It is Wednesday, and we continue reading in the book of James. After that long discussion to introduce James, I will try to take it easy today. Our reading today is James 2:1 – 26. Please come back after you finish reading and we’ll take a second look at this chapter.
James is a defender of Kingdom values. If
he were alive today he would probably live in a poor section of town and run a
soup kitchen, or have a place for the homeless to come in from the cold. We shouldn’t read him and think he disdains the
wealthy, but we should understand that he has no sense of privilege accorded to
them because of their wealth. He opens
this section with a hypothetical example to make the point –
“My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must
not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold
ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in.
If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say,
“Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or
“Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves
and become judges with evil thoughts?” (2:1-4).
James doesn’t have a sign on the door saying the wealthy are not welcome, but
rather a principle that what you have, or possess, is not a clear indication of
your heart or faith. He sees people as
equal children of God, and so the church is a gathering place where God’s
people – no matter their status or privilege meet on the same plane.
“Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor
in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he
promised those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not
the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you
into court? Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of
him to whom you belong?” (2:5-7)
James remembers well Jesus’ words, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for
theirs is the Kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). The early church grew, in part, because the
church opened its doors to the poor, proclaiming the Gospel that they might be
poor, but now in Christ, they “are rich in faith, heirs of the Kingdom Jesus
promised to those who love him” (2:6).
Even though verse 7 is connected in paragraph form to verses
5-6, I believe it forms a link with verses 8 and following – connected by the
word “really” – “Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of
him to whom you belong? If you really keep the royal law found in
Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if
you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers” (2:7-9).
If God is no respecter of persons, and he gives favor to the poor in his
Kingdom, then what about the rich? The
keyword that connects this to what he had just said is “favoritism” (“partiality”
in ESV), which is how he began this section in 2:1. He knows that many in the church have been
abused by the rich, but he makes a point in appealing to the “royal law found
in Scripture”, that even though the rich have not always done what is right, we
must not treat them in any less way than “neighbors”. J Alec Motyer, in his excellent commentary on
James, makes the point very clear: “According to the teaching of Jesus a neighbor
is anyone who needs my care and attention (Lk. 10:25-37), and it would be just
as sinful to refuse neighborly concern to the rich simply because he is rich as
to dismiss the poor because he is poor. Consequently the ‘however’ of verse 8
is a real clue to the understanding of the whole section. We might paraphrase:
‘What it all comes to is this: keep the royal law.’”[1]
For James, the reason why the principle of “no partiality” is reciprocal – i.e.,
it goes both ways – is because this is what God said in the law. Any kind of prejudice breaks the command to
love your neighbor as yourself.
James ends this first part by clarifying the main principle
of the law – that it is not arbitrary, nor open for debate – nothing in it is
optional.
“For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become
accountable for all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,”
also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you
have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who
are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy
to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment” (2:10-13).
Partiality is nothing more than breaking the law, and if you break it one spot,
you have broken it in all areas. We don’t
lose our salvation in breaking the law, but we are reminded that all of the essential
elements of salvation – grace, mercy, forgiveness, reconciliation – are God’s
gifts to us, and he expects us to be his children and learn from what we’ve been
freely (liberty) given.
The stumbling block for Martin Luther in wondering if the
book of James belonged in the Canon of Scripture occurred in chapter 2:14 – 26. This section is the “guts” of the book of
James.
“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith
but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?” (2:14).
James is one of those teachers who loves to throw in something that makes everyone
sit up and say, “did he just say…?”
Having talked about partiality, and the law of liberty that affirms the
neighborly among us, he throws out this “sit up, I’m talking to you”
comment. There is no doubt that James is
a man of faith. He already has said God
favors people with faith (2:5), and he writes about in this section in ways
that are multi-faceted, like a jewel that can be turned in different directions
to get a different color and shimmering view. Faith is the center of life in Christ, and
what marks Christians as believers (James 2:1; Ephesians 2:8).
What do we suppose James has in mind? He had just said that “mercy” is a Christian essential
(2:13), and now also connects the needed mercy as a product of faith -
“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith
but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister
is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in
peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs,
what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not
accompanied by action, is dead” (2:14-17).
We need to be careful because the immediate response that faith is works is
wrong. “Faith by itself” is a way of
saying, “Faith has to be a living faith - a faith in which works of God follow –
otherwise, it is not true faith, but dead” (my paraphrase). This is the point James is making: “make sure
your faith is real”.
The first example of the brother or sister without food or
clothing is negative. The reproof is in
verse 17. There are three other examples,
and the first one of these is also negative: Demons who believe (2:18-20). To the demons, faith is not a believing “in”
Christ, but a believing “about” Christ, and so, there is no saving faith in
their believing (2:20). The next two are
positive examples. First, he reminds us
that Abraham had a faith that believed God, and therefore, obeyed God (2:21-23)
The saving point of Faith – to believe and obey – summarizes that Salvation is
by Grace through Faith alone, but that kind of Faith is never alone! (2:24). The last example is also positive as he
reminds us that Rahab believed the spies, and believed in God, and so acted by
faith in hiding them (2:25). He
summarizes her response to God’s word as a living faith (2:26).
What does this all mean?
A faith that intellectually believes, but does not live itself out in
real life, is no better than the faith demons have. A faith that responds to God will obey – holding
nothing back from God, and willing to risk everything to “come and follow me”. It is the call of Jesus to discipleship, that
“…If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross
daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit
a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” (9:23-25).
We are not saved by works – that the Scripture is abundantly
clear. We are saved by works in Jesus who
did the works of the Father, and so fulfilled all that we could not do on our
own. Now that Christ has come into our
lives, we become disciples, followers of Jesus, and the faith led us to him,
will continue to lead us to follow him, and demonstrate a faith, that works!
Peace
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