2 My brothers, do not show favoritism as you hold on to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. 2 For example, a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and a poor man dressed in dirty clothes also comes in. 3 If you look with favor on the man wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here in a good place,” and yet you say to the poor man, “Stand over there,” or, “Sit here on the floor by my footstool,” 4 haven’t you discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my dear brothers: Didn’t God choose the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that He has promised to those who love Him? 6 Yet you dishonored that poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? 7 Don’t they blaspheme the noble name that was pronounced over you at your baptism?
Verse 6 is referring back to showing favoritism to someone just because of class and begins with a question mark, Yet? We know what the right thing to do is, YET, we do the opposite. James uses the word dishonored here which means, “a state of shame or disgrace”. To dishonor the poor is to dishonor God.
This next verse I think we can all resonate with is this as just as true today as it was when James wrote it. The rich as a class have the power to oppress, which literally means, “abuse their power against”. Over and over again we see the abuse of power with those that have the resources to “drag you into the courts”.
So, what does this mean for us? How can we take these verses to heart? By being part of the solution and not the problem! Every day we have to examine our interactions with people and make sure we treating everyone with the respect and honor they deserve. God made each one of us so unique and we all have gifts and talents to offer the world. Try to see the good in everyone, every day.
The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Jas 2:1–7). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
