James 2:2-7

Blogger was down last night, so I couldn't post, but I wrote it down... so here's the post now:

James provides an example for backing up what he said about favoritism. You are not to show favoritism as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. The example given is for when a rich man and a poor man enter your assembly. If you pay special attention to the rich man and disregard the poor man, you have made a distinction. By doing so, James explains this as one who has become a judge with evil motives. By favoring the rich man, you have somehow been drawn along by his wealth. His wealth has somehow caused you to favor him and this is where the evil motives come from. You are sinfully acting like the rest of the world by doing such a thing. This is wrong and you are not to show favoritism. In fact, if you are to show favoritism, it should be toward the poor man. God has already chosen the poor to be rich in faith. If the poor are to be rich in faith, then you have made a judgment upon these two people based on the opposite of what God says. Not only are the poor rich in faith, but the rich are those who commit evil against you. The rich are those who oppress you and drag you into court. Not only that, but they are the ones who blaspheme the name of Jesus. Even though they do all these things, you still wish to favor the rich? Knowing all these things, your favoritism towards them must be of evil intentions, because you wouldn't do it for logic's sake or according to what God teaches.