There’s a lot going on in this section of verses, with the most prominent theme found in the repeated words “partiality” and “rich” and the repeated theme of judgment. But, beneath the surface, James repeats a few Greek words you would only know are being used if you are looking for them. We’ll dig into those together while also taking a look at the celebrity culture of any industry (and why it is especially dangerous for Bible teachers).

The Technicalities

There’s a lot going on in this section of verses, with the most prominent theme found in the repeated words “partiality” and “rich” and the repeated theme of judgment. But, beneath the surface, James repeats a few Greek words you would only know are being used if you are looking for them. That said, I want you to remember, again, the context of this letter – James is writing to believing Jews in house churches outside of Jerusalem who are actively trying to live inside of the truth of James 1:9-10. He begins this second chapter of his letter with a warning against favoritism (the fifth faith item in James’ outline – that it harbors no preferences when it comes to people), but he presents his argument against partiality in a really interesting way. If you jump ahead to James 2:4, you’ll see the first of those surprising Greek word repetitions I just mentioned. But this one is surprise for two reasons, the first being that the Greek “partiality” word he uses there, in James 2:4, is not the same as the one he uses in James 2:1.

When James warns believers not to hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality in verse one, he is speaking of having a preference for someone who is rich, high-born, or powerful over another who is not and then showing that preferential treatment in a really obvious and snobby kind of way. Romans 2:11 and Acts 10:34 both say that there is unequivocally no partiality with God (because, if there were, there would be variation and shadow of turning, which we already discussed at length that God does not have in James 1:18). But, in James 2:4, when he mentions partiality again, he uses the same Greek word that he used back in James 1:6 for doubting, setting up the argument that favoritism or partiality is the same as hesitating or doubting. And that is expressed in what he describes in the previous two verses about how a believer reacts to two very different people entering their assembly or, literally, a synagogue of believing Jews.

When the rich, important person walks in, an inner dialogue begins to play in their mind and James describes the reaction to their jewelry and their fancy clothes. You don’t want to offend them, but you don’t want to elevate them, so you fumble through the split-second reaction to their presence and internally wrestle with what to do with them.

“Sit here in a good place,” is how James says the scenario ends up playing out, opting to place them in the best seat in the house. And then, just moments later, you fumble awkwardly through the same rigamarole with the person who comes in filthy, smelly, and nowhere near as polished or put together.

“Have you not shown partiality among yourselves?” James writes in verse four, again, using the same diakrinō word for “partiality” that he did for “doubting” in James 1:6. And the second surprise repetition of Greek words is tucked into the “sit here in a good place” phrase in James 2:3, because the “good place” word is kalōs and it’s the same well-doing you find in James 2:8 (where James says, “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you kalōs do well”) and also in James 2:19 (the passage we will dig into next, where James says “You believe that there is one God. You kalōs do well”). That “you do well” is the same Greek word as the “you sit here in this good place.”

When you show that level of favoritism, taking a person at their face (as the Greek describes), it’s not that you think they are pretty – that’s not where the sin lies. It’s that you’re mistaking their riches for their righteousness, and you’re further intensifying the temptation they already have to put their riches in themselves instead of their faith. Meanwhile, that person you are elevating? James says it doesn’t do you any good – they don’t elevate you in response. They oppress you because they see you as less than them. They don’t see you as rich yourself. They shame you for what you don’t have or where you don’t measure up (you can see that 1 Corinthians 11:22), and they persecute you for being obedient to the stirring of God in you (you can see that played out in Acts 13:50).

“But,” James says, “God has chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love Him.” A promise that Exodus 20:6 says includes showing mercy to thousands of generations to those who love Him and follow His commandments. And, chief of those commandments, according to Jesus in Mark 12:30-31? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.” And, second? “Love your neighbor as yourself.” It’s what’s famously known as the golden rule (and what James calls here the royal law) that stretches all the way back to Leviticus 19:18. And, James says, when you fulfill that law of love completely, you deserve the honor that only God can and should give. But if you take a person at face value with the jewelry and the fancy clothes, you break the law of love.

If you stumble in one point of that royal law, you sin against all of it, but the way that James presents that “one point” in James 2:10 is key here because the Greek word he uses there describes “one thing as exclusive from the rest” or “one thing before all others.” And stumbling in that one area of putting one thing (or person) above the rest makes you a transgressor of all of God’s precepts (or the law of liberty) that you’ve just spent your time digging into from James 1:25.

But the thing about that Leviticus 19:18 law is that it is the last of a series of nine other Old Testament laws regarding how to treat the congregation of the children of Israel – a literal ten commandments of “you shall” and “you shall not” regarding loving God’s people, one of which explicitly forbids favoring the poor or being partial to the rich or powerful. Always judge fairly, regardless of a person’s stature or status. Without the loving of Leviticus 19:18, every other law in that section of verses pertaining to the way that you serve the people around you is broken. It’s only through love that you are compelled to do them. Without love for your neighbor, as you have for yourself, you will fail at all the rest.

“So,” James says, “in this manner, speak (expressing your love in words). In this manner, do (expressing your love in deeds), as one who will be judged by the law of liberty.”

And, in a final surprising show of Greek repetition, James says, “If you show mercy, God will show it to you,” using the same word for “show” as he did for “do” in the love expressed in deeds. In other words, he says, “In this manner, do for them in love. In like manner, God will do for you, in love.”

Because as Paul so famously said, “Though I have all faith, but have not love, I am nothing. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:2, 13, parts).

Making it Personal

I’d spent the last few days in the pre-traveling rhythm of preparing to attend my very first professional photography conference. I scoured the speaking schedule, made notes of which master class to be at and when. I made outfit selections (and promptly second-guessed them) packed and repacked and threw in some sequins for good measure (it was in Las Vegas, after all).

I had my list of photographers I wanted to meet, pop-up shoot-outs I planned to attend. But my excitement shifted once I arrived. I found myself just as much intimidated by the crowd as I was completely turned off by the show of it all. I anticipated a camaraderie of like-minded friends I just hadn’t met yet. Instead, it was more like a Disneyland meet-and-greet for photographers. The celebrities of the industry were the cartoonish characters, and I was counted among the “fans” who lined up for their autograph (or, even better, a headshot taken by them). But the part of this whole crazy experience that I flashed back to all these years later as I read this part of James’ letter was a really curious (and often frustrating) trend that happened throughout the four-day conference: the name tag glance.

The moment I met someone new (or stood back to take a breath and people-watch, observing other people meet each other), there was inevitably a very quick glance at the name tag. You could see the wheels turning quickly, flipping through the rolodex of their mind, trying to decide if they had heard of you before, if you were famous, someone they should know, someone worth speaking to.

I wasn’t.

But in the years that followed, I made really natural and authentic friendships with the people who were. I was seated in the parties of 15 at the most expensive restaurants, texting my husband the bill that was more than our mortgage payment. I slipped into the secret, invitation-only parties hosted by vendors schmoozing their highest-spending clients. I saw the world of partiality and favoritism up close and personal. And James is right. Being partial to important people often does you no favors. All it does is inflate the ego of the person for whom the velvet rope is being lifted.

But, listen, this isn’t a nuanced trend exclusive to the photography industry. There are celebrities and special treatment shown in every industry (Christian included). However, the partiality of Christian celebrities is much worse because of the unrighteousness that often comes with the inflated ego. It’s easy to watch, admire, learn from, and be inspired by from afar with the perfectly presented image and beautifully curated words. It’s natural to take them at their face and confuse it for their faith. I’ve done it. I’ve shared content by a prominent Bible teacher on social media before and had a friend who lives in the same small town she does call to warn me about her.

“She isn’t kind,” she said. “The way she treated the staff at the nail salon I happened to be in when she came for a pedicure was appalling.”

It’s very easy to get enamored with a person’s “richness,” whether it’s material wealth or something else entirely that you esteem. They could be rich in beauty or in position. They could be rich in their reach or their platform – anything in which they are abundantly supplied with something. It’s very easy to be distracted by those beautiful, shiny things. Even Samuel struggled with this – a man who heard God’s voice in a time when God was not speaking to anyone else, a renowned prophet (1 Samuel 3:20). Still, God had to rebuke him when he misjudged Eliab as Israel’s future king in 1 Samuel 16:6.

“Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature,” God said to Samuel in the very next verse, “because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

If James were teaching this passage in our modern world, I believe he would say: “Don’t look at the size of a person’s social media audience or measure them up by the number of accolades stacked up beneath their name.” Many of them miss the James 2:12 part of this – “In this manner, speak. In this manner, do.”

It’s an act of mercy to ignore a person’s ego. It’s an act of mercy to uplift the one who is ignored. And that, James says in James 2:13, is something you can glory in – that mercy boasts itself as superior to judgment. It’s full of so much glad confidence that it has no fear of judgment. And it’s the only kind of superiority complex that God finds acceptable.

May we be mercy-showers and not name-tag-glancers.

In that manner, may we only ever speak.

In that manner, may we only ever do.

Thanks so much for listening!