No Partiality

Journey through James: 2:1-4

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? — James 2:1-4

James now confronts an issue that was taking place in the early church: favoritism. He tells them to stop showing partiality. They were favoring certain people over others. This issue is not an issue that only plagued the early church; it is an issue that continues to be an issue in churches today. 

James tells us that if we hold to faith in Jesus, we should not show favoritism. This builds off of what he was saying in the previous verses. People who claim to be religious while not controlling their tongues are practicing worthless religion. In the same way, favoritism is contrary to the gospel—these two things do not go together. We should not be able to actively hold to the gospel and also continually practice favoritism. James is not saying that this does not happen, but it should not happen. 

He gives us the example of two men walking into church. Also remember that in this period, most churches met in people’s homes. One man is wearing nice clothes and appears to be rich. The other man enters wearing shabby, worn-out clothing. In this setting, the man wearing the nice clothes is almost always treated better. The person wearing nice, clean clothes is given a good seat. However, the man who is wearing worn-out, dirty clothes is not given a seat at all. He is told to stand over in one area or to sit down on the floor. Before we get too judgmental of the early church, how would you respond if these people showed up at your home? Would you offer them both seats on the nice furniture? We are prone to show partiality and favor the people we are more comfortable with. 

However, when we show favoritism, we are acting as sinful judges. We are making outward distinctions about people and judging them. We are exposing our sinful hearts when we do that. While we would not verbalize it this way, we are saying that we don’t think that God would love that person as much…or that God would not want to save someone who looked like that? 

If we are honest with ourselves, we are all prone to show partiality. However, the gospel is contrary to favoritism. If the gospel was only available to those who looked or acted the right way, then none of us would be saved. God does not show partiality (Romans 2:11), the gospel is for all people. When we show favoritism, we are implying that the gospel is only for certain people. Praise the Lord that the gospel is for all people! May we show the same love towards others that God showed toward us.