Upward Wisdom

We are entering week two of reading through the letter of James in the New Testament. This book of the Bible is often characterized as being filled with practical wisdom. And perhaps many among us know bits and pieces of the wisdom that comes from James. However, since we are making a goal of reading through the entire book in the coming weeks, we have the extra opportunity of seeing the overarching themes which James pulls all the way through these nuggets of advice tucked into this letter.

I began last week by noting the way James points immediately to the wisdom of the gospel as being unconventional. The way of Jesus is countercultural. Not only does the outside world see the gospel of Jesus as upside-down and backwards, James is correcting the many people within the church who also do not grasp the upside-down backwards nature of the gospel. In other words, it is a letter meant for us. Today and in the coming weeks I want us to unpack that a little further. Today we look at the wisdom of James as an inward wisdom. Next week we will consider the wisdom of James as upward wisdom. And the following week we will conclude the book by looking at the wisdom of James as outward wisdom.

James points out the discrepancy between inner beliefs and outward actions

Today we see an example in chapter 2 of inward wisdom. We saw last week in chapter 1 that James is pointing out a discrepancy between inner beliefs and outward actions. That discrepancy still shows up here in chapter 2. Today let’s consider how this contradiction between inner belief and outward action points to something within our own hearts, and what James suggests we can do about that.

James 2:1–13 (NIV)

James 2:1–13 NIV

1 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 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. 3 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,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 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? 6 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? 7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong? 8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. 12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

illustration of different treatment of rich and poor as example of favoritism

James starts chapter 2 by bringing up the subject of favoritism, and then connects it with an illustration to make the point. It may, in fact, be an actual example and not just a hypothetical story about the difference between the treatment of rich and poor. The original audience would have understood the reference. Back in that day within the culture of the Roman Empire, wealth and privilege would be flaunted most prominently through things like wardrobe and jewelry. So, it makes sense to the audience of James that he singles out two people: one dressed in fine clothes with a gold ring, and one in dirty old clothes. Our culture today has its own signals of flaunting wealth and privilege. We may see that more commonly in things like professional athletes who drive imported sports cars, or tech company billionaires who take rocket ship rides to outer space.

economic mobility was not possible in the Roman Empire — rich and poor stayed that way

Yet, I don’t think it is James’ intention that we see this merely as an economic issue about the differences between rich and poor. It is an illustration of favoritism. James is pointing out the way we treat some people in society different than we treat other people, simply because of who they are. That is worth spending a little time to dig a bit further into the issue James is addressing. It is also worth noting that economic differences in the Roman Empire at the time of James offered no mobility. If you happened to be a person of wealth and prestige and privilege, it was something you were born into and likely would not lose. And if you happened to be a person of poverty with very little money or possessions, there were no opportunities in Roman society to work your way up and out of that. It would be a mistake to think about this illustration between rich and poor as something which reflects upon the actions or work ethic or decisions of those people themselves. If you were rich it meant you were born rich and you’re going to stay rich. And if you were poor it meant that you were born poor and you’re going to stay poor.

it is a favoritism based on who people are, not just what they’ve done

James is pointing to a kind of favoritism that sees people differently because of who they are, not what they’ve done. More than that, James points to a favoritism that acts towards and treats people differently just because of who they are, not what they’ve done. It would be good for us as followers of Jesus today to take some time and consider how this shows up in our world. And more to the point James is making, how this shows up in our churches. I am grateful for the ways in which the administration of this church has opened doors to welcome the Congolese refugees who come and worship in this space on Sunday afternoons. Yet I also recognize that there are those in our American society who wish to label immigrants as all being criminals. We still have some work to do in the church when it comes to treating people of different ethnic heritage without favoritism. One of the issues the church is trying to figure out right now is how we can best engage the issues surrounding human sexuality. We still have some work to do in the church when it comes to treating people of different sexual orientation without favoritism. I would also acknowledge that for a long time the ministries of the church seem to cater almost exclusively to families. We still have some work to do in the church when it comes to treating single unmarried people without favoritism.

favoritism — treating people differently based upon who they are

what happens outwardly in our actions begins inwardly in our attitudes

Now, in these examples I don’t know that it is always the case that we mean to show favoritism to some while excluding others. Maybe we do not always intentionally do that on purpose. But the reality which shows up in our practice is that it happens. And the point James is driving us to see is that what happens outwardly in our actions starts by coming somewhere inwardly in our attitudes. In order to authentically and genuinely address and change our outward actions of favoritism, we need to do the hard work of addressing and changing our inward attitudes of favoritism.

Where James goes next might not appear at first as particularly helpful. In fact, it seems as though James just presses us further down.

James 2:8–10 (NIV)

James 2:8–10 NIV

8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

failing to love just one of our neighbors is the same as failing to love all of our neighbors

Now we’re in trouble. Not only are our actions of favoritism a sin, but our inward attitudes of favoritism are a sin. And not only are the intentional and deliberate acts of favoritism a sin, but how many more unintentional and careless acts of favoritism do we add onto that pile? And not only is favoritism labeled by James as a sin, but now he jabs the knife even further by telling us that breaking just one of the law’s requirement to love your neighbor as yourself places us in a category which breaks the entire law. James is not giving any wiggle room whatsoever on this one. I think he means to do that intentionally. He means to show us that—no matter how hard we try—we are sinners who cannot ever perfectly keep the command to love our neighbors as ourselves.

This leaves us in a bit of a pickle. On the one hand James says to the church, “stop committing the sin of showing favoritism.” And on the other hand James says to the church, “no matter what, you are always guilty of committing the sin of showing favoritism.” Admit it. We’re stuck.

This is where James turns to give some helpful advice. Look again at verses 12-13.

James 2:12–13 (NIV)

James 2:12–13 NIV

12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Greek eleutheria = freedom | Greek eleos = mercy

Sure, James keeps a focus here in terms such as law and judgement. But there is a key addition that makes all the difference in the world. It comes by the Greek words eleutheria and eleos which translate in our English Bibles as freedom and mercy. Sure enough, the way James set us up in this passage it looks as though we are stuck in a spot of judgment under the law. But now circle back to one of the themes we saw James introduce last week when we looked at chapter 1. The gospel of Jesus comes to us as a countercultural way of thinking and living. Jesus brings a law of love that is not one of imprisonment. Jesus brings a law of love that is one of freedom. Because Jesus came and took all the guilt of our sin to the cross, we have now been set free from sin. The law of love under which we now live is a law of freedom because of what Jesus has done for us.

Jesus brings a law of love which results in my freedom instead of my condemnation

James is saying we no longer need to live as those who have been trapped by the law. Because of Jesus we now live as people who have been set free by the law. The inward wisdom of James is this: I am set free by the law of love because it is Jesus who first loved me. I am now free to be merciful towards others because it is Jesus who was first merciful towards me. It is a law of love that is not built upon or start with anything that I do. It is a law of love that is built upon and starts with what Jesus has already done.

Jesus chooses to show mercy instead of showing favoritism

As people who are followers of Jesus, James reminds us that Jesus does not show favoritism. If God at any point decides to show favoritism, we all lose—every single one of us. But instead of showing favoritism, God chooses to show mercy. And it is the mercy of God which triumphs over judgment. What does it mean for you and me that mercy triumphs over judgment? I think we capture that in the opening lines of our doctrinal statement of the Heidelberg Catechism: “my only comfort in life and in death is that I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.” That is what mercy triumphing over judgment looks like.

“my only comfort in life and in death is that I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.”

James wants us to begin with this inner wisdom because it forms the basis and foundation from which all our upward and outward wisdom flows. Our attitudes towards others can come from a place of mercy and love because God’s attitude towards us us comes from a place of mercy and love. Our thoughts, words, and actions towards others can come from a place of mercy and love because God’s thoughts, words, and actions towards us come from a place of mercy and love. We continue to strive towards removing favoritism in our relationships with others because God has already removed favoritism in his relationship with us.