Bible Study on James 2, verses 1 to 7, judges of evil thoughts

 

James 2:1 ¶  My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. 2  For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; 3  And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: 4  Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? 5  Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? 6  But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? 7  Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?

The Christian religion does not honor distinctions of class, gender, or ethnicity with regard to value before Christ.

Galatians 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:9  Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 11  Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

In our world, rich and powerful go together. We don’t elect a factory worker to be president nor is he asked to be the CEO of his company although in America he might work up to that position. In the world that James lived he tells Christ’s followers why would you make such distinctions important when the very people you are emulating despise you, bring you before magistrates, and blaspheme the name of Christ? Here James declares against prejudice and discrimination because someone is different from you, whom you perceive to be inferior. This is part of James’ appeal to the Christian to be genuine and real, being like Christ. This is about superficial differences of class and appearance, though, not about character and behavior.

As an aside, judges of evil thoughts can be understood as judges with malicious thoughts but that seems clear from the context. Gay, which used to be a reference to happy or light of heart but became to be used to denote people who engage in homosexual behavior, can here be viewed as elegant or expensive.