Now that James has covered how a believer should act (in all things with humility) he moves on to what a believer should do. All of chapter 2 in his letter deals with what our actions and behavior as Christians should look like.
One of the major points he gets to right off the bat is favoritism. The tendency we all have to be a little bit nicer to the well dressed, to go that extra step for those we perceive as successful, to give a little more. It seems that this tendancy is rooted in the belief that if we treat the wealthy and successful "exceptionally well" then they will remember us and maybe give us something. Maybe make us rich.
I think that if we took the time to examine our own behavior around the wealthy we would discover that self interest and greed are the root. James faces this straight on by telling us "don't do it". He takes pains to point out how discriminating such behavior is. In vss. 6 & 7 he points out that the rich are those who take us into court, those who are telling lies about Christ. He tells us the rich are not people to be looked up to on a spiritual level.
What he is really saying is that the rich are frequently motivated more by a sense of entitlement than by a sense of servanthood. This is put in contrast to the poor who have been "chosen by God to be rich in faith and inherit God's kingdom". Yet rather than treat those who are truly successful well, we treat those who look successful but really aren't well out of self interest. Leviticus 19:18 is the law of God telling us to "treat our neighbor as ourselves" and Jesus said to treat others as we would want to be treated ourselves. As in Chapter 1, James is telling us to do what is in the Word: "If you do this, you are doing right". Now comes the intense part. If we show favoritism, if we don't treat others as more important than ourselves (Phil. 2:4), if we treat someone differently because they are poor or because they smell bad... that makes us breakers of the law. In God's view, anything less than perfection is imperfect, so there is absolutely no distinction between someone who shows favoritism and someone who is a mass murderer.
I found this really hard to grasp until I came up with a couple of good analogies. This first came from math. God is perfect, which mathematically is infinity. We are as good as we possibly can be, so assign a number to your goodness. The better we are, the higher the number. Then compare our goodness to God. ANY number divided by infinity is mathematically equivalent to 0 because it is as close to 0 as it can be without actually being 0. And 0's don't go to heaven. The second analogy is a little weaker but much much easier to understand. Heaven is the moon. Our goodness is how high we can jump. Now, Mother Theresa we would view as an olympic record holder high jumper. Me, I have trouble getting my feet to clear the shag of the carpet. Is she any closer to the moon than I am? Yes. Does it do her any good in actually reaching the moon? Not one bit. Our hearts have to come back to the basic humility outlined in chapter 1. Without God I can accomplish nothing. I can do all things through Christ.
James, after castigating us, then teaching and encouraging us, now moves on to instruction and building us up. If we are merciful we will win through, he says. Then he also wraps this section up by telling us that if we speak and act as the bible teaches in spite of our thoughts, we will be shown mercy. There have also been some studies (sorry, I couldn't find any references online) which indicate that if we act correctly, even if we don't really want to, eventually our thoughts will follow. So James is showing us here not only how to act, but how to change our thinking. By forcing ourselves to speak and act in a Christlike manner we will eventually come to think in a Christlike manner.
This has been a fairly short segment, but the next section will be much longer and this is an ideal break between the two concepts. Looking back over these 13 verses, we can see that although they outwardly deal with favoritism, inwardly they deal with all our actions and how to control our behavior and our thoughts. While James deals with treating everyone equally he also deals with how God treats us (all equally sinners) and how God loves us (we will be shown mercy) in spite or our sins.
Father God, free us from the worldly view of things. Free us from looking down on the less wealthy, or looking with approval on the rich. Forgive us for thinking less of those who can't afford to do laundry every week and for thinking better of those who have plenty. Father, in your word you show us that the poor are chosen by you, and that the wealthy have a harder time giving up all they have for you. Help us to see others with your eyes Lord, to obey you and treat our neighbors as ourselves. Give us a healthy knowledge of your word, God, and fill us with the desire and ability to speak and act in accordance with your law, that our thoughts may follow. Thank you for blessing us so richly with your word. Amen.
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