The Royal Law (James 2:1-13)

 

The Sin of Partiality 

This all becomes very real—and even uncomfortable for us living today in Western Christianity—when James moves on to address a specific example of sin: partiality. James warns his readers not to favor rich people over poor. This seems to go without saying, except that it happens again and again. In James day, and in the congregations James was addressing, the believers were mostly poor people who were oppressed and even persecuted by well-off people. And yet James had to warn them not to show favoritism to the rich. It is understandable because the rich held power. If they were treated better, perhaps they would use their power for the church’s benefit. 

Today, western Christianity can count itself amongst the richest groups to have ever lived on the planet. One would think that the temptation to favor the rich would be less of a temptation. It isn’t. Looking around we might say that we have given into this sin more than ever before in church history. And yet, just considering wealth here would be missing the point. The sin is favoritism in general. And, to our condemnation, we are great at favoring all forms of power. Wealth, social status, race, political position… churches are great at favoring power. 

That is what happens when we take our eyes of our purpose—our mission—our reason for being—and instead simply focus on or survival, or worse, our comfort. If James started his letter out by telling believers and churches to count trials and challenges as joy because they help us grow, then this sin is particularly egregious. Instead of trusting our God and Lord to see us through, we favor worldly powers who might help us. 

God chooses those in the world without power to be His people, in part so that He might be glorified by showing His love and favor to people who are not loved and favored by the systems of the world. Woe to us if we cater to and court the favor of the powerful! 

Instead, James reminds us to “Love our neighbor as ourselves.” This can’t help but bring to mind the teaching of Jesus where He told the story of the Good Samaritan. Favoring the rich, the majority, those that look like us, those who can do us favors, is a direct rejection of the second greatest commandment. It is simply a sin. 

And for good measure, James reminds us that breaking any of God’s laws is the same as breaking the whole law. So certainly, the second greatest commandment, or the Royal Law as James calls it, is one we should not neglect!