FAVORITISM, PREJUDICE, AND MERCY (James 2:1-13)

Introduction

In the first chapter, James introduced his themes of this epistle. He used a paranetic (exhortative and persuasive) teaching style to teach Jewish Christians of Jerusalem and later hearers and readers. James spoke about enduring trials with God’s help. By doing that, the person would grow toward completion and perfection in Christ. He spoke, too, about being rich in the world and being rich as an heir of God’s kingdom. One other theme James exhorted the people to do was to put their faith into action, be “doers” and “hearers” of the Word. James stressed a balance exists between the spiritual and physical life. One’s spiritual life must affect that person’s physical life. Christ taught His followers to live out the two greatest commandments during their lives.

With the beginning of chapter two, James specified actions, words, and attitudes each Jerusalem Christian should do, speak, and think/feel if Jesus Christ was his or her Lord and Savior. In the first half of chapter two, James taught against the sin of partiality/prejudice. Let us now turn to the first thirteen verses of this chapter.

The Teaching

Verses one and twelve through thirteen specify the lesson James taught. The first verse is the negative statement of it and verses twelve through thirteen the positive restatement of it. Notice James began and ended with the teaching. This noted for his hearers exactly what he taught them. Besides visiting the orphans and widows, being quick to hear, bridling the tongue, and putting aside filthiness and wickedness, here James taught about showing mercy by being impartial. The spiritual virtue of mercy must become a part of each believer’s character before the person can reach perfection and completion in Christ. Here is where James showed a balance must exist between the spiritual and the physical sides of a person. It shows, too, faith in action. James juxtaposed extremes of life in Jerusalem to teach this lesson – the rich man versus the poor man.

Verse 1 says, “My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.” The word “hold” in this verse comes from the Greek word echo. It means to have in hand or posses in one’s mind, to adhere or cling to someone, something, or thought/faith[i]. The word “faith” comes from the Greek word pistis and means conviction of the truth of anything or belief; the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, and provider of salvation along with the conviction Jesus Christ is the Messiah[ii]. “Glorious” comes from the Greek word doxa and means majesty, splendor, and magnificence[iii]. The word “favoritism” James used comes from the Greek word prosopolepsia and means partiality based on the outward circumstances of man and not his intrinsic merits[iv]. If we understand each of these words from their original text, the following is what James taught in verse one. “My fellow Christians, do not adhere and cling to your convictions about our majestic and magnificent God and Jesus the Messiah with an attitude of partiality toward a person whose outer appearance appeals to you. That would be partiality.”

The Example

The Situation.

Verses 2 through 4 use a common practice of first century Jerusalem - preference given to rich over the poor. Remember James most often used the term “rich man” to refer to an unbeliever. Yet in this passage, we must note he spoke about a rich person who was a Christian, a man of “your assembly.” The partiality shown to this person, James said, came from the person’s outward appearance – clothes and jewelry. So James compared the attitudes and actions of a person showing favoritism towards a wealthy person and prejudice against the poor person. Here James spoke about material wealth.

Let us look at these verses closer. James said,

For it 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? (James 2:2-4 [NASB])

The word “poor” in verse three comes from the Greek word ptochos and means destitute of wealth, influence, position, and honor[v]. We read in this passage James spoke not of believer and unbeliever, but of material wealth, power, and position in society when he taught about the rich man and the poor man. James said when a person pays special attention to a rich person - looks at the rich person with high regard based on his or her wealth, influence, and power - and gives that person a “good place” to sit, but tells the poor person to stand or sit at his or her feet, a personal distinction occurs. The word kalos is the Greek word for “good” and means excellent and honorable[vi]. The place the discriminating Christian told the poor person to be put him or herself, in this passage, showed the person’s consideration of the poor man. Sitting at a person’s footstool showed subjugation of the person. The word “footstool” comes from the Greek word hupopodion and means to subject or reduce a person under one’s power[vii]. Biblical authors often used hupopodion as a metaphor. It comes from the practice of conquerors placing their feet on the necks of their conquered enemies. The act of placing someone at one’s feet is subjugation. Subjugating a poor person while seating a rich person in a place of honor shows favoritism and discrimination by the usher. James said it proved the person/people made distinctions and became judges with evil motives or intentions.

What could be evil about this action? We know from our own hearts and from seeing it happen or experiencing it ourselves, when partiality/discrimination occurs, a person generally gives high honor and regard to the rich person to gain that person’s favor for any future requests or needs the rich person can give him, her, or them. Today’s terminology calls that “currying the favor” of someone with influence and power. James said these actions showed “evil motives.” Paul said in Acts 10:34, “God is not one to show partiality.” He wants everyone to follow Him.

The Reality.

James said in verse five, “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?” We must first understand the distinction James made between poor and rich in this verse. He did not speak about the rich in material things. He used the Greek word “plousios meaning “rich.” This word is a metaphor for abounding in Christian virtues and eternal possessions[viii]. We know James meant this metaphor for the rich person because he said “rich in faith,” not in material things. With this understanding, we must read this verse as the poor of this world (materially poor) God chose to be rich in faith – abounding in Christian virtue and eternal possessions – because they are heirs to God’s kingdom through Jesus Christ.

Does this mean God does not choose the materially rich people of earth? It does not. When each person looks within him or herself that person will recognize and realize his or her poverty of spirit. That person will realize he or she is not in truth wealthy because his or her wealth will rust, mold, or decay, but true wealth from God is eternal. Jesus spoke of this person in Matthew 5:3 when He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” When a person recognizes his or her poverty of spirit that he or she does not possess the one thing that gives life its abundance – a relationship with God, Jesus calls that person blessed in the knowing and in the seeking and receiving salvation and eternal life through Jesus Christ. Every person is poor in spirit though not every person is poor in wealth. When a person receives forgiveness from God and salvation, they inherit eternal life in God’s kingdom. Eternal life does not fade away with age. It makes a person truly rich – a wealth that surpasses physical life on earth.

James continued to teach that the person or people who dishonored the poor man by discriminating against him or her are like the rich (non-believer) who oppress people. He reminded the Christians how the rich (non-believer) dishonored them by oppressing them and dragging them to court. James said, too, the rich of the world (non-believers) blasphemed the excellent name by which they people called them - Christian. Remember, the title “Christian” arose when non-believers in Antioch threw supposed insults are believers in Jesus Christ. They termed the name “Christian” to refer to Jesus followers (Acts 11:26).

James implied in these verses that the Christians of the assembly chose to honor the rich in their assembly. When doing that, they dishonored the poor of the church. By doing this, the prejudiced Christian oppressed the poor members and blasphemed their name of “Christian” because he or she did not act out his or her faith towards every Christian brother and sister. Knowing James taught the Jerusalem church faith without works is dead, we must understand what James taught as the alternative to these discriminatory actions.

The Godly Alternative.

Verses 8 through 11 explain James’ teaching on how each person of the church should act. It goes beyond that to include actions toward every person – Christian or non-Christian. James said in these verses,

If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 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. [NASB]

The royal law of which James spoke is what Jesus taught as the two greatest commandments in Matthew 22:37-40. When James spoke of fulfilling the royal law, he used the Greek word teleo and meant performing and completing the laws. These laws came to the Israelites from God in Leviticus 19:18. When God’s child(ren) breaks one of His laws, the greatest commandment is broken – love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. If a person loves God, he or she would obey God’s laws. James taught fulfilling this royal law of loving your neighbor as yourself leads to living an impartial life.

Yet James knew people in the Jerusalem church and in life broke this law of God. For personal motives/reasonings, people choose to show favoritism to some people, often the rich who have wealth, power, and influence, and discriminate against the poor who have little wealth, power, and influence. The thought is a poor person cannot give anything, so no gain accrues by showing favor to a poor person. When we walk by or place them in a lower position in our lives to give preference to the wealthy person, discrimination occurs. That shows to the rich and influential person we consider the poor person inconsequential in hopes of gaining the rich person’s favor.

James bluntly told the Jerusalem Christians they committed sin and were sinners if they showed partiality. By committing just one sin, God convicts a person as a transgressor or lawbreaker of His laws. Just sinning in one part of God’s Law makes a person a sinner like the rich people who oppress people, drag them to court, and blaspheme God. By stumbling in one point of the Law, a person is guilty of every point. When a person sins in any point of the Law, that person sins against the royal law – against God and humankind. When a person sins against another person, he or she shows a lack of love towards the person (neighbor) and a lack of love toward God. Jesus taught this in Matthew 5:19, “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments and teachers other to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Peter encouraged Christians to practice the things Jesus taught and modeled to them about living God and their neighbors. In 2 Peter 1:10 Peter said, “Therefore brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble.”

James taught living one’s faith out in the world by words and actions showed who was a believer who took his or her faith deeper. That person’s heart changed when he or she assented to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. With the heart change, actions and words changed and the world could see the evidence of his or her faith. James called this true faith.

The Teaching – Reprise

As told in the first section of this study, verses twelve and thirteen are the positive statement of the lesson in this part of James. In verse 1, James used the words “do not,” an exhortation against doing something. In verse 12, he said, “so speak and so act,” a command or exhortation to do or say something. The exhortation to do in this section is more than treat the rich and poor alike. James told them, “So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.” The difference between doing or not doing rests in the prepositional phrase, “by the law of liberty.” James used this phrase in James 1:25, too. It comes from the Greek word eleutheria. This word means the liberty to do or omit things having no relationship to salvation and freedom from the power of sin and death[ix]. Christians have the liberty of not sinning because the Holy Spirit dwells in them from the point they believed in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. The Holy Spirit empowers a Christian to stand firm, endure temptations, and grow through trials. That makes a person become more complete and perfect, getting closer to the image of Christ. The laws of God and the love of God given through the life and crucifixion of Jesus Christ bring truth and freedom. John 8:32 says, “And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” Paul said in Romans 8:32, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.”

If knowing he or she has freedom from temptation and sin through the Holy Spirit is not enough to keep a Christian from sinning, James added more with verse thirteen. He said, “For judgment will be merciless to the one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.” Remember, James implied, God judges every person on the last day. Would you rather be the receiver of His love and mercy or his judgment? If the first, then show mercy; treat each person as you want to be treated. Love them. If you do not choose to be merciful, God, in His mercy, will judge you. Jesus taught this in Matthew 18:32-35. In this passage, He spoke of the debtor who received mercy and pardon by the king for his debt, but still chose to be merciless to one who owed him money and demanded imprisonment for that debtor. The king heard of this man who had received his mercy yet did not give mercy, called the man to him, judged him, and sent him to prison. Jesus taught the positive side of this lesson, too, in the Beatitudes. In Matthew 5:7, He said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

Recap

What did this lesson from James mean for the Jerusalem church? He taught Jerusalem Christians to be the poor man mentally – assenting and choosing to be a disciple of Christ and a child of God. This requires a heart action. Next James taught them to be the poor man physically - acting out his faith and not discriminating towards rich people and against poor people. James taught Christians being a true follower of Jesus means mental assent, and loving actions and words as a love response to God because of what He did for them through Christ. By loving others and loving God, they would fulfill the laws of God.

Relevance and Conclusion

After reading any part of the book of James, one must search his or her own heart to discover if his or her heart changed with the mental assent to God and Jesus Christ. With a change of heart, the person’s actions and words would show the love of God toward other people as an act of love to God. We each must examine our own hearts, too. Has our faith in Jesus Christ changed our hearts? Do we believe His Holy Spirit within us can empower us to overcome temptation and endure trials bringing us to maturity and completion in Jesus? Are we acting out our faith in community so other people can see and feel God’s love and mercy? Are we giving testimony by word to the love God gives us and commands we share with every person we meet?

Let me encourage you not to race through this list of questions, but thoroughly examine yourselves with the Light of Truth. Look and see if you have not given any part of your life – heart, mind, soul, and strength - to God for His service. Go before Him asking forgiveness and offering yourself to Him. Will you do this – examine your heart and go before God? None of us is truly rich without the grace and mercy of God who gives to everyone who believers an inheritance in His kingdom through Jesus Christ, His Son. We are all poor.

“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” Jude 1:24-25 [NASB]

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[i] Thayer and Smith. The NAS New Testament Greek Lexicon, 1999. (http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/echo.html).
[ii] Ibid. (http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/pistis.html).
[iii] Ibid. (http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/doxa.html).
[iv] Ibid. (http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/prosopolepsia.html).
[v] Ibid. (http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/ptochos.html).
[vi] Ibid. (http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/kalos-2.html).
[vii] Ibid. (http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/hupopodion.html).
[viii] Ibid. (http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/plousios.html).
[ix] Ibid. (http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/eleutheria.html). 

Faith: What Is It? (James 2:14-26)

¹⁴ What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? ¹⁷ Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. ¹⁸ But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” ¹⁹ You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.²⁰ But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? ²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? ²² You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; ²³ and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. ²⁴ You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵ In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? ²⁶ For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. James 2:14-26 (NASB)

Introduction

James addressed the Jewish Christians of Jerusalem with these sermons/teachings. An editor then compiled into one epistle near the end of the revolt against Rome or right after it. James taught the Jerusalem Christians during the mid-40s AD when famines occurred and the people of Jerusalem suffered from lack of food and money. Wealthy Jews sent food aid to the Jews of Jerusalem, but the Christians of Jerusalem received little of the aid. Because of this, the Jewish Christians would be tempted not to help another person with the meager amount they possessed. They would be tempted to recant their faith in Jesus Christ so they could receive aid from the wealthy Jews. With these things in mind, it makes sense James spoke to his people in Jerusalem about faith – what is it, what it is not, and what God expects from a person of faith.  

In James 2:14-26, James spoke about faith – what it is and how people show their faith. In verses fourteen, seventeen, twenty, and twenty-six, James defined true faith as bearing fruit – actions of love and kindness to other people and to God. He succinctly stated “faith without works is dead.” (vs. 26) What did James mean by this statement? What did he mean when he said, “Faith without works was useless?” (vs. 20) 

What is Faith?

James began this section of his speech saying in verse fourteen, “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him?” Did he counter Paul’s theology of justification by faith? Through this study, we will learn James did not disagree with Paul’s theology of justification/righteousness. He spoke about the results of true faith. A true follower of Christ will produce fruits resulting in right actions and words. In James 1:22, James said, “But prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” James believed and taught as did Jesus that belief in God and His Son produced righteous actions – a life lived out as a servant of God who enacted the two greatest commandments Jesus taught (Matthew 22:37-40). 

Faith - Mental Assent Only?

With verse fifteen, James began unpacking what he meant by works of the faithful. A believer in God and Jesus Christ cared about the poor. James specifically referred to a brother or sister - fellow believers - who could not meet their own daily needs. He asked, “What use is it to people needing food, clothes, or shelter to just receive words from a believer?” Of what use is the peace blessed on a person (vs. 16) if he or she does not have daily physical needs met? Jesus spoke of this same thing in Matthew 25:34-40 when he told of when the Father judged people at His return. He said God would bless the people who clothed, fed, gave drink, and gave shelter to “the least of these brothers of mine.” John the Baptist spoke of helping the poor in Luke 3:11. John asked a question related to this topic in 1 John 3:17. He said, “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need, but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?” Each of these men taught children of God to put into actions his or her belief in Jesus Christ. They told fellow Christians to show God’s love in practical ways providing for the daily needs of others. To James, a faith with no actions shows the person does not have a genuine faith. True faith derived from the love God through Jesus Christ instilled in a believer always manifests itself with righteous actions. James emphasized this point with verse seventeen, by saying again, “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.” True faith and conversion shows itself in the actions of the person. If no righteous actions show, then the person’s faith is destitute of power (is dead). That person may not be saved from their sins because true faith produces good fruit/works in a person growing toward Christlikeness. Even people other than ministers are to show their faith in loving actions. They are to grow toward Christlikeness along with ministers called by God. 

Faith – More than Mental Assent

James asserted rightly that faith is more than a mental assent of God. A person may challenge you about your faith. That one might challenge that your faith cannot be seen if it has no works; whereas his or hers can because of his or her works. A person’s faith cannot be seen and justified by other people without it being put into action in real life. True faith must show right fruit/actions - give evidence or proof of its existence. A person can boast and say he or she is a Christian, but if no outward manifestation shows by actions, that person’s faith is of no value. Paul said this same thing in Galatians 5:6. He said, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Actions of love show/express the faith a person claims and asserts. Jesus said this as well in Matthew 7:16. He said the fruit of a person’s belief will show the person he or she is. In the Matthew passage, Jesus spoke about false prophets and then he taught, “By their fruits you will recognize them.” This can apply to people who claim to be Christians. Their fruits – actions and words – will enable others to recognize them as followers of Christ or not. James acknowledged even demons recognize and believe the Lord God is the God of heaven and earth (vs. 19). He said they shudder in fear because of this knowledge knowing they are not good, but evil. The point James made in these verses is anyone can acknowledge God as God, but only those who produce acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior , God as almighty God, and bear righteous fruit – who do right and just deeds – are Christians. He repeated verses fourteen and seventeen again for emphasis in this section in verse twenty. He said in this verse, “But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?” Faith is more than mental assent. 

Faith - Examples

Once again, James gave examples of true faith. In verses twenty-one through twenty-five, he spoke about Abraham and Rahab. Both people received no teaching about God and never saw Jesus Christ, but their faith in God justified them in God eyes. Their later actions justified them as true believers in the eyes of other people. 

Let us look at Abraham. When God promised him descendants who numbered more than the stars in heaven, Abraham expressed awe. He believed the LORD God. We read this in Genesis 15:6, “Then he (Abram) believed the LORD, and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.” Righteousness in the Old Testament comes from the Hebrew word tsedaqah and means righteousness as ethically right, righteousness/justification/salvation of God. This righteousness reflects God and has the quality of being holy or right as God is holy and right. The New Testament word translated as “righteousness,” which James used in verse twenty-three, comes from the Greek word dikaiosune. It means righteous, virtue, purity, and rightness and correctness of thinking, feeling, and acting. It has a judicial feel of being made right. It comes from right thinking, feeling, and acting. This righteousness is not the righteousness called tsedaqah of being holy and right as God is holy and right. The Old Testament word speaks of the being and the New Testament word speaks of the judicial use - doing and living. So when James said in verse twenty-one, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?” justification for him came secondarily after being made righteous by God. This second justification came because he lived out his faith, by being obedient, due to his love for God. Abraham offered the only sacrifice he had to give God, his son, Isaac. He showed true faith when he lived out his faith with loving actions toward God and others (i.e. Lot at Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction). 

When faith works with actions, the result is faith being perfected. “Perfected” comes from the Greek word teleioo and means to make perfect and complete, to add what is wanting to make a thing full/perfect/complete. A person’s faith is complete when every action, word, and thought of the person reflects his or her faith. According to the Bible, this will occur when we are in the kingdom of God. This process is called sanctification. When Abraham put Isaac upon the altar and offered him as the sacrifice, he showed his love of God. His faith true showed him to be a friend of God (2 Chronicles 20:7, Isaiah 41:8). Is our faith so pure and active in our lives that God calls us His friend? 

James emphasized again his teaching about faith resulting in right works. He stated in verse twenty-four, “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.” A person shows him or herself to be righteous by his or her actions that come from his or her faith. That is the meaning of “justified” for James in the New Testament. It is a justification before the eyes of other people because of one’s actions, thoughts, and words. 

With verse twenty-five, James reminded his hearers and later readers of a woman from Jericho named Rahab. When the Israelite spies of the exodus entered the Promised Land to see the land, cities, and people, they encountered Rahab. She welcomed the spies to Jericho and kept them safe in and through her home on the city’s walls. Rahab declared the LORD God as the God of heaven and earth because of what she had heard about the God of the Israelites. Her faith in the Israelites’ God and their promise to keep her and her family safe led to her assisting the spies to leave Jericho safely (Joshua 2:9-14, 6:22-25; Hebrews 11:31). Rahab acted upon her faith in the LORD God (the God of the Israelites) by trusting His people to keep her safe and by providing them a safe exit from Jericho. Her actions testified to the spies of her faith in God and His people. Rahab’s actions proved her faith, just as Abraham’s action to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to God proved his faith. God justified - made righteous and holy - Abraham and Rahab when each believed in God as the God of heaven and earth. They both were justified - proved their faith - when they acted upon it, Abraham towards God and Rahab towards God’s people. 

What is Faith?

This lesson is so important that James repeated it four times within thirteen verses. As a finale, he stated it again for the final thought like he stated it in the first verse of this teaching. James wrapped his teaching with the thematic statement. He said, “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” Just as faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior saves you, lack of faith leads to death, separation from God. How does God know who has true faith? He looks at a person’s heart. Is that person’s heart cleansed - made right and pure? Does that person’s heart have His intentions, which shows in the person’s actions, thoughts, and words? How can other people know if a person is a child of God other than by his or her fruit – his or her actions and words? Humans cannot judge a person’s heart, but they can see some of a person’s heart by his or her actions and words. We learn from James in this passage a person is justified by faith in God by God. That person is justified in eyes of humans by the works and words in that person’s life. 

Recap

James stated faith is not truly faith that justifies a person unless it flows with the love of Christ as actions and words in the world as love for God and humankind. He gave examples of this kind of life through Abraham and Rahab lives. James did not say works can justify a person in God’s eyes. God looks for faith in a person’s heart as justification. Works perfect the faith of a person. They attest to the inner faith the person has in Jesus Christ. Faith and works must go hand-in-hand. 

Relevance and Conclusion

For people today considering this passage, we each must consider first if we have ever had a true faith experience with God. Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord? If you have and are living a life of love towards other people because of the love Christ put in you through the Holy Spirit, you can know you are a child of God. 

The other question that must be asked: If you are doing loving works in the world, are you doing them out of faith in God? Have you left faith behind when you do this work for God? Do you need to stop and take time to be with God - be empowered by Him, receive His further command, and get His blessing for the continuance of the work? As God’s children and even more so for Christian service workers, it is easy to hear God say do something then get busy doing it. We are working for the Lord so it must be right, right? Yet often when we turn around and see we are no longer working with God, but alone and under our own power. Good works may not be the best works. Under the command, power, and daily guidance by the Lord, your good works will be the best works. Then you will be doing what God wants you to do that day. 

Where do you fall in this spectrum? Are you doing good works, but not as a child of God? That will not save you. Are you doing good works God told you to do, but in your own power? Or, are you doing the best works under the blessing, power, and daily guidance of the Lord?

Each of us must go before the Lord now and determine where we stand with God.

Will you take that challenge?

Mercy Wins: A James 2:10-13 Devotional

¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. ¹¹ 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. ¹² So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. ¹³ For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment. James 2:10-13 (NASB)

Today many people live lives of judgment upon other people. If people we see or know pollute the earth by throwing rubbish into the street or river, we judge them. If a girl is out late with her boyfriend, without knowing the details we judge they slept together. If a person made an “A” on an exam, but was known as a slacker, we judge he cheated.

This is not the way of God. God did not say one sin was worse than another. He said if we sin against any of them, we have sinned against Him. In Deuteronomy, Moses taught the Israelites to be faithful to all God’s laws and commandments and that any breaking of them would bring God’s punishment or curse. No one law, say murder, is greater than another, say adultery. All laws are equal in God’s eyes.

James made this same point in his letter, James 2:10-13. He said in verse ten, “Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point has become guilty of all.” James wrote to the dispersed Jewish Christians. Because God gave laws and commandments to the Jews, they knew right from wrong, righteousness from unrighteousness. Righteousness only came from a perfect life unstained by sin. Obeying the 613 Jewish laws became somewhat of a competition among the Jews. The Pharisees made a point to show their piety by wearing sack cloth and ashes in the street and praying loudly so every person would see and hear their so-called piety.

James made the point that no sin was greater than another. Added to this, He told them to speak and act with mercy toward other people because they themselves are sinners, too. Show the other person mercy - kindness with an earnest desire to help the other person. Do not point them out as sinners against your own supposed smaller sin. Life is not a competition, but a striving to live in the liberty the Lord Jesus gave us. His liberty gave us the power over sin and death through His indwelling Holy Spirit. Through this liberty, we should strive to live as Christ did, with mercy and love, not competition and pointing out another person’s sin.

James further said, when we live by the law of liberty, we will be merciful and will receive mercy from God the Father who will judge each of us. Jesus stated in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7). God’s love and mercy triumphs in the end. He will judge every person on his or her sins. No sin is greater than another. They each separate a person from God. Yet, God’s mercy and love wins out.

How does God’s mercy win out and affect us? When a person accepts Jesus Christ as his or her Savior, they accept the love and mercy of God’s provision of a perfect sacrifice for the judgment of his or her sin. That person’s sin is atoned for in the death of Jesus Christ. Whether the person sins or not the rest of his or her life, Jesus Christ’s blood atones for that person’s sins. God’s judgment of a Christian’s sin will not involve death, permanent separation from Him, because Jesus blood paid for our penalty. We can never be separated from God. That is God’s love gift – His mercy. Despite our sinfulness, He chose to love us, provide the perfect sin sacrifice, and show us mercy by washing our sins away so we would not receive our just sin penalty – death. We did not deserve God’s grace and mercy. He gave it to us because of His love. God wants to be in a relationship with each of us.

What happens to a person who sins then? If the sinner is a Christian, God will judge that person when he or she dies and goes to heaven. His judgment on the person will not be permanent separation from God because Jesus bought our freedom from that judgment with His death. God’s judgment will occur though in some way. Maybe we will not live in a great a house or sing in the first choir when in heaven or perhaps we will live with the consequences of our sins while on earth – polluted land, poverty because of gambling, sickness due to life choices, etc. We cannot fathom the depths of God’s thoughts and can only conjecture what may be.

But what happens to the person who sins who is not a Christian? Once again, God is merciful. He gives that person their whole life to hear about Him and respond to His love shown through the Gospel – the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. If during the person’s life, using the free will God gave him or her, the person chooses not to follow Jesus Christ, that person will experience permanent separation from God when he or she dies. A chasm will exist for eternity between that person and God. Permanent separation is hell.

Getting back to James then, we should understand what he taught the Jewish Christians of the first century. He taught them not to judge other people. Judging is God’s job. Everyone would undergo judgment by God at the appropriate time. Instead, these Jewish Christians must realize every sin is equal. Each sin creates a wedge, a separation, in their relationship with God. Because each person is imperfect because of sin, they must be kind and merciful to other people. The Jewish Christians’ sins were not “better” than the sins of a non-believer; therefore, they could not and should not judge another person. Instead, show mercy just as they would want to receive mercy. Love and be kind because God has shown love, kindness, and mercy to them. Remember, since mercy triumphs over judgment, they knew as believers they would win out in the end because Jesus Christ won the victory for every believer.

Show other sinners the victorious life. Show them love, mercy, and grace so they will want to believe in and follow Jesus, too. Mercy wins in the end.

What will you do today?

Will you compare yourself to another sinner to make yourself feel better than that person?

Or

Will you praise God for His grace and mercy that won you victory over sin and death?

Then will you turn to the other person and show him or her the love, grace, and mercy of God

so he or she can have the victory of Christ, too?

Once again, you get to decide.

Attitudes and Actions: A James 2:1-13 Devotional

Oh, we know this one! We have heard preachers and teachers preach and teach it if our parents took us to a Christian church. Even if your parents did not raise you to be a Christian, your mom or dad probably taught you to be kind to every person.

James, as the head of the Jerusalem church, led the Jewish Christian people. He understood and knew the Jewish Christians understood of the laws of God, how they affected one’s relationship with God and with one’s relationship with other people. That is how the Ten Commandments are divided. Taking care of the poor, widow, orphan, and alien is a big part of the Old Testament Jewish laws. Moses spoke about them many times in Deuteronomy.

Still, the Jews considered the poor unclean and not to be touched. With the arrival and teaching of Jesus Christ came a closer understanding of caring for one’s neighbor. One Pharisee asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus answered him with the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37). The man answered the question for himself after the parable. The man stated the neighbor was the one who had mercy toward another man. Whether Jew, Greek, gentile, Roman, Samaritan, Jesus’ point was that a neighbor is anyone you meet. Considering whom Jesus called a neighbor, we must realize then when Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” He meant to treat them with mercy – treat them as you want to be treated. The Jews understood helping a person with physical needs.

 James went deeper in this passage. He told them not to show partiality among the people who enter the church/assembly to worship. Do not give the better seat to the rich and clean person and make the poor and dirty stand at the back or sit on the floor. Do not give preferential treatment. Showing bias like that is a heart action. Prejudice is a bias of the heart. When Jesus came to earth, He taught attitudes are to be changed as much as actions. He told the people what is on the outside of a person is not what makes him unclean, but what comes from the inside (Matthew 15:11). From within a person comes a person’s attitude, which determines the person’s actions. When a person becomes a believer in Jesus Christ, His Holy Spirit indwells the person and changes the person from within so that the heart becomes changed.

When James told the Jewish Christians not to show partiality to the rich and give the poor the lowest place, he reminded them of what Jesus taught that everyone is their neighbor and they were to show mercy. James directed their thoughts to consider their actions in church towards another person just as important as their actions outside of church. The Jewish Christians and all Christians are to love everyone and show mercy at all times whether in church or out. James told them showing partiality was a sin and any sin, no matter which one, made them transgressors of the whole law. God will judge the person who sins, whether in adultery, murder, prejudice, or against any of the other laws of God. For those who do not show mercy, James said God would show no mercy to them either.

Following Jesus requires 100% obedience and love of Him and every person. Whether a person is in church or living in his or her daily life outside church, the love Jesus showed to him or her and the love of the Father must be lived out within his or her life. Prejudice for gain or for supposed “religious” purposes is sin. To combat this, we each need to examine our own hearts, ask the Lord to show us our sin, confess it, and ask for the strength of the Spirit to empower us to overcome it. In this way, we can show the love of God and His mercy to everyone we encounter, not just people like ourselves.

Are you willing to look into your heart and allow God to change you from within? It will affect the way you live. By it, you will show the love and mercy of God.

Are You Following-Through for God?

2 Corinthians 8

          Upon reading 2 Corinthians, I came upon the passage of 2 Corinthians 8. I know I have read it before, but I mulled the passage for many days and resolved I must delve into it. While reading 1 Corinthians last month, I found Paul’s letter to the believers in Corinth to be one of censure and disappointment in them. While reading 2 Corinthians, I find censure and disappointment are not the reasons Paul was writing to the Corinthians then. In 2 Corinthians, we find Paul writing commending them on having disciplined the disobedient and becoming unified. Paul tells them he has heard this good news from Titus whom Paul sent to Corinth.

            Paul had a couple of other reasons for writing to the Corinthians again. One of those reasons was to express his regret at not returning to Corinth yet. Another is to spur them on to complete that to which the Corinthians pledged themselves to God and the apostles. Chapter 8 is the crux of the latter point. This one made itself very visible in my mind this week.

            What was Paul writing to the Corinthians with his letter to them called 2 Corinthians 8? Paul was writing to spur the Corinthians finally to give as they had pledged of themselves for the poor in Jerusalem. There is no definitive cause of the poverty in Jerusalem. Some people have conjectured that because Jerusalem had so many pilgrims arriving each day, the hosts and other residents were impoverished from having to give food and shelter to them. Another conjecture put forth for the poverty of Jerusalem is a famine which may have occurred in Palestine around 46 A.D. Whatever the cause, the Christians in Jerusalem asked Barnabas and Saul to encourage Jesus' followers in the Diaspora (the areas outside Judea) to contribute toward the poverty of Jerusalem and either bring the funds back themselves or have it sent to the leaders in Jerusalem. (see Acts 11:29-30)

            Before, Paul had spoken to the Corinthians concerning the need in Judea and Jerusalem. (see 1 Corinthians 16:1-3) They had responded to the plea by Paul over a year before this letter (vs. 10). Paul encouraged them to complete this collection and send it on to Jerusalem (vv. 6 & 11). What caught my attention was what Paul said next to them. They abounded in everything, faith, utterance, knowledge, earnestness, and love. Yet, they had not done the next step and given money to the poor in Jerusalem.

Why had they not acted upon the desire God placed in their hearts? We are not exactly sure, but we know that Paul mentions what they did have. The Corinthians had these graces from God: faith, utterance, knowledge, earnestness, and love. They had faith to believe God had sent the Messiah. They had the Holy Spirit in them and so were able to teach and preach the Gospel. They had knowledge of the God of Israel, His promised Savior, and God’s provision of the Savior through His son, Jesus. The Corinthians were earnest, convicted, regarding the need to provide for the poor and they expressed their love for the apostles and other believers. Why then does Paul not only exhort them to complete this action, but holds up the action of the poor Macedonians as an example of those who had less than the Corinthians yet had already given to Jerusalem? The Macedonians gave not just of their surplus but of their own poverty to be able to help their impoverished brothers in Jerusalem (1 Corinthians 8:1-5). What the Corinthians did not appear to have was the ability to put their inward heart’s desire into action.

This brought to mind the question: How can they say they are believers if their faith does not have actions? It was James who said in James 2:17-18 (NASB), “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” Christ spoke of this kind of faith as similar to the Pharisees faith, the men who knew the Law so well, but who were not practicing what God really required in their lives. Jesus said that true faith had to surpass the faith of the Pharisees to be considered children of God (Matthew 5:20). Jesus did not mean that our actions would win our way into heaven, but that the faith that came from truth, which when enacted, would show we are truly the children of God. True faith brings with it actions of love by us that shows God’s love for Him and others.

This is what kept prodding my thoughts this week. Paul was comparing the Macedonians to the Corinthians to prod the Corinthians into action, the action to which they committed from a heart full of God’s love. In the fervor of hearing about the plight of the believers in Jerusalem, the Corinthians pledged themselves to aid them. In the year since the Corinthians heard this message, their earnestness did not result in action. This made me wonder how often we are caught in this trap for one reason or another. How often do we fail on our follow-through to do the thing that we pledged as service because of God’s moving in our hearts? We may have faith, utterance, knowledge, earnestness, and love as the Corinthians. Unless people can experience God through our faithful actions, unless we follow-through on that which we committed to do because of God’s moving in our hearts, how will others know or hear of God’s love? Faith without works is dead, James 2 says.

Consider it another way, when you believe, the Holy Spirit, whom Christ promised to give to His followers, comes to live in us. As we grow in Christ, in our relationship with God, the Holy Spirit gives us spiritual gifts and helps us grow them. As we exercise these gifts, we will bear fruit of the Spirit. You can see now, that unless our lives, as followers of Jesus, bear fruit, we show to others around us and ourselves that we are not growing more Christlike. One of two possibilities may have occurred for this to be so. Either we were never taught how to be more Christlike and grow more in our relationship with Him, or we never truly had accepted Jesus into our hearts and lives. If the latter is the case, we may be comparable to the packed dirt, the rocky ground, or the thorny soil upon which the seed fell. In any of these places, the roots could not be firmly established and the seed would not have taken hold in a person’s life (see Matthew 13). I pray none of us were any of these latter.

I pray that we are all growing to be more Christlike so that His fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, meekness, and self-control are seen in us and experienced through us (Galatians 5:22-23). I pray that our faith leads to actions quicker than the Corinthians’ expressed the love which God moved in them toward the poor in Jerusalem. Paul’s gentleness when he approached the Corinthians’ delay in action relieved me. I am grateful that our Father in heaven is also gentle, merciful, and forgiving toward us for our delay in action. Yet, now that God brought our inaction to our attention, we must no longer delay in acting upon His prodding of our hearts and minds.

What is it that His Spirit in you compelled you to commit to do for God? You may not have even spoke your commitment aloud, but you and God both know what you promised Him you would do when He stirred your heart. Now is the time to act upon the gracious gift of faith God has given you by putting your faith and love to work. May we each join with Christ to do whatever He has pressed upon our hearts, not only so we can have completed that task, but so that the recipient can receive the gift God had planned to give them through you. Someone may be waiting upon your action and promise to God. What is keeping you from following through with God to them?