III. Partiality and Vital Faith 2:1-26

"In the epistle of James, the Holy Spirit has given the church a commentary on Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and Sermon on the Plain, a commentary that is rich in applications for daily life."⁷⁹

The similarities appear both in subject matter and in structure. Note the parallels between Matthew 7:1-27 and James 2:1-26 below.⁸⁰

Matthew 7

James 2

1-2

Prohibition against judging

1

Prohibition against judgmental favoritism

3-5

Illustration of removing one's own faults so that one can help remove others' faults

2-4

Illustration of removing one's own partiality so that one can judge or instruct others

6

Warning not to despise what is sacred in favor of dogs or pigs that will harm you

5-7

Warning not to despise brothers who are rich in faith in favor of others who harm you

7-11

Encouragement to ask and to believe

12

Summary of the law as doing to others what you would want for yourself

8-11

Summary of the law as loving others as yourself

13-14

Summary admonition to follow the narrow way that leads to life

12-13

Summary admonition to follow the law that gives freedom

15-23

Warning against false prophets, with the true test presented: deeds

14-19

Warning against dead faith, with the true test presented: deeds

24-27

Parable to illustrate putting Christ's words into practice

20-26

Examples to illustrate putting faith into practice

 A. The Problem of Favoritism 2:1-13

James' previous reference to hypocritical religiosity (1:26-27) seems to have led him to deal with one form of this problem that existed among Christian Jews of his day. It is still with us today. It is the problem of inconsistent love for other people that manifests itself in how we treat them. He wrote this chapter to exhort his readers to deal with this very basic inconsistency in their lives.

"The connection of this warning against social discrimination with the previous ch. 1 seems fairly obvious. Truckling to the rich and apathy or worse toward the poor are two sides of the same base coin rejected by the touchstone of 1:27 and of 2:8."⁸¹

 B. The Importance of Vital Faith 2:14-26

Some have seen this section as dealing with a new subject, the relationship of faith and works, whereas the previous one dealt with partiality (vv. 1-13). It seems to me, however, that this section relates to the preceding one in the same way 1:19-27 relates to 1:2-18. It deals with a larger, more basic issue that connects with and underlies the practical problem just discussed.

"In this section St. James proceeds to enlarge on the meaning and nature of that faith in Jesus Christ which was spoken of in ver. 1 as inconsistent with prosopolempsia[respect of persons]."⁹⁸

In his discussion of favoritism James argued for genuineness and warned of superficial self-deception. The larger issue is the whole matter of faith in God. James wrote this section to challenge his readers to examine the vitality of their faith in God. Were they really putting their faith into practice, applying their beliefs to their behavior? Their preferential treatment of some people raised this question in James' mind.

"Not only is the mature Christian patient in testing (James 1), but he also practices the truth. This is the theme of James 2. Immature people talk about their beliefs, but the mature person lives his faith. Hearing God's Word (James 1:22-25) and talking about God's Word can never substitute for doing God's Word."⁹⁹

There have been three primary interpretations of this passage of Scripture. The first view is that it refers to a person who was a believer but has lost his salvation. He used to have saving faith but does not have it any longer.¹⁰⁰The second view is that it refers to an unbeliever who professes to be a Christian but has really never exercised saving faith in Christ. His faith is only intellectual assent, not saving faith.¹⁰¹The third view is that it refers to a believer who is not living by faith. He is not behaving consistently with what he believes.¹⁰²The first two views say this passage describes unbelievers whereas the third view says it describes believers. By examining the passage we should be able to decide which view is correct.