September 9, 2014 James Chapter 2

James Chapter 2

Originally posted Thursday October 30, 2008

James, Chapter 2:1-13 Warning Against Partiality

One of the attributes of justice is impartiality in the treatment of others. In theory our legal system is based on the application of this ancient principle of God's justice. (Leviticus contains a number of references to treating others with impartiality). One interesting law refers to non-citizen aliens who cross into Israel. With respect to the Law they are to be treated the same as a citizen, particularly with regard to wages and gleaning. James addresses the Diaspora communities from this perspective, asking believers if they believe their favoritism - showing partiality, is not in contradiction to their profession of faith in Christ. He gives the example of favoritism in the assembly's (synagogue's) worship. Is the well-dressed rich person given a choice seat while the poor person has to stand in the back or sit on the floor? Making such a distinction - whatever the circumstances, is a judgment made against the poor person in favor of the rich. This, he states, is a manifestation of evil thoughts and contrary to God's justice (see Lev. 19:15). We can detect in this criticism the author's attitude toward the rich. They not only demean the poor they oppress them and subject them to legal harassment. Much of this hostility may arise from the general circumstances of poverty in these predominately Jewish Christian churches. ("Poor" was used as a collective term for the members of the Jerusalem Church.) Many believers would be freed slaves involved in the lower class of tradesmen. Even those who had not been slaves were exposed to the general disdain shown by Gentiles against Jews, Christian and non-Christian alike. Although James does not tell us who these rich people are that so demean the poor, he refers to the rich in the third person: they are dishonoring the name of Christ in the way they treat the poor. However, it is best to read the passage with the understanding the rich are part of the Synagogues to which James writes.

In the writer's understanding God has "chosen the poor" to be "rich in faith." As such they will receive their heritage in God's kingdom. The rich are in danger of being condemned as blasphemous for they have "dishonored the poor" whom God has honored. Thereby they have sullied the "excellent name" of Christ in whose name "you" (the rich and the poor) were baptized. The remedy James offers is the "royal law," known by all Jews - and used by Jesus, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev. 19:18). In Leviticus this law had a strong endorsement attached which invoked God's special attention to its enforcement: "I am the Lord your God." In Judaism it was always coupled with the introductory Shema to form the couplet of loving God and neighbor as two indivisible tenets. To violate one part is to violate both. In Christianity it still serves as the foundation of discipleship which ministers to all without distinction based on favoritism, bias or any form of prejudicial treatment of another.

To show partiality is to commit a sin and be a "transgressor against the law" (not of the law). James holds the same understanding of a violation against the law as does Paul. To transgress against "one point" of the law is to transgress against the entire law. The Law of Moses is understood by the Jews (and so these Jewish Christians) as a single concept, a whole of many interconnected segments. As James illustrates in 2:11, to break one law is to break the unity and therefore the whole. We should use caution in interpreting the scope of what the "whole" of the law includes. According to Acts James agreed with Paul and Barnabas that the ritual requirements of circumcision and certain holiness traditions need not be imposed on converts to Christianity. By the examples given it is apparent James is referring to the Ten Commandments and those commands that refer to the accepted norms of human relationships - thus the concern for the widely defined neighbor and the resident alien.

The closing vss. 12-13 have two powerful admonitions. Believers are to speak and act in accord with the law of freedom by which they will be judged. Based on what has come before we can identify the "Law of Freedom" as the Law of the Kingdom:" to love your neighbor as yourself." Such love despises partiality, favoritism and all the "isms" they create. The judgment of those who show no mercy and fail to love the neighbor will be shown no mercy.

James, Chapter 2:14-26 Faith without Works Is Dead

Many readers of these verses have concluded that James is writing in opposition to Paul's declaration that salvation is through faith alone and not works. Such a conclusion is incorrect. Both James and Paul have the same understanding of the relationship between faith and works. James begins with a firm statement: "faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead." He uses an illustration of a reaction to a person who is naked and hungry. To say to such a person, "Go in peace, keep warm and eat your fill," without providing for the person's needs is an empty gesture. The callous response cannot be justified by the flippant remark that claims that there is an open choice: I have faith while you have works. We are both within the grace of God. James response is direct: the two are indivisible. Faith without works is merely affirmation of doctrine - what the person thinks he has to believe in order to qualify as a Christian. On the other hand, works are the inevitable demonstration of faith. They are the seal, the affirmation that one's confessed faith is true and not an unconsidered emotional reaction to an inner need. It is on this basis that James can write that one is dead without the other. We should remember that both works and faith are seen from the perspective of how each relates to salvation in James' mind. Works (e.g. works of the law) lead nowhere. Faith leads to justification. But, faith is not truly faith without works of love.

Even a stated faith in God by itself is of no avail. As demonstrated in the reactions of demons to Jesus, they also believe in God but they are still demons. James points to the example of Abraham. Abraham's faith did not exist in a vacuum. He trusted in God's promise of a son who would be the beginning of a long line of a multitude of descendents. But he also had works, the offering of his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice at the command of God. This "work" of an offering was the confirmation that his original faith was true faith. As he raised the knife he still believed God would be faithful to his promise. As James concludes, works brought Abraham's faith to completion (perfection) with the result that "it was reckoned to him as righteousness."

We might find fault in James' belief that "a person is justified by works and not by faith alone" He seems to place too much emphasis on the works. However it is presented, his underlying premise is within Paul's understanding of justification through faith alone. Both clearly know and teach that works is the critical, observable and indispensible confirmation of the true faith that justifies.