No Partiality
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Context
Context
In this section of James 2, James applies some of the key ideas he presented in 1:19-27. James makes clear that showing partiality has no place in the community of God’s people, and this assertion is built upon:
doing the word (1:22)
doing the word includes showing compassion to the helpless (1:27)
By showing favor to the rich and treating the poor with contempt, the believers to whom James was writing were failing to faithfully practice the word of God that they have heard.
The Flow of the Argument
The Flow of the Argument
General: live as those who are judged under the law of liberty (12)
Specific: love your neighbor as yourself (8)
More specific: show no partiality (1)
Question: If you accept my premise that these 3 “commands” comprise the flow of the argument for not showing partiality, how do they relate to one another?
If we strive to live as those who are judged under the law of liberty (12), we will obey Christ and love our neighbor as ourselves, and one specific manifestation of this love is to show no partiality.
Definition of Terms
Definition of Terms
Partiality
Question: What is partiality?
Literally means to receive the face of someone. This is meant to convey that showing partiality is to make judgements about someone based upon external appearance.
Law of Liberty
James does not define the terms (see also 1:25), but treats it as common knowledge.
When we do not show partiality but love towards others as we love ourselves, we act according to the law of liberty.
James assumes people know what he means by law of liberty.
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
God’s people are set free from the tyranny of their sins.
Living in this freedom does not produce lawlessness but rather love.
James summarizes the law of liberty 2:8
If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.
Paul summarizes the law of liberty in Galatians 5:13.
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
Law of liberty is used in the context of eternal judgement (as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty).
Question: What does the fact that James uses the law of liberty in the context of eternal judgement convey about his exhortation to not show partiality?
How we treat others is the evidence of our relation to Christ
If we have been set free from our sin’s condemnation, then we live in liberty and that liberty is expressed in our unbiased love for others.
Bottom line: The law of liberty is the expressed will of God to His people, whom He has freed from the bondage of their sin, and as a result, obey Him out of their love for Him.
The Argument: Why should we not show partiality?
The Argument: Why should we not show partiality?
Question: Most people we know, Christian or not, agree that partiality is wrong. Why does an argument against partiality fall short when it is not based upon the word of God?
Partiality contradicts faith in Jesus Christ as the Lord of glory (1)
My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
Notice that James refers to Jesus as the Lord of glory.
Question: What is this title meant to convey or emphasize about Jesus in the context of an argument against God’s people showing partiality?
The origin of partiality is seeking human glory (why would anyone show partiality to the rich and powerful?)
But if we know Jesus as the Lord of glory, we will see Him as our sufficiency for everything and every concern
Knowing Jesus as the Lord of glory is key to key to being freed for a craving for human glory and thereby equipped to fight against our inclination to show partiality
2. Partiality reveals a judging heart and evil thinking (2-4)
“If”: The protasis (2-3)
The context is the worship gathering
The reaction to the 2 visitors are different
if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing (v. 3): to look at with favor or have regard for - see Luke 1:48 & 9:38
stand over there or sit down at my feet
“then”: The apodosis (4)
you have made distinctions among yourselves
Acts 15:9 (ESV)
and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.
distinctions can also carry the idea of doubt
James 1:6 (ESV)
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
Question: How might the idea of doubt be related to making judgements about others based upon appearance?
In 1:6, James Christians not to have a divided heart in their relationship to God and one another.
Showing partiality to people in the community of faith then, is a manifestation of a wavering, divided heart/attitude towards God
Question: Given the “if/then” argument in vss. 2-4, what is key for us to guard against showing partiality?
judges with evil thoughts
Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
Question: When we show partiality, what are we presuming about ourselves?
When Christians show favoritism toward people, they implicitly claim God’s right to judge people.
with evil thoughts
the evil is found in the standard by which people use to judge one to be favorable over another
3. Partiality contradicts God’s heart in His salvation of people (5)
Meaning of poor in the Bible
often refers to the lack of material wealth
The LXX (Greek OT) often uses this word to reference spiritual poverty
Psalm 69:32 (ESV)
When the humble (poor) see it they will be glad;
you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
Amos 2:7 (ESV)
those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth
and turn aside the way of the afflicted;
a man and his father go in to the same girl,
so that my holy name is profaned;
Question: If the antonym for poor in a material sense is wealthy, what is the antonym for poor in a spiritual sense?
Consider the words of Jesus:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
We can’t ignore the context (v. 2-3 reference material wealth), but the spiritual sense of poverty should not be ignored.
Wealth is often referenced as a potential danger in the NT
Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
Wealth is not the evil, but people’s relationship to it. Some assume material wealth is a sure sign of God’s favor (examples of this in the OT like Abraham).
Material wealth, for many, can become the foundation and security that only God should and can be for people.
So weather we understand poor as a reference to material wealth, we must allow the Bible’s teaching to define our understanding of James’ meaning. Wealth is not the danger or an indication of God’s favor, but it must be soberly and humbly handled.
The spiritually poor, which is all of us before we are redeemed, are favored in the sense that to recognize our own spiritual poverty can lead to the realization that Christ provides His people the riches of His grace
Those who are rich in faith are heirs of the kingdom of God
To show partiality to anyone on the basis of wealth expresses a misguided understanding of wealth and and a failure to recognize our spiritual bankruptcy apart from the grace of God in Christ.
4. Partiality marginalizes a concern to honor God (6-7)
When we show partiality we dishonor the people we discriminate against (6)
Showing partiality inevitably leads to minimizing or ignoring injustice (6)
Question: Why should we not conclude that James is counseling his recipients to not be kind to these rich people?
Showing partiality often reveals a lack of reverence for and fear of God (7)
As we have already noted, when we come to v. 8 James gets a little more general in calling our attention to King Jesus’ command to love our neighbors as ourselves which of course is incompatible with showing partiality.
5. Partiality is sin (9-11)
Breaking the law (9)
“You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.
This particular command, along with what James has already argued, makes the fundamental point clear that showing partiality is against God’s will for His people.
you are committing sin lit. you are working sin.
Question: The plainness of v. 9, that showing partiality is sin, is sobering. How can we strive to build a community that encourages living out the values of the kingdom of God rather than the values of this world?
To show partiality is to break God’s law and thereby become lawbreakers.
Breaking the whole law (10-11)
See Matt. 5:18-19 & Gal. 5:3.
Question: Violating the law of God and violating the law of man differ in that to violate the one part of the law of God is to violate the entire law. To violate one part of the law of man, does not render one guilty of all the laws of man. What’s the difference between the law of God and the law of man that makes this so?
The law of God should not be understood as merely a series of individual commands, but as a series of commands that are part and parcel of one whole because they reflect the will of our Lawgiver.
The violation of one command of God is to display our guilt before Him.
James becomes more general again in v. 12 where he commands his readers to live according to the law of liberty, that is, as a people who have been freed from their sin to live for God out of a love for God.
6. Partiality is void of mercy (13)
Verse 13 seems to be based upon the words of Jesus:
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
People who do not show mercy, do not know mercy. They don’t know Jesus.
Christians are people who have tasted mercy and lives in light of the mercy they have received from Christ.
If we do not have remorse when we show partiality, then according to James, we do not know the mercy of Christ
If we do know Jesus and His mercy, then we will show mercy to others as evidence of our faith in Christ, and this faith spares us the judgement of God.