Sermon Tone Analysis

! Warning Against Partiality (James 2:1-13)

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"'Full many people go to church,

As everyone knows;

Some go to close their eyes,

And some to eye their clothes.'"

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The little rhyme suggests the reason that James felt compelled to write 2:1-13.

Even in the earliest Christian communities social, financial, and racial distinctions already caused tension.

God intended that the church be the one place where every believer could meet on level ground.

!! Everybody Is Somebody (2:1-5)

Many church bulletins proclaim that everybody is somebody.

Is that always the case?

James sharply criticized a discriminating process that already was underway in the early church.

He wrote: "Show no partiality as you hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory" (2:1).

Actually, James condemned an attitude that already was evident.

My paraphrase would be: In practicing your faith, /do not play favorites in the/ church.

James softened his appeal by calling his readers "my brethren."

Beyond establishing a warm, fraternal relationship between the writer and readers, in the Letter of James this phrase indicates the beginning of a new section wherever it appears.

In verse 1, the word "faith" may indicate either the body of Christian belief or the warm, personal trust in Christ that alone secures personal salvation.

James probably meant the latter.

A person cannot play favorites in the church on the one hand and, on the other, claim to have an authentic, personal faith in Jesus Christ.

*Partiality* is one of the truly technicolor words in the Book of James.

The word literally means /that which receives face/ or that which /lifts/ up /the face./

Either meaning fits well.

The word may mean /to/ receive /the face of/ another person in an evaluating /way./

Such an attitude scans the features of a new face coming into the church.

An instant evaluation takes place.

Immediately, the evaluator categorizes the newcomer socially, educationally, and economically.

On the basis of such a decision, fellowship is given or withdrawn.

Or, James may have had another idea in mind.

Many people cannot conceal their reaction to a newcomer.

Their emotions write themselves on their faces.

The text may refer to the accepting smile or the rejecting frown on the faces of church members when they reacted to new members.

In either case, James condemned such superficial distinctions in the Christian fellowship.

Even the church's enemies and their spies recognized that Jesus did not show any partiality.

Luke 20:21-22 records a question that Jesus' opponents asked Him.

Even they recognized that Jesus did not show partiality.

According to my literal translation, they said: /Teacher, we/ know /that you/... do not receive /the face./

Nicodemus, the theologian, did not impress Jesus any more than the immoral woman at the well in Samaria.

Jesus expressed the same interest in anonymous peasant children as He did toward adults who were impressed with their importance.

Repeatedly, the New Testament stresses that God will show no partiality in judging husbands, wives, children, slaves, and masters (Col.

3:25; Eph.

6:9).

At the final judgment, every rank and category of people will stand on level ground.

Paul insisted that God showed no partiality racially or religiously toward Jews or Greeks (Rom.

2:11).

After Peter's liberating vision at Joppa, he confessed concerning the Roman centurion Cornelius: "'Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality'" (Acts 10:34).

The entire Bible teaches God's absolute impartiality.

!!! Have a Seat, Please (2:2-3)

James pictured two men coming to church.

They may have been visitors or new converts.

Both came to the Christian assembly (synagogue in Greek) seeking a seat.

James recorded vividly how each appeared and where each was seated.

One man appeared with gold rings and fine clothes.

Literally, the text reads: having gold rings on /his fingers/ in a bright toga.

Such a visitor veritably dripped gold from his fingers; he was a gold-fingered man.

In ancient cultures, such rings sometimes could be rented in order that a person might give the impression of affluence.

In ancient Greek culture, to wear such a ring was the equivalent of having a hillside mansion in the most elite section of a city.

The man whom James described might have been voted "Best-Dressed Man" of the city.

He wore an elegant, luxurious, shining garment.

One commentator has noted that such a white toga, or outer garment, was worn by Romans who were seeking political office.

This person was impressive, and he would be seated in the best seat in the house.

My translation is: You, yourself, sit there beautifully (becomingly, honorably).

He was one of the so-called beautiful people and was seated in "a good place" (v. 3, KJV).

In sharp contrast to the impressive person, "a poor man in shabby clothing" (1:2) entered.

The text does not imply that both men entered at the same moment.

The story certainly would be more dramatic if they did.

The "poor man" represented someone at the subsistence level of living.

The word translated "poor man" suggests a cringing begger, someone who did not have enough food or clothes to get by.

Today, one would think of a street person or a "bag lady."

The poor person wore dirty, vile, shabby clothes in contrast to the affluent visitor's bright toga.

He received a strikingly different reaction than the impressive visitor received.

The presider demanded: "'Stand there,' or, 'Sit at my feet'" (2:3).

The first alternative implies standing room only in some inconspicuous place.

The second alternative refers to a debasing, humiliating place.

The biblical world often used the footstool.

In the command, "sit at my feet," the speaker deliberately may have alluded to the Old Testament practice of placing one's enemies beneath his footstool.

Who can forget the psalmist's reference to the footstool: "The Lord says to my lord: 'Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool'" (110:1)?

The footstool implied the place of humiliation and subordination.

However, the man in question in James was not told to sit on the footstool; he was told to sit under the footstool (KJV).

Since that was impossible, the text implies sitting on the floor by the speaker's footstool.

A greater put-down hardly could be imagined.

An early church manual showed the seriousness with which the first Christian communities took James's word.

That manual demanded that the leader-take the place of humility rather than tell the poor visitor to take it:

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And if a poor man or woman either of the district or of the (other) districts should come in and there is no place for them, thou, presbyter, make place for such with all thy heart, even if thou wilt sit on the ground, that there should not be respecting the person of man but of God.

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Has the kingdom of God lost opportunity for world impact because discriminations between rich and poor take place?

The Tennessee" Williams family moved to another city during the famous playwright's childhood.

His younger sister and he wanted to join a church's choir.

Because of their situation, they "'were made to feel like social untouchables.'"

What if his talents for drama had been captured by the church rather than by the world?

Will eternity reveal that one experience of rejection turned him away from the church?

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The Judges Judged (2:4)

James rendered a verdict on the injudicious judges (v.

4).

They had wavered by discriminating among believers and by displaying evil motives.

James posed two questions, both of which demanded a Yes answer.

Paraphrased, the questions would read: You /have/ made prejudiced /distinctions/ among yourselves, /have you not?

You have become judges with evil/ thoughts, /have you not?/ James nailed them with the implications of their partiality.

They could only answer, Yes.

Behind the word "distinctions" (2:4) may rest two ideas.

The word may indicate wavering or doubting.

In that sense, the readers had wavered or doubted the heart of the Christian faith.

By their attitude of favoritism, they had denied the core of Christianity.

They had become double-minded or divided, the trait that James had exposed in 1:6-8.