For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in, and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing and say, “Sit here in a good place;” and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool” haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts? Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called? However, if you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well. But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.
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James 2:2-9 sits inside this longer paragraph.
My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with partiality. For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in, and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing and say, “Sit here in a good place;” and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool” haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts? Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called? However, if you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well. But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of freedom. For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Parallel Translations
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For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in,
and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing and say, “Sit here in a good place;” and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool”
haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him?
But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts?
Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?
However, if you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well.
But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.
-
Yf ther come into youre company a man with a golden rynge and in goodly aparell and ther come in also a poore man in vyle rayment
and ye have a respecte to him that weareth the gaye clothynge and saye vnto him. Sit thou here in a good place: and saye vnto the poore stonde thou there or sit here vnder my fotestole:
are ye not parciall in youre selves and have iudged after evyll thoughtes?
Harken my deare beloved brethren. Hath not God chosen the poore of this worlde which are ryche in fayth and heyres of the kyngdom which he promysed to them that love him?
But ye have despised the poore. Are not the rych they which opresse you: and they which drawe you before iudges?
Do not they speake evyll of that good name after which ye be named.
Yf ye fulfill the royall lawe accordynge to the scripture which sayth. Thou shallt love thyne neghbour as thy silfe ye do well.
But yf ye regarde one person more then another ye commit synne and are rebuked of the lawe as transgressours.
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For if there come into your company a man with a golde ring, and in goodly apparell, and there come in also a poore man in vile raiment,
And ye haue a respect to him that weareth the gaie clothing; and say vnto him, Sit thou here in a goodly place, and say vnto the poore, Stand thou there, or sit here vnder my footestoole,
Are yee not partiall in your selues, and are become iudges of euill thoughts?
Hearken my beloued brethren, hath not God chosen the poore of this worlde, that they should be rich in faith, and heires of the kingdome which he promised to them that loue him?
But ye haue despised the poore. Doe not the riche oppresse you by tyrannie, and doe not they drawe you before the iudgement seates?
Doe nor they blaspheme the worthie Name after which yee be named?
But if yee fulfill the royall Lawe according to the Scripture, which saith, Thou shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe, yee doe well.
But if yee regarde the persons, yee commit sinne, and are rebuked of the Lawe, as transgressours.
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Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (160)
- Matthew 5:3 (v5) “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
- Luke 6:20 (v5) He lifted up his eyes to his disciples, and said, “Blessed are you who are poor, God’s Kingdom is yours.
- Leviticus 19:18 (v8) “ ‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I…
- Revelation 2:9 (v5) “I know your works, oppression, and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and they are not,…
- John 7:24 (v4) Don’t judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”
Show all 100 cross-references
- Galatians 5:14 (v8) For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
- 1 Corinthians 1:26-28 (v5) For you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble; but God chose the…
- Matthew 22:39 (v8) A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
- James 2:12 (v8) So speak and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of freedom.
- 2 Corinthians 8:9 (vv3, 5) For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty…
- Proverbs 17:5 (v6) Whoever mocks the poor reproaches his Maker. He who is glad at calamity shall not be unpunished.
- Romans 13:8-9 (v8) Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not…
- Leviticus 19:15 (v9) “ ‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor show favoritism to the great; but you shall judge your…
- Mark 12:31-33 (v8) The second is like this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” The scribe said to…
- Luke 12:21 (v5) So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
- Galatians 6:2 (v8) Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
- Leviticus 19:34 (v8) The stranger who lives as a foreigner with you shall be to you as the native-born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you…
- Proverbs 14:31 (v6) He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker, but he who is kind to the needy honors him.
- 1 Corinthians 11:22 (v6) What, don’t you have houses to eat and to drink in? Or do you despise God’s assembly and put them to shame who don’t have enough? What…
- Hebrews 11:26 (v5) considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
- Job 34:19 (vv4–5) He doesn’t respect the persons of princes, nor respect the rich more than the poor; for they all are the work of his hands.
- Luke 12:32 (v5) Don’t be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
- 1 Peter 1:4 (v5) to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn’t fade away, reserved in Heaven for you,
- James 1:12 (v5) Blessed is a person who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to…
- James 1:25 (v8) But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this man will be…
- 1 Peter 2:9 (v8) But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of…
- 2 Kings 7:9 (v8) Then they said to one another, “We aren’t doing right. Today is a day of good news, and we keep silent. If we wait until the morning light,…
- Jonah 4:4 (v8) Yahweh said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
- Matthew 25:34 (v5) Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of…
- Luke 10:27-37 (v8) He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and…
- 1 Corinthians 2:9 (v5) But as it is written, “Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear, which didn’t enter into the heart of man, these God has…
- 2 Corinthians 6:10 (v5) as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
- James 1:9 (v5) But let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position;
- James 2:6 (v3) But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts?
- 1 Kings 8:18 (v8) But Yahweh said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart.
- Psalms 14:6 (v6) You frustrate the plan of the poor, because Yahweh is his refuge.
- Jonah 4:9 (v8) God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the vine?” He said, “I am right to be angry, even to death.”
- Matthew 7:1-5 (v4) “Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged. For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure,…
- Matthew 25:23 (v8) “His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things.…
- Luke 7:44-46 (v3) Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she…
- Luke 16:25 (v5) “But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things. But here…
- Philippians 4:14 (v8) However you did well that you shared in my affliction.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:9 (v8) But concerning brotherly love, you have no need that one write to you. For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another,
- 2 Timothy 4:8 (v5) From now on, the crown of righteousness is stored up for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day; and not to…
- Revelation 3:18 (v5) I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich; and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the…
- Revelation 21:7 (v5) He who overcomes, I will give him these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son.
- 1 Samuel 2:30 (v5) “Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father should walk before me forever.’ But…
- Proverbs 8:17-21 (v5) I love those who love me. Those who seek me diligently will find me. With me are riches, honor, enduring wealth, and prosperity. My fruit…
- Isaiah 29:19 (v5) The humble also will increase their joy in Yahweh, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
- Isaiah 65:5 (v3) who say, ‘Stay by yourself, don’t come near to me, for I am holier than you.’ These are smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all day.
- Matthew 11:5 (v5) the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news…
- Ephesians 3:8 (v5) To me, the very least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
- Philippians 2:9-11 (v7) Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,…
- 2 Thessalonians 1:5 (v5) This is an obvious sign of the righteous judgment of God, to the end that you may be counted worthy of God’s Kingdom, for which you also…
- 1 Timothy 6:18 (v5) that they do good, that they be rich in good works, that they be ready to distribute, willing to share;
- 2 Timothy 4:18 (v5) And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me for his heavenly Kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever.…
- James 2:1-4 (v9) My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with partiality. For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes…
- James 2:19 (v8) You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder.
- Jude 1:16 (v3) These are murmurers and complainers, walking after their lusts—and their mouth speaks proud things—showing respect of persons to gain…
- Revelation 13:5-6 (v7) A mouth speaking great things and blasphemy was given to him. Authority to make war for forty-two months was given to him. He opened his…
- Exodus 20:6 (v5) and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
- Esther 3:10 (v2) The king took his ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews’ enemy.
- Job 34:10 (v5) “Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding: far be it from God, that he should do wickedness, from the Almighty, that he should…
- Psalms 10:14 (v6) But you do see trouble and grief. You consider it to take it into your hand. You help the victim and the fatherless.
- Psalms 12:5 (v6) “Because of the oppression of the weak and because of the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says Yahweh; “I will set him in safety…
- Psalms 58:1 (v4) Do you indeed speak righteousness, silent ones? Do you judge blamelessly, you sons of men?
- Psalms 82:2 (v4) “How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked?”
- Psalms 111:9 (v7) He has sent redemption to his people. He has ordained his covenant forever. His name is holy and awesome!
- Proverbs 22:16 (v6) Whoever oppresses the poor for his own increase and whoever gives to the rich, both come to poverty.
- Ecclesiastes 5:8 (v6) If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in a district, don’t marvel at the matter,…
- Ecclesiastes 9:15-16 (v6) Now a poor wise man was found in it, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man. Then I said,…
- Isaiah 3:14-15 (v6) Yahweh will enter into judgment with the elders of his people and their leaders: “It is you who have eaten up the vineyard. The plunder of…
- Isaiah 14:32 (v5) What will they answer the messengers of the nation? That Yahweh has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people will take refuge.
- Amos 2:6-7 (v6) Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have sold the righteous…
- Amos 5:11 (v6) Therefore, because you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in…
- Amos 8:4-6 (v6) Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail, Saying, ‘When will the new moon be gone, that we…
- Micah 6:11-12 (v6) Shall I be pure with dishonest scales, and with a bag of deceitful weights? Her rich men are full of violence, her inhabitants speak lies,…
- Zechariah 7:10 (v6) Don’t oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your…
- Zechariah 11:7 (v5) So I fed the flock of slaughter, especially the oppressed of the flock. I took for myself two staffs. The one I called “Favor”, and the…
- Malachi 2:9 (v4) “Therefore I have also made you contemptible and wicked before all the people, according to the way you have not kept my ways, but have had…
- Matthew 25:21 (v8) “His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things.…
- Luke 9:57-58 (v5) As they went on the way, a certain man said to him, “I want to follow you wherever you go, Lord.” Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes,…
- Luke 15:22 (v2) “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet.
- Luke 16:22 (v5) The beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried.
- John 8:9 (v9) They, when they heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning from the oldest, even to the last. Jesus was…
- Acts 8:3 (v6) But Saul ravaged the assembly, entering into every house and dragged both men and women off to prison.
- Acts 11:26 (v7) When he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they were gathered together with the assembly, and taught many people.…
- Acts 13:50 (v6) But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, and stirred up a persecution against Paul and…
- Acts 16:19-20 (v6) But when her masters saw that the hope of their gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them into the marketplace before the…
- Acts 17:6 (v6) When they didn’t find them, they dragged Jason and certain brothers before the rulers of the city, crying, “These who have turned the world…
- Romans 8:17 (v5) and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.
- 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 (v5) Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or…
- Ephesians 3:15 (v7) from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
- 1 Timothy 1:13 (v7) although I used to be a blasphemer, a persecutor, and insolent. However, I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
- James 2:3 (v6) and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing and say, “Sit here in a good place;” and you tell the poor man, “Stand…
- James 4:11 (v4) Don’t speak against one another, brothers. He who speaks against a brother and judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the…
- James 5:4 (v6) Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have…
- 2 Peter 1:11 (v5) For thus you will be richly supplied with the entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
- Genesis 27:15 (v2) Rebekah took the good clothes of Esau, her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son.
- 1 Kings 21:11-13 (v6) The men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had instructed them in the letters which she had…
100 distinct cross-references across this passage (160 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (23 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv4–9 4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves? or,…
4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves? or, are ye not condemned in yourselves. This may be read affirmatively as well as interrogatively, but the sense would be the same, for he amplifies the fault by this, that they took delight and indulged themselves in so great a wickedness. If it be read interrogatively, the meaning is, “Does not your own conscience hold you convicted, so that you need no other judge?” If the affirmative be preferred, it is the same as though he had said, “This evil also happens, that ye think not that ye sin, nor know that your thoughts are so wicked as they are.”
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv3–8 In a worshipful and honorable place.
In a worshipful and honorable place.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv2–9 2 For if there come unto your assembly a…
2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;
Ver. 2. For if there come, &c.] It is probable, saith an interpreter here, that the primitive Christians, the better to ingratiate with the richer pagans, gave them very great respect, contrary to that, Psa 15:4. But I rather think the apostle speaketh in this text of wealthier Christians, unworthily preferred before better but poorer persons.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv2–9 For if there come unto your assembly; either church…
For if there come unto your assembly; either church assemblies for worship, Heb 10:25; and in these we find some respect of men’s persons, which may here be blamed: see 1Co 11:20-22. Or their assemblies for disposing church offices, and deciding church controversies, &c.; for he speaks of such respecting men’s persons as is condemned by the law, Jam 2:9, which was especially in judgment.
A man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel; the usual ensigns of honourable or rich persons, Gen 38:18,25; 41:42; Luk 15:22; 16:19.
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And there come in also a poor man; the word signifies one very poor, even to beggarliness.
In vile raiment; filthy and sordid, Zec 3:3,4, the sign of extreme poverty.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 8 To prevent the growing evil condemned in the foregoing…
To prevent the growing evil condemned in the foregoing verse, of undervaluing those that are rich in grace, because poor in estate, the apostle in this verse declares how God himself gives countenance to the contrary practice; he confers a threefold dignity upon them; they are chosen by him, they are rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven now as if the apostle said, "Are they fit to be despised by you, that are thus highly dignified and enriched by God?" And to stir up their attention to what he speaks, he ushers in his interrogation with this, Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world? &c.
Learn hence, that such as are poor in this world, and disesteemed of men, may yet be chosen of God, rich in grace, and heirs of glory. This he does, to demonstrate the sovereignty and freeness of his grace, and the glory of his wisdom. The first choice that Christ made of persons to be his followers were poor men; and ever since, generally speaking, they are the poor that receive the gospel: God has more rent, and better paid him, from a smokey cottage than from many stately palaces, where men wallow in wealth, and forget God.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v8 The apostle, having condemned the sin of those who…
The apostle, having condemned the sin of those who had an undue respect of persons, and having urged what was sufficient to convict them of the greatness of this evil, now proceeds to show how the matter may be mended; it is the work of a gospel ministry, not only to reprove and warn, but to teach and direct. Col 1:28, Warning every man, and teaching every man. And here,
I. We have the law that is to guide us in all our regards to men set down in general. If you fulfil the royal law, according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, you do well, Jam 2:8. Lest any should think James had been pleading for the poor so as to throw contempt on the rich, he now lets them know that he did not design to encourage improper conduct towards any; they must not hate nor be rude to the rich, any more than despise the poor; but as the scripture teaches us to love all our neighbours, be they rich or poor, as ourselves, so, in our having a steady regard to this rule, we shall do well. Observe hence, 1. The rule for Christians to walk by is settled in the scriptures: If according to the scriptures, etc. It is not great men, nor worldly wealth, nor corrupt practices among professors themselves, that must guide us, but the scriptures of truth. 2. The scripture gives us this as a law, to love our neighbour as ourselves; it is what still remains in full force, and is rather carried higher and further by Christ than made less important to us. 3. This law is a royal law, it comes from the King of kings. Its own worth and dignity deserve it should be thus honoured; and the state in which all Christians now are, as it is a state of liberty, and not of bondage or oppression, makes this law, by which they are to regulate all their actions to one another, a royal law. 4. A pretence of observing this royal law, when it is interpreted with partiality, will not excuse men in any unjust proceedings. In is implied here that some were ready to flatter rich men, and be partial to them, because, if they were in the like circumstances, they should expect such regards to themselves; or they might plead that to show a distinguished respect to those whom God in his providence had distinguished by their rank and degree in the world was but doing right; therefore the apostle allows that, so far as they were concerned to observe the duties of the second table, they did well in giving honour to whom honour was due; but this fair pretence would not cover their sin in that undue respect of persons which they stood chargeable with; for,
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II. This general law is to be considered together with a particular law: "If you have respect to persons, you commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors, Jam 2:9. Notwithstanding the law of laws, to love your neighbour as yourselves, and to show that respect to them which you would be apt to look for yourselves if in their circumstances, yet this will not excuse your distributing either the favours or the censures of the church according to men's outward condition; but here you must look to a particular law, which God, who gave the other, has given you together with it, and by this you will stand fully convicted of the sin I have charged you with." This law is in Lev 19:15, Thou shalt do no unrighteousness in judgment; thou shalt not respect the person of the poor nor the person of the mighty; but in righteousness shalt though judge thy neighbour. Yea, the very royal law itself, rightly explained, would serve to convict them, because it teaches them to put themselves as much in the places of the poor as in those of the rich, and so to act equitably towards one as well as the other. Hence he proceeds,
III. To show the extent of the law, and how far obedience must be paid to it. They must fulfil the royal law, have a regard to one part as well as another, otherwise it would not stand them in stead, when they pretended to urge it as a reason for any particular actions: For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, is guilty of all, Jam 2:10. This may be considered, 1. With reference to the case James has been upon: Do you plead for your respect to the rich, because you are to love your neighbour as yourselves? Why then show also an equitable and due regard to the poor, because you are to love your neighbour as yourself: or else your offending in one point will spoil your pretence of observing that law at all. Whosoever shall keep the whole law, if he offend in one point, wilfully, avowedly, and with continuance, and so as to think he shall be excused in some matters because of his obedience in others, he is guilty of all; that is, he incurs the same penalty, and is liable to the same punishment, by the sentence of the law, as if he had broken it in other points as well as that he stands chargeable with. Not that all sins are equal, but that all carry the same contempt of the authority of the Lawgiver, and so bind over to such punishment as is threatened on the breach of that law. This shows us what a vanity it is to think that our good deeds will atone for our bad deeds, and plainly puts us upon looking for some other atonement. 2. This is further illustrated by putting a case different from that before mentioned (Jam 2:11): For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet, if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. One, perhaps, is very severe in the case of adultery, or what tends to such pollutions of the flesh; but less ready to condemn murder, or what tends to ruin the health, break the hearts, and destroy the lives, of others: another has a prodigious dread of murder, but has more easy thoughts of adultery; whereas one who looks at the authority of the Lawgiver more than the matter of the command will see the same reason for condemning the one as the other. Obedience is then acceptable when all is done with an eye to the will of God; and disobedience is to be condemned, in whatever instance it be, as it is a contempt of the authority of God; and, for that reason, if we offend in one point, we contemn the authority of him who gave the whole law, and so far are guilty of all. Thus, if you look to the law of the old, you stand condemned; for cursed is every that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them, Gal 3:10.
IV. James directs Christians to govern and conduct themselves more especially by the law of Christ. So speak and so do as those that shall be judged by the law of liberty, Jam 2:12. This will teach us, not only to be just and impartial, but very compassionate and merciful to the poor; and it will set us perfectly free from all sordid and undue regards to the rich. Observe here, 1. The gospel is called a law. It has all the requisites of a law: precepts with rewards and punishments annexed; it prescribes duty, as well as administers comfort; and Christ is a king to rule us as well as a prophet to teach us, and a priest to sacrifice and intercede for us. We are under the law to Christ. 2. It is a law of liberty, and one that we have no reason to complain of as a yoke or burden; for the service of God, according to the gospel, is perfect freedom; it sets us at liberty from all slavish regards, either to the persons or the things of this world. 3. We must all be judged by this law of liberty. Men's eternal condition will be determined according to the gospel; this is the book that will be opened, when we shall stand before the judgment-seat; there will be no relief to those whom the gospel condemns, nor will any accusation lie against those whom the gospel justifies. 4. It concerns us therefore so to speak and act now as become those who must shortly be judged by this law of liberty; that is, that we come up to gospel terms, that we make conscience of gospel duties, that e be of a gospel temper, and that our conversation be a gospel conversation, because by this rule we must be judged. 5. The consideration of our being judged by the gospel should engage us more especially to be merciful in our regards to the poor (Jam 2:13): For he shall have judgment without mercy that hath shown no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. Take notice here, (1.) The doom which will be passed upon impenitent sinners at last will be judgment without mercy; there will be no mixtures or allays in the cup of wrath and of trembling, the dregs of which they must drink. (2.) Such as show no mercy now shall find no mercy in the great day. But we may note, on the other hand, (3.) That there will be such as shall become instances of the triumph of mercy, in whom mercy rejoices against judgment: all the children of men, in the last day, will be either vessels of wrath or vessels of mercy. It concerns all to consider among which they shall be found; and let us remember that blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–9 For if there come unto your assembly,.... The place…
For if there come unto your assembly,.... The place of religious worship where saints are assembled together for that purpose; though some think a civil court of judicature is intended, and to which the context seems to incline; see Jam 2:6
a man with a gold ring; on his finger, which shows him to be a man of dignity and wealth; so those of the senatorian and equestrian orders among the Romans were distinguished from the common people by wearing gold rings; though in time the use of them became promiscuous (q); the ancients used to wear but one (r), as here but one is mentioned; and only freemen, not servants, might wear it: however, by this circumstance, the apostle describes a rich man, adding,
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in goodly apparel; gay clothing, bright shining garments, glistering with gold and silver, very rich and costly, as well as whole, neat, and clean:
and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; mean and despicable, filthy and ragged: in the courts of judicature with the Jews, two men, who were at law with one another, might not have different apparel on while they were in court, and their cause was trying: their law runs thus (s);
"two adversaries (at law with each other), if one of them is clothed "with precious garments", (Myrqy Mydgb, "goodly apparel",) and the other is clothed with , "vile raiment", (the judge) says to the honourable person, either clothe him as thou art, while thou contendest with him, or be clothed as he is, that ye may be alike, or on an equal foot.''
(q) Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 2. c. 29. (r) Isidor. Hispal. Originum, l. 19. c. 32. p. 171. (s) Maimon. Hilchot Sanhedrin, c. 21. sect. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv2–9 With gold rings - Which were not then so…
With gold rings - Which were not then so common as now.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv2–9 Verse 2. If there come unto your assembly] εις…
Verse 2. If there come unto your assembly] εις την συναγωγην. Into the synagogue. It appears from this that the apostle is addressing Jews who frequented their synagogues, and carried on their worship there and judicial proceedings, as the Jews were accustomed to do. Our word assembly does not express the original; and we cannot suppose that these synagogues were at this time occupied with Christian worship, but that the Christian Jews continued to frequent them for the purpose of hearing the law and the prophets read, as they had formerly done, previously to their conversion to the Christian faith. But St. James may refer here to proceedings in a court of justice.
With a gold ring, in goodly apparel] The ring on the finger and the splendid garb were proofs of the man's opulence; and his ring and his coat, not his worth, moral good qualities, or the righteousness of his cause, procured him the respect of which St. James speaks.
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There come in also a poor man] In ancient times petty courts of judicature were held in the synagogues, as Vitringa has sufficiently proved, De Vet. Syn. l. 3, p. 1, c. 11; and it is probable that the case here adduced was one of a judicial kind, where, of the two parties, one was rich and the other poor; and the master or ruler of the synagogue, or he who presided in this court, paid particular deference to the rich man, and neglected the poor man; though, as plaintiff and defendant, they were equal in the eye of justice, and should have been considered so by an impartial judge.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv5, 8 Jas 2:5-7. Hearken — As if he had said,…
Jas 2:5-7. Hearken — As if he had said, Stay, consider, ye that judge thus. Does not the presumption lie rather in favour of the poor man? Hath not God chosen the poor — That is, are not they whom God hath chosen, generally speaking, poor in this world, who yet are rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom — Consequently the most honourable of men? And those whom God so highly honours, ought not ye to honour likewise? But ye — Christians, that know better; have despised — Ητιμασατε, have dishonoured, or disgraced; the poor — By such conduct. Do not rich men, &c. — As if he had said, You have little reason to show so much respect to them, if you consider what their carriage toward you has been; those whom you court with so much respect and assiduity, oppress — Καταδυναστευουσιν, tyrannise over you, and draw — Or drag; you before the judgment-seats — Are not most of the rich men your persecutors, rather than your friends? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name — Of God and of Christ; by which ye are called — And which deserves to be had in the highest esteem and veneration by all intelligent beings? The apostle speaks chiefly of rich heathen: but are Christians, so called, a whit behind them in persecuting the disciples of Jesus?
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv2–9 For if there come into your assembly - Margin,…
For if there come into your assembly - Margin, as in Greek, “synagogue.” It is remarkable that this is the only place in the New Testament where the word “synagogue” is applied to the Christian church. It is probably employed here because the apostle was writing to those who had been Jews; and it is to be presumed that the word synagogue would be naturally used by the early converts from Judaism to designate a Christian place of worship, or a Christian congregation, and it was probably so employed until it was superseded by a word which the Gentile converts would be more likely to employ, and which would, in fact, be better and more expressive - the word church. The word “synagogue” (συναγωγὴν sunagōgēn) would properly refer to the whole congregation, considered as “assembled together,” without respect to the question whether all were truly pious or not; the word “church” (ἐκκλησία ekklēsia) would refer to the assembly convened for worship as called out, referring to the fact that they were called out from the world, and convened as worshippers of God, and would, therefore, be more applicable to a body of spiritual worshippers.
It is probable that the Christian church was modelled, in its general arrangements, after the Jewish synagogue; but there would be obviously some disadvantages in retaining the name, as applicable to Christian worship. It would be difficult to avoid the associations connected with the name, and hence it was better to adopt some other name which would be free from this disadvantage, and on which might be engrafted all the ideas which it was necessary to connect with the notion of the Christian organization. Hence the word “church,” liable to no such objection as that of “synagogue,” was soon adopted, and ultimately prevailed, though the passage before us shows that the word “synagogue” would be in some places, and for a time, employed to designate a Christian congregation. We should express the idea here by saying. “If a man of this description should come into the church.”
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A man with a gold ring - Indicative of rank or property. Rings were common ornaments of the rich; and probably then, as now, of those who desired to be esteemed to be rich. For proof that they were commonly worn, see the quotations in Wetstein, in loc.
In goodly apparel - Rich and splendid dress. Compare Luk 16:19.
A poor man in vile raiment - The Greek here is, filthy, foul; the meaning of the passage is, in sordid, shabby clothes. The reference here seems to be, not to those who commonly attended on public worship, or who were members of the church, but to those who might accidentally drop in to witness the services of Christians. See 1Co 14:24.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv2, 4, 8 In conventum vestrum, Greek: eis ten sunagogen umon. Synagogue…
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
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In conventum vestrum, Greek: eis ten sunagogen umon. Synagogue is also taken for a meeting of kings, judges, &c. See Matthew x. 17.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–9 "If there chance to have come" [ALFORD].
"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 (Rev 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].
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goodly apparel . . . gay clothing--As the Greek, is the same in both, translate both alike, "gay," or "splendid clothing."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 2. If—St. James puts the case with an if.…
2. If—St. James puts the case with an if. Yet he graphically narrates it in the (aoristic) past historic tense, as Jas_1:10-11, (where see note,) as a transaction that had happened, (note on Heb_6:4-6,) and so might customarily happen.
Unto your assembly—Or, as it is in the Greek, your SYNAGOGUE. See note on Mat_4:23. The Jewish-Christian conservatism of St. James is strongly marked by his use of this word. The pentecostal Church continued to share in the Jewish service, and it is probable that Jewish synagogues sometimes were converted into Christian churches. Act_3:1; Act_4:1. The word, then, may have long been retained among the twelve tribes of Jas_1:1. There were five synagogues of foreign Jews in Jerusalem. Act_6:9. In the Apocalypse the word is used of heretics. Rev_2:9; Rev_3:9. And in Heb_10:25, we have episynagogues. St. Ignatius applies the word to Christian churches, and Alford quotes from the post-apostolic “Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs” the phrase, “in the synagogues of the Gentiles.” The term here indicates that the epistle was written after Christian houses of worship were established and customary.
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A man—He may be a Christian, or he may not; that does not vary the principle. But Jas_2:6-7 clearly show that such are not to be supposed Christians, but really persecutors and blasphemers of Christ. The visitor’s apparel, though doubtless conspicuously different, is not set in contrast with that of the rest of the assembly, but in contrast with that of the poor man. Gold ring—Literally, a man golden-ringed, in splendid dress.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv2–9 2. if there come unto your assembly] Literally, into…
2. if there come unto your assembly] Literally, into your synagogue, the old familiar name as yet, in that early stage of the Church’s life, being used for the Christian as for the Jewish place of worship. What is noted presented the most glaring and offensive form which the acceptance of persons had taken. Signs of the eagerness of men who aimed at a high religious reputation to obtain such honours are seen in Mat_23:6; and in a society so pervaded by worldliness as that of Judæa, wealth, if accompanied by any kind of religiousness, was sure to be accepted as covering a multitude of sins. What grieved St James was that the same evil should have crept in even among the disciples of the Lord of Glory.
a man with a gold ring] Literally, a gold-ringed man, implying, probably, more than one. The custom was one of the fashions of the Empire, and had spread from Rome to Judæa. So Juvenal, in a portrait which unites the two forms of ostentatious luxury noted by St James, describes one who, though born as an Egyptian slave, appears with Tyrian robes upon his shoulders, and golden rings, light or heavy, according to the season (Sat. i. 28. 30). So in Martial (xi. 60) we read of one who wears six rings on every finger, day and night, and even when he bathes.
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in goodly apparel] Better, in gorgeous, or bright apparel. The word is the same as that used of the robe placed upon our Lord in mockery (Luk_23:11), and of that in which the Angel appeared to Cornelius (Act_10:30). The primary idea is that of “bright” or shining, and this effect was often produced by a combination of gold embroidery with Tyrian purple and crimson.
in vile raiment] squalid is perhaps the nearest equivalent to the Greek word. It is used in the LXX. of Zec_3:4, of the “filthy garments” of Joshua the High-Priest. In Rev_22:11 it is used of spiritual “filthiness,” as is the cognate noun in chap. Jas_1:21 of this Epistle.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv2–9 (2) For if there come unto your assembly (literally,…
(2) For if there come unto your assembly (literally, synagogue).—This is the only place in the New Testament where the Jewish word is used for a Christian congregation.
A man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel.—Better, a man golden-ringed, in bright apparel. Roman satirists had much to say upon the fops and dandies of their time, with “all their fingers laden with rings”; some, if we may trust the sneer of Martial, having six on each; and others with heavy gold or light, according to the oppressiveness of the season; no doubt, the fashions set in Rome extended to Jerusalem. “Goodly apparel” is, rather, gorgeous—splendid in colour or ornament; the same two words are translated “gay clothing” in the following verse.
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And there come in also a poor man in vile raiment.—Squalid, even dirty, as from work and wear—the exact opposite of the idle over-dressed exquisite.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 Vers. 2-4. Proof that they were guilty of respect…
Vers. 2-4. Proof that they were guilty of respect of persons. Observe the insight which this passage gives us into the cha-racier of the assemblies of the early Christians, showing
(1) that the entrance of a rich man was not entirely unknown, but
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(2) that it was probably exceptional, because so much was made of him. Notice
(3) sunagwgh used here, and here only in the New Testament, of a Christian assembly for worship (cf. Ignatius, "Ad Polye.," c. 4., Puknoteron sunagwgaisqwsan). (On the distinction between sunagwgh and ekklhsia, and the history of the terms and their use, see an interesting section in Trench"s "Synonyms," p. 1.)
A man with a gold ring (ajnhliov). The word is found here only. The English Versions (both A.V and R.V) needlessly limit its meaning. The man was probably bedecked with a number of rings, and had not one only. In goodly apparel. The same phrase is rendering "gay clothing" in ver. 3. The variation is quite unnecessary, the Greek being identical in both places, and rightly rendered by R.V "fine clothing." It is curious to find a similar needless variation in the Vulgate, which has in veste candida in ver. 2, and veste proeclara in ver. 3.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v8 Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself
Jam_2:8-9
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself
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My neighbour
The good old word neighbour means one who, because he lives in a near dwelling or home, is specially related to us; and upon the relation which it signifies there have been builded more than one of the institutions of Anglo-Saxon civil society.
From its earliest times among that people the bond between neighbours was so definite and intimate, that in the eye of the law one neighbour was held to be responsible for the security and well-being of another. If a man was murdered, the neighbours were in the first instance accounted responsible; and it was only when they had purged themselves by finding and convicting the real murderer, that they were held to be acquitted. So also in case of dispute or disagreement between any two neighbours, twelve or more of the other neighbours were summoned as an assize to determine the matter. There is no doubt that it was upon this ancient custom that our great institution of trial by jury was founded; and it is upon the same custom, the same ancient and sacred bond of neighbourhood, that what may be called the very corner-stone of our public liberty rests--that is, the right and the duty of local self-government in all matters not expressly delegated to the national power. Now, if we go back to first principles, we find that the enactment on which all human society rests is, the royal law given by God Himself and re-enacted by His Son. You will observe that love to ones neighbour is likened to love to God. Let us try, then, to get at the principle on which love to God must rest, and this will be the principle of love to our neighbour. Why, then, should we love God with heart, mind, soul, strength? It is because in God man finds the ideals which are the prototypes of all that is noble in himself, and which therefore he must love if he would be true to his own better nature and higher destiny. And the obligation of man to love his neighbour as himself lies in the fact that it is in his neighbour that man gets his clearest revelation of God--more clear than any revelation in words or works. It is in the soul of man when looked at with the eyes of neighbourliness that man gets his best vision of the majesty and beauty of God. Now in the light of these considerations, think first of the dignity and discipline that belong to society. If we take society now as we know it, the social intercourse of Christian men and women under well-known rules of politeness and good manners, we find that it has a dignity of its own that entitles it to be considered one of the loftiest results of Christian civilisation. It was not till comparatively recent times that this great commonwealth of men and women was organised in the civilised world; and even now it is only among the English-speaking peoples and their congeners that it has attained a free development. This great commonwealth has its own gentle and gracious laws; its silent tribunals which noiselessly but unerringly enforce them; its dignities, its honours, its joys, its labours, its duties, its delights, the movements of which constitute the characteristic economy of modern civilised life. Now, the discipline of it will be apparent, when it is considered that the one principle which regulates it throughout is self-sacrifice. It is a great truth that the principle of the Cross underlies all good manners. Self-denial, self-control, self-sacrifice, the very essence of Christianity, are actually put into practice in the behaviour of good society. Men must restrain their baser impulses and instincts. Selfishness, if it exist at all, must at least be dissembled or concealed. Self-assertion must be abandoned. No man can even seem to be a gentleman who does not put into practice those principles of the Cross of Christ which the gospel commends to us; and no man can really be a gentleman unless be have those principles in his heart. The discipline of polite society, therefore, is of much importance in the culture of the Christian life, since it is the actual putting into practice of its principles, which, like all principles, cannot be fully appropriated until we use them. Little need be said of the educational influence of society. To see Christian men and women at their best; to turn toward them the best, side of our nature; to abjure pride; to banish self-seeking and selfishness; to follow, if only for an hour, lofty ideals; to enjoy the bright flashes of wit, the sustained delight of high converse; to think not of self but of others, and to lose ones self in gracious ministry to others--this of itself ought to be aa educating, ennobling employment, which would train men for ideal pursuits, both here and hereafter. And this brings me to my next topic--the dangers which beset society. First, there is selfishness--the selfishness which is always seeking its own good, its own advancement, its own advantage, in, through, or by means of society. This it is which so often makes society a mere vulgar competition, hospitality a mere sham and bargain, like the publicans giving merely to receive as much again. Akin to this danger, and no less base, is the frivolous or calculating worldliness which makes society a mere means of vulgar and pretentious display--a display which excludes the poor, which alienates classes, which works ruin to many a household, and which, like a dry-rot, soon makes the society where it prevails a mere sham. The last danger I shall mention is unreality.
In society it is so easy to be unreal; to pretend to feel more than one does feel; to seem glad when one is not glad, and sorry when one is not sorry; to say smooth and false things, because smooth and false things are so easy to be said. What is the remedy? A return to the great first principle on which society is founded--love to ones neighbour because he is a neighbour, and because he is a man. (Bp. S. S. Harris.)
The royal law
1. The law which is here called royal is the law of love and righteousness, prescribing what duty to every one pertaineth, and it containeth that part of the law which in the second table is delivered, teaching us to love without contemning, to prefer one without disdain of another, to regard the rich without neglect of the poor brethren.
2. This law of love is therefore called the royal law--
(1) Because it is from a king, not mortal but immortal: even the
King of kings and Lord of lords, even from God.
3. This law, furthermore, is called royal because it is like the kings highway. So the law of God, which is the law of love, is open, plain, without turnings, of all men to be done.
4. The law of love being this royal law, and for these causes so called, it enjoineth men to love their neighbours as themselves.
(1) That Gods law requireth love, who readeth the Scriptures and seeth not?
(2) The persons whom we must love are our neighbours, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
(3) The manner how we must love is, as ourselves. And every man unfeignedly, fervently, continually loveth himself, so must we also love our neighbours. (R. Turnbull.)
Love to the neighbour
The word neighbour in this royal law had, through the lapse of ages, acquired a narrow meaning, mainly because mens thoughts and sympathies were less comprehensive than the Divine purpose. But Christ gave new applications to it, and a more expansive spiritual interpretation. The neighbour with Him was no longer confined to the same tribe, or to the dwellers in the same valley or nation, but became co-extensive with human suffering and misfortune throughout the vast family of mankind. Love thy neighbour as thyself. It is easy for most persons to love themselves, and to accept what appears to be for their own advantage. It is quite right, too, for a man to love himself. But his love to himself is not to be supreme and all-absorbing. He has to love other persons. The neighbour, you will observe, is put on the same level as self. Look at the question in this way. Suppose you loved others as well as you love yourself. That might be an agreeable thing to them to possess the confidence of your love; and suppose you in return were loved by them as much as they loved themselves, that ought to be a source of comfort to you. Put in this light the royal law does not seem a hard one, does it? And if it operated universally in society, and through all circles, the effect would be very beneficent and delightful, would it not? Yea, doubtless, say you, but that is not where the shoe pinches. It is when we have to love others, or the neighbour who does not love us, where the gist of the difficulty lies. Men ask, Am I to love a man who does not love me, nay, who may be utterly indifferent to me or even hate me? In a question of this nature no arguments we might urge would dislodge the man of carnal mind from his stronghold of indifference. But to a man who accepts the teaching of Christ we must affirm His Divine testimony (Mat_5:44-48). This interpretation of the royal law by the Master Himself settles at once, for those who acknowledge His authority, the degree and manner in which we are to love our neighbours, whether friends or enemies. Our love to our neighbour is to exhibit the same qualities, sincerity, constancy, activity, as the love which we cherish for ourselves. Attempts have been made to exclude the element of degree from the meaning of the words as thyself, on the ground that, from the constitution of human nature, obedience to such a command is impossible. But it would need much weightier reasons to prove that this thought of degree was not intended in the terms of the royal law. What is it in our neighbour we have to love as ourselves? And this suggests another question--What is it in thyself that thou hast to love? In what sense and to what extent is a man to love himself? Many persons love to pamper themselves, to indulge themselves, to amuse themselves; but these are as far from loving themselves truly, as the night from the day. For a man to love himself, as the Scriptures teach, means that he loves the best that is in him. I cannot love myself as I ought unless I keep my body, with all its powers and passions, under; unless I keep conscience and Christ enthroned in my heart. All that is false, cruel, deceptive, oppressive, slanderous, and dishonourable, I must repudiate, if I would love myself as the royal law teaches. We are not required by this royal law to love the sinful, the offensive, the evil characteristics and dispositions in our neighbour, any more than we are required to love these things in ourselves. But I am to love my neighbour in regard to things affecting his moral and spiritual well-being, and concerning his character and destiny for eternity. I am to help my neighbour to attain these higher, and holier, and better ends of his being, as certainly as I desire to help myself in the acquisition of these aims. Now briefly glance at the similarity of manner which love to self and love to the neighbour should exhibit. I ought to love myself with a sincere, active, and constant love. In like manner I am to display these same qualities in the love of my neighbour. Observe the wisdom and beauty of this saying, and how it is employed as a guide to a higher moral life. Self-love is ever present with us; inordinate self-love is the cause of most of the excesses and sins of our life. Christ takes hold of this very self-love and makes it the occasion and means of rising into a juster love of others. He appeals to the solicitude that we have regarding our own health, business reputation, and the desire to avoid self-injury, to cherish similar feelings toward others. The same motives that influence us in these things with respect to ourselves are to operate on behalf of our neighbour. If we are eagerly solicitous for our own spiritual welfare--our growth in peace, holiness, and righteousness of living, this, then, is to be the guide as to the manner and extent of our love for the spiritual good of our fellow-men. Love them in these ways as thou lovest thyself. (D. Jackson.)
Love of neighbour
Every man, so far as he is a man at all, is to be loved. But you will say, That rule, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, is in any case an impractical and an impossible rule. It is true that as thyself does not define the degree, it indicates the manner. Nor does it, of course, exclude differences. Blood is thicker than water. We must love best our nearest and dearest, our brethren and companions, our fellow countrymen, the good, the worthy, the large-hearted, the household of faith. Still even with these limitations to minds tainted by selfishness and vulgarised by custom, the commandment still appears doubtless an Utopian rule. Gods saints have felt it to be the most natural thing in the world. I could have wished myself to be anathema from Christ, says St. Paul, on behalf of my brethren. Smaller natures have been quite shocked by the expression, yet Moses had cried long before: Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast written. Danton in the French revolution was no Christian, yet even Danton could exclaim: Be my name branded if only France be freed; and the mission preacher who revived religious life in England exclaimed, Let George Whitefield perish if God be glorified. Surely even we must often enough have had the feeling that we care more for those whom we love than for ourselves. Surely for our children we must have prayed with Enoch Arden, Save them from this, whatever comes to me. In truth this care for others more than ourselves is the one distinguishing mark which separates the ignoble from the noble life. What is it which makes the life of frivolous, godless women, and debauched sottish men so inherently contemptible? It is their selfishness: they have shifted the centre of gravity from mankind to their own paltry greedy egotism; to whom applies the stern question of Carlyle, Art thou a vulture, then, and only carest to get for thyself so much carrion? Love to our neighbour has been the illumination of the world: it has kindled the scholars lamp, and nerved the reformers courage, and supported the statesmans strength, and enabled the truth-seeker to live on in the oppression of a perpetual sitting amidst corrupt Churches and an evil world. It is love to our neighbour which has over and over again purged the slum and built the orphanage and gathered little children into schools; it has bad compassion on the poor, it has given bread to the hungry, and covered the naked with a garment; it has held forth the Bible to the nations, it has launched the lifeboat, it has taken the prodigal by the right hand and opened the door of repentance to the harlot and the thief. It was love to our neighbour which burned like the fire of God upon the altar of their hearts, in a Carey, and a Livingstone, a Romilly, a Howard, a Clarkson; sent missionaries to the heathen, modified the ferocities of penal law, purified the prison, set free the slaves. It was love to our neighbour which, energising even an age of torpor and of mammon worship, sent Wesley to fan the flame amidst the dying embers of religion, and Gordon to toil among his ragged boys, and Coleridge Pattison to die by the poisoned arrows of savages, and Father Damien to waste away at loathly Molokai, a leper among the lepers. It is a dim reflection of the love of Him who lived and died to redeem a guilty world. It differentiates the worldly life and its low aims from the noble and Christian life as ready to do good even to them which despitefully use it and persecute it. Every true life comes nearest to the life of Christ by love to its neighbour, and this love which has next to nothing to do with any form of external religiosity is the essence and epitome of all pure religion; it is the end of the commandments; it is the fulfilling of the law. (Archdeacon Farrar.)
Love the law of the kingdom
The doctrine which bases all the relations of employer and employed upon self-interest is a doctrine of the pit; it has been bringing hell to earth in large installments for a great many years. You can have hell in your factory, or you can have heaven there, just as you please. If it is hell that you want, build your business on the law of hell, which is--Every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost. Out of that will come fightings perennial and unrelenting. If it is heaven that you want, then build your business on the law of the kingdom of heaven, which is, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. That will put you in the path of peace.
I am as good as you v. You are as good as I
James Russell Lowell touched a chord, with a master hand, when, some little time ago, he said: The Republic has gone on far too long on the principle I am as good as you, and she must now begin on the other principle, You are as good as I. These two principles illustrate, most forcibly, the respective principles of superstition and religion, of selfishness and sacrifice. Going on the principle of superstition and selfishness, the old world sickened and died, slain by its own hand. I am as good as you, filled the earth with demons and chimeras dire, whose chief employment it was to prey upon their authors. Christianity struck the note of fraternity, and pride gave place to humility, when the apostles went forth to declare to all men, You are as good as I.
Love of our neighbour
No one loves a person whom he does not wish should be better. (St. Gregory.)
Love of our neighbour not to be limited by desert
If you fancy that your love of your neighbour is to go no further than desert, consider what your condition is like to be if God shall so deal with you; that is, according to your desert. (Bishop Wilson.)
The royal law
The law may be called royal or kingly, either--
1. In the sense in which Plato speaks (Minos 2:566), of a just law as kingly or sovereign, using the same adjective as St. James, or--
2. As coming from God or Christ as the true king, and forming part of the fundamental code of the kingdom. In a Greek writer the first would probably be the thought intended. In one like St. James, living in the thought of a Divine kingdom, and believing in Jesus as the King, the latter is more likely to have been prominent. (Dean Plumptre.)
The suffering of injustice
When Athens was governed by the thirty tyrants, Socrates the philosopher was summoned to the senate house, and ordered to go with some other persons they named, to seize one Leon, a man of rank and fortune, whom they determined to put out of the way, that they might enjoy his estate. This commission Socrates flatly refused, and, not satisfied therewith, added his reasons for such refusal: I will never willingly assist an unjust act. Chericles sharply replied, Dost thou think, Socrates, to talk always in this high style, and not to suffer? Far from it, added he; I expect to suffer a thousand ills, but none so great as to do unjustly. (K. Arvine.)
Neighbourly consideration
We may think that great workers must be so absorbed as to forget others. Not so with Turner. A painter had sent in a picture to the Academy. In opposition to the rest of the hanging committee, Turner insisted, We must find a good place for this young mans picture. Impossible I impossible! No room! was the decision. Turner said no more, but quietly removed one of his own pictures and hung up the other in its place. On another occasion, when his picture of Cologne was hung between two portraits, their painter complained that Turners bright sky had thrown his pictures into the shade. At the private view, an acquaintance of Turners, who had seen the Cologne in all its splendour, led some friends to see the picture. He started back in amazement. The golden sky had become dim, and the glory was gone. He ran up to the artist, Turner, Turner! what have you been doing? Oh, whispered Turner, poor Lawrence was so unhappy! Its only lampblack, it will all wash off after the exhibition. It was only a wash of lampblack over his sky; but in the doing of this deed his character was lit up with a glory all his own.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v5 Chapter 11
Chapter 11
THE INIQUITY OF RESPECTING THE RICH AND DESPISING THE POOR-THE SOLIDARITY OF THE DIVINE LAW.
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Jam_2:5-10
ST. JAMES is varied in his style. Sometimes he writes short, maxim-like sentences, which remind us of the Book of Proverbs; sometimes, as in the passage before us, he is as argumentative as St. Paul. Having condemned worldly respect of persons as practical infidelity, he proceeds to prove the justice of this estimate; and he does so with regard to both items of the account: these respecters of persons are utterly wrong, both in their treatment of the poor and in their treatment of the rich. The former is the worse of the two; for it is in flat contradiction of the Divine decree, and is an attempt to reverse it. God has said one thing about the poor mans estate, and these time-servers, publicly in the house of God, say another.
"Hearken, my beloved brethren." He invites their attention to an affectionate and conclusive statement of the case. "Did not God choose them that are poor as to the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom? But ye have dishonored the poor man." By the humble life which, by Divine decree, Gods Son led upon the earth, by the social position of the men whom He chose as His Apostles and first disciples, by blessings promised to the poor and to the friends of the poor, both under the Law and under the Gospel, God has declared His special approbation of the poor mans estate. "But ye" (υμεις δε, with great emphasis on the pronoun) "have dishonored the poor man." With Haman-like impiety ye would disgrace "the man whom the King delights to honor."
Let us not misunderstand St. James. He does not say or imply that the poor man is promised salvation on account of his poverty, or that his poverty is in any way meritorious. That is not the case, any more than that the wealth of the rich is a sin. But so far as God has declared any preference, it is for the poor, rather than for the rich. The poor man has fewer temptations, and he is more likely to live according to Gods will, and to win the blessings that are in store for those who love Him. His dependence upon God for the means of life is perpetually brought home to him, and he is spared the peril of trusting in riches, which is so terrible a snare to the wealthy. He has greater opportunities of the virtues which make man Christlike, and fewer occasions of falling into those sins which separate him most fatally from Christ. But opportunities are not virtues, and poverty is not salvation. Nevertheless, to a Christian a poor man is an object of reverence, rather than of contempt.
But the error of the worldly Christians whom St. James is here rebuking does not end with dishonoring the poor whom God has honored; they also pay special respect to the rich. Have the rich, as a class, shown that they deserve anything of the kind? Very much the reverse, as experience is constantly proving. "Do not the rich oppress you, and themselves drag you before the judgment-seats? Do not they blaspheme the honorable name by the which ye are called?" Unless we consider the "synagogue" mentioned above to be a Jewish one, in which Christians still worship, as in the Temple at Jerusalem, the gold-ringed worshipper is to be understood as a Christian; and reasons have been given above for believing that the "synagogue" is a Christian place of worship. But in any case the rich oppressors here spoken of are not to be thought of as exclusively or principally Christian. They are the wealthy as a class, whether converts to Christianity or not; and apparently, as in Jam_5:1-6, it is the wealthy, unbelieving Jews who are principally in the writers mind. St. James is thinking of the rich Sadducees, who at this period (A.D. 35-65) were among the worst oppressors of the poorer Jews, and were of course specially bitter against those who had become adherents of "the Way," and who seemed to them to be renegades from the faith of their forefathers. It was precisely to this kind of oppression that St. Paul devoted himself with fanatical zeal previous to his conversion. {Act_9:1-2; 1Co_15:9; Php_3:6}
"The judgment-seats" before which these wealthy Jews drag their poorer brethren may be either heathen or Jewish courts, {comp. 1Co_6:2; 1Co_6:4} but are probably the Jewish courts frequently held in the synagogues. The Roman government allowed the Jews very considerable powers of jurisdiction over their own people, not only in purely ecclesiastical matters, but in civil matters as well. The Mosaic Law penetrated into almost all the relations of life, and where it was concerned it was intolerable to a Jew to be tried by heathen law. Consequently the Romans found that their control over the Jews was more secure, and less provocative of rebellion, when the Jews were permitted to retain a large measure of self-government. This applied not only to Palestine, but to all places in which there were large settlements of Jews. Even in the New Testament we find ample evidence of this. The high-priest grants Saul "letters to Damascus, unto the synagogues" to arrest all who had become converts to "the Way". {Act_9:2} And St. Paul before Herod Agrippa II declares that, in his fury against converts to Christianity, he "persecuted them even unto foreign cities". {Act_26:11} Most, if not all, of the five occasions on which he himself "received of the Jews forty stripes save one" {2Co_11:24} must have been during his travels outside Palestine. The proconsul Gallio told the Jews of Corinth, not only that they might, but that they must, take their charges against Paul, for breaking a Jewish law, to a Jewish tribunal; and when they ostentatiously beat Sosthenes before his own tribunal, for some Jewish offence, he abstained from interfering. It is likely enough that provincial governors, partly from policy, partly from indifference, allowed Jewish officials to exercise more power than they legally possessed; but they possessed quite enough to enable them to handle severely those who contravened the letter or the traditional interpretation of the Mosaic Law. That the dragging before the judgment seats refers to bringing Christians before Roman magistrates, in a time of persecution, is a gratuitous hypothesis which does not fit the context. It was the mob, rather than the rich, that in the earlier persecutions acted in this way. The rich were contemptuously indifferent. There is, therefore, no evidence here that the letter was written during the persecution under Domitian or under Trajan. Nevertheless, their Christianity, rather than their debt, was probably the reason why these poor Jewish Christians were prosecuted in the synagogue courts by the wealthy Jews.
So far from this passage being evidence that the Epistle was written at a time long after the death of St. James, it is, as Renan has carefully shown, almost a proof that it was written during his lifetime. As regards the relations between rich and poor, "the Epistle of James is a perfect picture of the Ebionim at Jerusalem in the years which preceded the revolt." The destruction of Jerusalem introduced so complete a change into the situation of Judaism and of Christianity, that it is easy to distinguish a writing subsequent to the catastrophe of the year 70 from a writing contemporary with the third Temple. Pictures evidently "referring to the internal contests between the different classes in Jerusalem society, such as that which is presented to us in the Epistle of James, are inconceivable after the revolt of the year 66, which put an end to the reign of the Sadducees." These were the times when women bought the priesthood for their husbands from Herod Agrippa II, and went to see them officiate, over carpets spread from their own door to the Temple; when wealthy priests were too fastidious to kill the victims for sacrifice without first putting on silk gloves; when their kitchens were furnished with every appliance for luxurious living, and their tables with every delicacy; and when, supported by the Romans, to whom they truckled, they made war upon the poor priests, who were supported by the people. Like Hophni and Phinehas, they sent out their servants to collect what they claimed as offerings, and if payment was refused the servants took what they claimed by force. Facts like these help us to understand the strong language used here by St. James, and the still sterner words at the beginning of the fifth chapter. In such a state of society the mere possession of wealth certainly established no claims upon the reverence of a Christian congregation; and the fawning upon rich people, degrading and unchristian at all times, would seem to St. James to be specially perilous and distressing then.
"Do not they blaspheme the honorable Name by which ye are called?" The last clause literally means "which was called upon you" (το επικληθεν εφ υμας); and we need not doubt that the reference is to the Name of Christ which was invoked upon them at their baptism; quod invocatum est super vos, as the Vulgate has it. The same expression is found in tile Septuagint of those who are called by Gods name. {2Ch_7:14; Jer_14:9; Jer_15:16; Amo_9:12} Some have suggested that the name here indicated is that of "poor," or of "brethren," or of "Christian"; but none of these is at all probable. It may be doubted whether the last was already in common use; and "blaspheme" would be a very strong expression to use of any of them; whereas both it and "honorable" are quite in keeping if the name be that of Christ. The word rendered "honorable" (καλον) cannot be adequately translated. It is the same as that which is rendered "good" when we read of "the Good Shepherd". {Joh_10:11} It suggests what is beautiful, noble, and good, as opposed to what is foul, mean, and wicked; and such is the Name of Christ, which is called in a special sense "the Name." {Act_5:41; 3Jn_1:7} Comp. Ignatius, "Ephesians" 3., 7.; "Philad." 10.; Clem. {Rom_2:13} That the blasphemers are not Christians is shown by the clause "which was called upon you." Had Christians been intended, St. James would have written "Do not they blaspheme the honorable Name which was called upon them?" That they blasphemed the Name in which they were baptized would have been such an aggravation of their offence that he would not have failed to indicate it. These blasphemers were no doubt Jews; and St. James has in his mind the anathemas against Jesus Christ which were frequent utterances among the Jews, both in the synagogues and in conversation. St. Paul alludes to these when he says, "No man speaking in the Spirit of God saith, Jesus is anathema"; and Justin Martyr writes, "That which is said in the Law, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree, confirms our hope which is hung upon the crucified Christ, not as if God were cursing that crucified One, but because God foretold that which would be done by all of you (Jews) and those like you…And you may see with your eyes this very thing coming to pass; for in your synagogues you curse all those who from Him have become Christians" ("Trypho," 96.). The text, "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree," was a favorite one with the Jews in their controversies with Christians, as St. James would know well; {see Gal_3:13} and all this tends to show that he refers to literal blasphemy by word of mouth, and not to the virtual blasphemy which is involved in conduct that dishonors Christ.
His argument, therefore, amounts to this, that the practice of honoring the rich for their riches is (quite independently of any dishonor done to the poor) doubly reprehensible. It involves the meanness of flattering their own oppressors, and the wickedness of reverencing those who blaspheme Christ. It is a servile surrender of their own rights, and base disloyalty to their Lord.
But, perhaps (the argument continues), some will defend this respect paid to the rich as being no disloyalty to Christ, but, on the contrary, simple fulfillment of the royal law, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Be it so, that the rich as a class are unworthy of respect and honor, yet nevertheless they are our neighbors, and no misconduct on their side can cancel the obligation on our side to treat them as we should wish to be treated ourselves. We ourselves like to be respected and honored, and therefore we pay respect and honor to them. To those who argue thus the reply is easy. Certainly, if that is your motive, ye do well. But why do you love your neighbor as yourselves if he chances to be rich, and treat him like a dog if he chances to be poor? However excellent your reasons for honoring the wealthy may be, you still do not free yourselves from the blame of showing an unchristian respect of persons, and therefore of committing sin, "being convicted by the law as transgressors."
The law of loving ones neighbor as oneself is a "royal law," not as having emanated from God or from Christ as King, still less as being a law which binds even kings, or which makes kings of those who observe it. It is a royal law, as being sovereign over other laws, inasmuch as it is one of those two on which "hang all the Law and the Prophets". {Mat_22:40} Indeed, either of the two may be interpreted so as to cover the whole duty of man. Thus St. Paul says of this royal law, "The whole law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." {Gal_5:14} And St. John teaches the same truth in a different way, when he declares that "he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen cannot love God whom he hath not seen". {1Jn_4:20} The expression "royal law" occurs nowhere else, either in the New Testament or in the Septuagint, but it is found in a dialogue entitled "Minos", which is sometimes wrongly attributed to Plato. It is one which might readily occur to any one as a name for a supreme moral principle.
"Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is become guilty of all." The law is the expression of one and the same principle-love; and of one and the same will-the will of God. Therefore he who deliberately offends against any one of its enactments, however diligently he may keep all the rest, is guilty of offending against the whole. His guiding principle is not love, but selfishness-not Gods will, but his own. He keeps nine tenths of the law because he likes to do so, and he breaks one tenth because he likes to do so. The fact of his willful disobedience proves that his obedience is not the fruit of love or loyalty, but of self-seeking. If we ask what his character is, the answer must be, "He is a lawbreaker." These respecters of persons claimed to be observers of the law, because they treated their rich neighbors as they would have liked to be treated themselves. St. James shows them that, on the contrary, they are transgressors of the law, because they pick and choose as to what neighbors shall be treated thus kindly. They keep the law when it is convenient to keep it, and break it when it is inconvenient to keep it. Such keeping of the law is in its essence, not obedience, but disobedience. He who follows honesty only because honesty is the best policy is not an honest man, and he who obeys the law only because obedience suits him is not an obedient man. There is no serving God with reservations. However small the reservation may be, it vitiates all the rest. In order to "fulfill the law" (a rare expression, found only here and in Rom_2:27), we must keep it all round, independently of our own likes and dislikes.
St. James is not here countenancing the severity of Draco, that small crimes deserve death, and that there is no worse punishment for great crimes; nor yet the paradox of the Stoics, that the theft of a penny is as bad as parricide, because in either case the path of virtue is left, and one is drowned as surely in seven feet of water as in seventy fathoms. He is not contending that all sins are equal and that to break one of Gods commands is as bad as to break them all. What he maintains is that no one can claim to be a fulfiller of the law in virtue of his extensive obedience so long as there is any portion of the law which he willfully disobeys. Why does he disobey in this? Because it pleases him to do so. Then he would disobey in the rest if it pleased him to do so. The motive of his conduct is not submission, but self-will. He is in character "a transgressor of the law."
Both defects are common enough still, and are likely to remain so. Paying respect to persons, dignities, and positions is a frequent form of meanness, especially in the manner here condemned, of courting the rich and slighting the poor. It is a Christian duty to respect the rank or the office of those whom God has placed in a position superior to ourselves, and it is also a Christian duty to reverence those who by Gods grace are leading lives of virtue and holiness; hut it is unchristian partiality to honor a man merely for his wealth, or to dishonor him merely for his poverty. And, secondly, we are all of us prone to plead, both before the world and our own consciences, the particulars in which we do not offend as a set-off against those in which we do. To detect ourselves thus balancing a transgression here, against many observances there, ought at once to startle us into the conviction that the whole principle of our lives must be faulty. Our aim is, not to love God, or to obey Him, but to get to heaven, or at least to escape hell, on the cheapest terms.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv2–9 2. Come into your synagogue. See Revision. The place…
2. Come into your synagogue. See Revision. The place of worship, whether Jewish or Christian. James, a Jewish Christian of the strictest sort, uses the Jewish term. With a gold ring. An indication of wealth in that age, especially in connection with the fine clothing. A poor man, as shown by his mean clothing.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv5, 9 kosmos = mankind. (See Scofield "Mat 4:8").
world
kosmos = mankind. (See Scofield "Mat 4:8").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv5, 8 Listen, my beloved brothers
Listen, my beloved brothers
James was exhorting his readers as family. "Pay attention, my dear fellow believers"
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did not God choose ... love him?
Here James uses a rhetorical question to teach his readers not to show favoritism. It can be made a statement. AT: "God has chosen ... love him" (See: Rhetorical Question)
the poor
This refers to poor people in general. AT: "poor people" (See: Nominal Adjectives)
be rich in faith
Having much faith is spoken of as being wealthy or rich. The object of faith may have to be specified. AT: "have strong faith in Christ" (See: Metaphor)
heirs
The people to whom God has made promises are spoken of as if they were to inherit property and wealth from a family member. (See: Metaphor)
But you have
James is speaking to his whole audience. (See: Forms of You)
have dishonored the poor
"you have shamed poor people"
Is it not the rich who oppress you?
Here James uses a rhetorical question to correct his readers. AT: "It is rich people who oppress you." (See: Rhetorical Question and Nominal Adjectives)
the rich
This refers to rich people in general. AT: "rich people" (See: Nominal Adjectives)
who oppress you
"who treat you badly"
Are they not the ones ... to court?
Here James uses a rhetorical question to correct his readers. It can be made a statement. AT: "The rich people are the ones ... to court." (See: Rhetorical Question)
drag you to court
"forcibly take you to court to accuse you in front of judges" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
Do they not insult ... have been called?
Here James uses a rhetorical question to correct and teach his readers. It can be made a statement. AT: "The rich people insult ... have been called." (See: Rhetorical Question)
the good name by which you have been called
This refers to Christ's name. AT: "the name of Christ who called you" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
beloved
brother
God
world
faith
inherit
kingdom
promise
love
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9 2:2 your meeting (literally your synagogue): This word refers…
2:2 your meeting (literally your synagogue): This word refers to the gathering of people rather than the building in which they met. • The fancy clothes and expensive jewelry of the rich, in contrast to the dirty clothes of the poor, symbolize the contrast in socioeconomic status.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.