paper does not always translate into a good plan in action. My office recently ended the beta testing period. All of the civilians received their evaluations, and as expected approximately 65% received a Level 3 rating, indicating that they are “Valued Performers”. The levels range from 1 “Unacceptable” up to 5 “Role Model”. As it always does, word of those with the higher ratings, Level 4 and 5, got out. Individuals that were initially fine with being rated as Level 3 became suddenly dissatisfied upon learning the names of those rated higher. It was insulting to some to see that certain individuals received higher ratings that they believed were undeserved.

James said that it doesn’t make sense for believers to place honor upon those that are slandering the name of Christ. The label “Christian” appears three times in the New Testament in Acts 11:26, 26:28 and 1 Peter 4:16. The Spirit Filled Life Bible notes that the term Christian “is a transliteration of the Greek christianos, which was a simple, and most likely derisive name given to the early followers of Christ”, kind of like being called a Jesus-freak today in a derisive manner.

1 Peter 4:16 (NIV) says “However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.”

Peter encourages the believers to turn the insult into praise. It was not a compliment to be called a Christian. By showing partiality, we stand in danger of giving honor to the very people that dishonor the name of Jesus Christ.

How We Can Avoid Partiality

Now that we know the meaning of partiality and some of the pitfalls, we need to look at some positive ways to avoid partiality.

James tells us very bluntly if we keep the royal law we will not sin. James 2:8-9 reads:

If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.

In saying “Love your neighbor as yourself”, James is quoting from Leviticus 19:18, which says:

Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

Jesus also quoted Leviticus 19:18. In Mark 12:28-40, we read of the encounter between Jesus and “one of the teachers of the law”. This phrase “one of the teachers of the law” comes from the Greek word grammateus. In other translations, grammateus is translated as scribes or experts of the law.

In Mark 12, the grammateus asks Jesus which is the most important commandment. In his response, Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18. Jesus’ reply is captured in Mark 12:29:

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

This answer pleased the scribe, and he replied to Jesus “Well said, teacher”. The royal law was obviously known by the experts or teachers of the law. Luke describes another very similar encounter Jesus had with an expert in the law.

Luke 10:25: On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

In this instance, however, Jesus turns the question back to the scribe in the next verse.

Luke 10:26: “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

The scribe replies in the same manner as Jesus had replied. He quoted Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18.

Luke 10:27: He answered: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

The expert in the law had the same knowledge as Jesus, but did this expert have the same understanding? The people did not think so.

Mark 1:22: The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.

The scribes had plenty of knowledge in their heads but very little of it made it to their hearts. As we saw earlier, what is in the heart flows out of the mouth and defiles man.

I spent a year in Iraq working very closely with Iraqis on a daily basis. I was always greeted with As-Salamu Alaykum, meaning “peace be upon you”. The standard response is Alaykum As-Salaam, “and upon you be peace”. These greetings have become so ingrained that they have lost their meaning; similar to us saying “bless you” when someone sneezes. The same person who greeted us with peace may consider shooting at us later.

Because these scribes were experts in the law, they were very precise in their interpretations of the law. Our English word “grammar” comes from the Greek word for the scribes, grammateus. In the encounter in Luke 10, the scribe is looking for the technical loophole in the royal law. After Jesus tells him to love his neighbor as himself, he asks Jesus “and who is my neighbor?”

How does Jesus reply? He tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. In the parable, a Jewish man is attacked by bandits while he is traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. The bandits take everything and leave him for dead. A priest come along, saw the man, and passed by on the other side of the road. A Levite happens by and does the same as the Levite. Finally a despised Samaritan saw the man. The Samaritan took care of him and got him to help. The Samaritans and Jews really hated each other.

After telling the parable, Jesus then turns the question back to the scribe and asks:

Luke 10:36-37: “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

Jesus was telling him to take his head knowledge and make it heart knowledge.

In another encounter with the experts of the law, Jesus says more.

Matthew 23:1-4: Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

Jesus told the people to obey God’s law that is spoken by these scribes. Then he went on to tell them not to follow their man-made customs. These customs are burdens placed on the people by the scribes not by God, such as the ritual cleansing we studied earlier. The next section of Matthew 23 is the Seven Woes.

Matthew 23:13: Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!

This same rebuke is repeated throughout this chapter. Verse 24 contains a very interesting phrase. Jesus says:

You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

I drank a lot of tea in Iraq. Every meeting with Iraqis involved drinking chai after the ritual greetings. As the tea is poured from the pot into a cup, it is poured through a strainer to capture any tea leaves. Here Jesus is rebuking the scribes for being so intent on the letter of the law; they actually miss the spirit of the law. They focus on the minute details of the law or strain out a gnat, but they miss the purpose of the law and swallow a camel. The scribes viewed the law as a means of restraining negative behavior, while Jesus taught the law should promote positive behavior – Love your neighbor as yourself.

How do we avoid showing partiality? We love our neighbor as ourselves.

Conclusion

There is no better way to conclude today than by quoting Jesus again.

Matthew 7:12: So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.