Part 5: True Faith is Impartial

1. True Faith has No Favorites (2:1-11)

James 2:1 NASB95

My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.

Impartiality is a Command (v.1)

More literally: “Do not hold the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ in respect to persons.”

1. First thing to note is this is an imperative. It is yet another command in the book of James.

The command is “do not hold THE faith . . . in respect of persons.” It is the same as to what Jude refers to as “THE faith once for all delivered to the saints.” It is the objective (not subjective) content of the Gospel.

I.e., James is telling us to not corrupt the Christian faith by respecting some people over others, that is, do not show favortism--do not be partial. Today , we may say “do not discriminate in respect to persons.”

More specifically, James is telling us not to discriminate based upon appearances. The Greek work for favortism literally means “to receive the face” of a person, giving us the idea that we are accepting someone based upon outward appearance.

2. God hates partiality. He hates when we show judge a person by appearance or socio-economic status. He always has.

Leviticus 19:15 “You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly.”

Jesus himself even tells us to be impartial in our judgments: John 7:24 “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”

3. Why does God hate partiality?

Primarily because God is not partial; he shows no favorites.

Deuteronomy 10:17 “For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe.”

Romans 2:11 “For there is no partiality with God.”

God always judges fairly: he looks at the heart and not what a person looks like or what a person’s socio-economic status is:

1 Samuel 16:7 “But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’”

Second reason why God hates partiality: justice requires that we judge a person by the heart and behavior. And since we cannot see into the heart, we judge only the behavior. We do NOT judge based upon what a person looks like or by socio-economic status. Justice is to be blind.

Illustration: Lady Justice Slide

Application

1. We Christians are to be impartial. We are not to judge according to appearance.

It has always been true, faithful Christians who have led the way in showing impartiality: William Wilberforce, Fredrick Douglas, Corrie Ten Boom

Unfortunately, there have been too many times that Christian leaders like these have not been followed by all Christians.

And it is not just judging according to appearance in a bad way that is condemned in Scripture. It is also judging in a way we think might be good. I.e., judging in favor of someone else over another because of how one looks or socio-economic status. In fact, this is what James has in mind: favoring (not disparaging) certain people over against others.

It’s not about looking down on others; it’s about looking up on others and giving some preferential treatment because of how they look or what kind of wealth or poverty that have. We can be just as partial to a poor person as to a rich one. We can be just a partial to an Asian or black American as we can to a white American.

The Letter of James 1. Discrimination in the Community Is Wrong (2:1–7)

We are not to make decisions about people based on any external factor—whether it be dress, color of skin, or general physical appearance

True faith avoids all partiality: whether disparagement or partiality.

2. We Christians are to judge righteously.

Specifically, we are to judge according only to behavior because we cannot see the heart, and we are to maintain justice and fairness.

Our society does not do this; it says we cannot judge anything at all. Logically, this leads to permitting all sorts of evil and atrocities.

But the church is different. We are called to speak the truth, esp calling people to repentance of their wicked deeds. This is call evangelism. (Doesn’t mean we Bible bang them, but it does mean that we call sin sin.)

But why does James command us to be impartial, to not have favorites?

Partiality is Motivated by Evil (v.2-4)

James 2:2–4 NASB95

For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?

Do we see what James is saying? When we are partial and begin making distinctions between people based upon wealth and poverty (or anything else for that matter), we have become judges “with evil motives.”

Why is this? Because when we begin to favor the rich or someone based on external characteristics, we do so because we have some motivation to do so. Think about it for a moment: why does anyone favor a certain race over another? The rich over the poor? Someone who dresses in a tie over one who does not? Because oftentimes we have an ulterior motive.

Maybe it is for honor, recognition, position of power or rank, comfortability, or how others may think of us. And all these things are evil. They are an attempt to elevate ourselves and in so doing, we lower others around us.

Sometimes, partiality has its roots in our sense of self-importance and thus plays out in the local church as a refusal or lack of putting our gifts to use to minster:

Preaching Illustrations, Vol. 1 Walking in Humility (Micah 6:8)

Christian author and pastor Howard Hendricks in his sermon entitled: “The Problem of Discrimination,” said:

“I was ministering in Fourth Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. We had a Thursday morning father-son breakfast, six-thirty. It was to be over by quarter of eight. There were many people from the military, quite a few people from various government offices, some craftsmen, laborers of various kind—really quite a mix.

After I had finished speaking and the meeting was dismissed, I looked over to my right, and there was Senator Mark Hatfield, stacking chairs and picking up napkins that had fallen on the floor. Ladies and gentlemen, if you are impressed that you are a United States senator, you don’t stack chairs and pick up napkins. If you are impressed that you are God’s gift to the body of Christ as the great preacher of this age, you don’t stoop to serve. If you are impressed that, really, you are the greatest thing that ever happened to your local church, you do not serve. You live to be served.”

If we continually meet with the church and rarely or never serve in the ministries of the church, if all we expect is to be served, then we are being partial to ourselves. We are showing the Self favortism over others in the church. In some subtle way, we have accepted the idea that we are above others and so they are to serve us. The church is here for ME. This is favortism, partiality; and it is motivated by evil.

Partiality is more than an evil driven by an ulterior motive; it is a sin.

Partiality is a Sin (v.9a)

James 2:9 NASB95

But if you show partiality, you are committing sin. . . .

This is a clear, straight-to-the-point declaration. If you have ever shown favortism, paritiality, then you are a sinner.

Why is partiality a sin? Because:

Partiality Dehumanizes (v.6a)

James 2:6 NASB95

But you have dishonored the poor man. . . .

“dishonor” (ἀτῑμάζω) = to treat as worthless

When a person raises him or herself above others, it devalues all others. When we think one category of people--whether rich, poor, black, white, Asian, Hispanic, Republican, Democrat--is better or lesser, if we treat them differently because of these differences, we have effectively said to them that they are worthless.

But we know as Christians the every person without qualification are intrinsically valuable.

Genesis 1:27 “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

But even greater:

Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Because showing favortism is a sin, it incurs guilt upon the one who practices it:

Partiality makes One Guilty (v.9b)

James 2:9 NASB95

But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

This is just a natural consequence of what it means to break God’s law. Once a law is broken, guilt is incurred. Lit. what James says here is “you . . . are exposed by the law as vilolaters.”

This is what the Law of God is intended to do: expose us as guilty sinners.

Paul talks about this: Galatians 3:24 “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.”

“Tutor” = guide, leader

The Sin of Partiality is not Partial (v.10-11)

James 2:10–11 NASB95

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 do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

=> The sin of partiality/favortism is a sin like any other sin. It is not treated any differently. If you show favortism, then you are a sinner who is guilty and stand condemned before God.

One’s Favorites are Sometimes the Bad Examples (v.5-7)

James 2:5–7 NASB95

Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of 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. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?

The ones whom we show favortism toward are sometimes the bad examples. They are often the very ones who actually do not have a true faith with good works. In this case here, James says that it is the rich who are being favored, and they are the very ones who have, evidently, been taking them to court and even blaspheming Jesus.

This is not blanket statement. James is not now turning against the rich. If he were, he would be contracting the very teaching he has just laid out not to show partiality. It is something that is evidently a situational circumstance. Those receiving the letter must have had a problem with showing partiality to the wealthy, but they were the very ones who were treating them poorly.

What we can take from this: the people we often show favortism toward are often bad examples and are intent on hurting us. The contrary is just as true: often, it is the outcast of the world who are the good examples.

1 Corinthians 1:26–29 “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise [so-called], and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong [so-called], and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.”

Those who have true, Christian faith are those who are impartial. They treat everyone fairly. In fact, they love all unconditionally:

2. True Faith Loves All Unconditionally (2:8)

James 2:8 NASB95

If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.

Another way to say this: we love and treat everyone equally because we are all made in the image of God.

It’s interesting how James puts this: loving one’s neighbor is “the royal law.”

Lit. it means “kingly” law. Probably a reference to Jesus’ statement about the two highest laws of God:

Matthew 22:37–40 “And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment. “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.””

Also note: “Love” here is agape love.

This kind of love is unconditional. We are to love no matter what the person wears or what he looks like. There are no strings attached.

Application

I do not think we know how to love this way. I wonder if we are just too self-absorbed to even begin loving unconditionally--love without partiality.

Loving impartially always begins with a self evaluation. But how often do we do this? When sermons are preached or lessons taught, how many times do we filter it through the lens of how this applies to someone else and not me personally?

So much of our society is about loving and promoting ourselves. Even in the church.

If we really want to begin loving everyone unconditionally, without partiality, we must take inventory of ourselves and do it seriously.

3. The Conclusion of the Matter (2:12-13)

Speak and Act Graciously (v.12)

James 2:12 NASB95

So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.

It should not escape our notice what James says here: speak AND act. Echoes the teaching about not to be mere hearers of the Word but doers.

We are to speak and act with the knowledge that we will be judged by the “law of liberty.” Wait. We are going to be judged by the law? Hold on a moment. What law does James say we will be judged by? Not the law of Moses or the moral law, but by the law of liberty. That is, the Gospel of grace.

In other words, we are to speak and act with impartiality, and when we do, we will be commended for the grace we exemplify. As such, the law of liberty/grace will not condemn us but will set us free. That’s why it’s called “liberty.”

James (3) The Freedom-Giving Law (2:12–13)

The law of freedom does not condemn but sets free. This law sets free those who heed it when they, in turn, set free those who are oppressed by the world. Believers heed this law of freedom through including the poor and unfortunate as full members of the church of Christ. When this inclusive fellowship is the pattern of faith practiced by believers, God will use this liberating law as the standard to judge them in the sense that he will approve and commend them. ~Kurt Richardson

Mercy triumphs Over Judgment (v.13)

True faith is not partial. It is merciful and avoids unrighteous judgment.

James 2:13 NASB95

For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

Luke 6:36 “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

Matthew 9:13 “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

“Compassion” is the same word used in James that is translated as “mercy.” I.e., Jesus is telling us that God desires mercy over sacrifice. Mercy over the law.

The point here in James: if we are not merciful to the poor and those viewed as outcasts in the world, then God will not be merciful to us.

Similar to forgiveness - Matthew 6:15 “But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”

Conclusion