The Sin of Favoritism
Introduction: The Gospel vs. Worldly Metrics
The book of James is intensely practical, but it is not practical in a godless, secular way. It is not a self-help manual for becoming a better you. It is a sharp, pointed stick, intended to poke us into a living, breathing, robust faith. And here in the second chapter, James brings that sharp stick to bear on one of the most insidious and common sins in the church, a sin that cuts right to the heart of the gospel itself. That sin is partiality, or as the text puts it, personal favoritism.
We live in a world that is obsessed with metrics. We measure everything: wealth, status, influence, appearance, popularity. Our entire social and economic order is built on a complex system of sorting and ranking people. Who is important? Who is successful? Who has the corner office, the right car, the impressive resume? The world has its standards, its own peculiar glory. And the constant temptation for the church is to import these worldly standards of glory right into the assembly of the saints. We are tempted to hold our faith in the Lord of glory while simultaneously operating by the world's inglorious rules.
James tells us in no uncertain terms that these two systems are utterly incompatible. You cannot serve God and mammon. You cannot hold to the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ and at the same time show partiality. To do so is to deny the very logic of the gospel. The gospel declares that we are all leveled at the foot of the cross. We are all beggars there. Our only standing before God is the righteousness of Christ, freely given. But the sin of favoritism attempts to rebuild the very walls of distinction that Christ tore down. It seeks to supplement God's standard of judgment, which is faith in Christ, with man-made standards of our own devising.
This is not a small matter. It is not a minor foible. James says it is to become "judges with evil thoughts." It is to dishonor the poor, whom God has chosen. It is to side with the rich oppressors who blaspheme the name of Christ. It is to become a transgressor of the whole law. This is a deadly serious business because it reveals what we truly worship: the glory of God in Christ, or the fleeting, tawdry glory of this passing age.
The Text
My brothers, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in bright clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the bright clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and they themselves drag you into court? Do they not blaspheme the good name by which you have been called? If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For He who said, “DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,” also said, “DO NOT MURDER.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom. For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
(James 2:1-13 LSB)
The Contradiction of Faith and Favoritism (vv. 1-4)
James begins with a direct command that frames the entire passage.
"My brothers, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism." (James 2:1)
The command is stark: faith in Jesus and favoritism cannot coexist. They are antithetical. Why? Because Jesus is "our glorious Lord." He is the Lord of glory. All true glory, all true weightiness and honor, resides in Him. To be a Christian is to have your entire value system re-calibrated by His glory. The world’s glory, represented by wealth and status, is a cheap imitation, a counterfeit. To prefer the counterfeit glory of a rich man over the true glory of a brother in Christ, however poor, is to demonstrate that you do not yet grasp what the faith is all about. It is to have two competing sources of glory, and you cannot have that.
James then gives a painfully practical illustration. A man walks in with a gold ring and fine clothes, the ancient equivalent of a Rolex and a tailored suit. Another man walks in wearing shabby, dirty clothes. The church fawns over the rich man, giving him the best seat, while treating the poor man as an inconvenience, telling him to stand in the corner or sit on the floor by the footstool. This is not a hypothetical scenario; this is what was happening.
James's diagnosis is sharp: "have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?" (v. 4). The sin here is twofold. First, they "made distinctions." They created divisions within the body of Christ based on a worldly standard. They were acting as spiritual bouncers, deciding who was worthy based on externals. Second, in doing so, they became "judges with evil thoughts." Their reasoning was corrupt. They were not judging righteously, according to God's standard. They were judging with evil motives, perhaps hoping to curry favor with the rich man, to get a donation, or simply to associate with someone the world deemed important. This is a profound usurpation of God's role. We are not the judges; He is.
God's Kingdom Economics (vv. 5-7)
James then turns their worldly logic completely upside down by showing them God's perspective.
"Listen, my beloved brothers: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?" (James 2:5 LSB)
This is a staggering reversal. The world looks at the poor man and sees a nobody. God looks at the poor man and often sees an heir of the kingdom, rich in the one currency that actually matters: faith. This is not to say that all poor people are saved or that all rich people are lost. Abraham was wealthy. But it is a general principle throughout Scripture that God delights in choosing the weak, the foolish, and the despised things of this world to shame the strong (1 Cor. 1:27-29). Why? To make it clear that salvation is by grace alone, so that no man may boast in His presence.
By fawning over the rich and despising the poor, they were not just being rude; they were actively working against God's revealed purpose. "But you have dishonored the poor man" (v. 6). They were slapping God's chosen ones in the face. And in a biting piece of irony, James reminds them who these rich people they are so eager to impress often are.
"Is it not the rich who oppress you and they themselves drag you into court? Do they not blaspheme the good name by which you have been called?" (vv. 6-7). In that society, the wealthy landowners and creditors were frequently the ones exploiting the poor, including the Christians in their assemblies. They were the ones suing them, taking their cloaks, and throwing them in prison. And worse, they were often the very ones who would mock and blaspheme the name of Jesus, the "good name" that had been called over the believers in their baptism. So, the church's behavior was not only sinful, it was utterly foolish. They were dishonoring their brothers in Christ in order to honor the very people who were oppressing them and blaspheming their Savior. It is a picture of profound spiritual confusion.
The Royal Law and the Unity of the Law (vv. 8-11)
James anticipates an objection. Someone might say, "I'm not being partial, I'm just being nice to the rich man. Isn't that loving my neighbor?" James heads this off by appealing to the highest law.
"If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,' you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors." (James 2:8-9 LSB)
The "royal law" is the law of the King. It is the summary of the second table of the Decalogue. And yes, if you are truly loving your neighbor, you are doing well. But showing partiality is not an expression of this love; it is a violation of it. To honor one man because he is rich while dishonoring another because he is poor is not to love your neighbor as yourself. It is to love your neighbor as you love his bank account. It is a calculated act of self-interest, not love. Therefore, showing partiality is not a minor slip-up; it is sin. It makes you a transgressor of God's law.
To drive the point home, James gives us a crucial lesson on the nature of God's law. The law is a unified whole. It is a single, seamless garment. To break it at one point is to break the whole thing.
"For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all." (James 2:10)
This is because sin is not ultimately about breaking rules; it is about defying the Lawgiver. "For He who said, 'DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,' also said, 'DO NOT MURDER'" (v. 11). The authority behind both commands is the same. So if you avoid adultery but commit murder, you have still shown contempt for the authority of God who gave the law. In the same way, if you avoid murder but show sinful partiality, you have still defied the King. You can't pick and choose which parts of God's law you will obey. To be a transgressor at one point is to be a transgressor, period. This demolishes all attempts at self-righteousness. We are all lawbreakers, which is precisely why we all need a Savior.
The Law of Freedom and the Triumph of Mercy (vv. 12-13)
This brings James to his conclusion, which is both a sober warning and a glorious promise.
"So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom... For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment." (James 2:12-13 LSB)
We are to live our lives, in both word and deed, in the awareness that we will be judged. But for the believer, this judgment is according to the "law of freedom." This is the same law he mentioned in chapter one, the "perfect law of liberty." What is this law? It is the law of God, not as a means of earning salvation (which would be bondage), but as the pattern for a life of grateful obedience, lived out by the power of the Spirit. It is the law that we are now free to obey, because Christ has fulfilled its demands for us and freed us from its condemnation.
But this freedom is not a license to sin. It is a freedom to love. And this brings us to the final, crucial point. The judgment we will face will operate on a principle of reciprocity. The standard you use will be the standard used on you. "For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy." If you have lived a life of harsh, critical, merciless judgment toward others, especially your brothers in Christ, then you can expect to face a merciless judgment from God. This is not because your mercy earns you salvation, but because a merciless heart reveals a heart that has never truly grasped or received the mercy of God in the gospel.
But for the one who has received God's mercy in Christ, that mercy becomes the defining characteristic of his life. He shows mercy because he has been shown infinite mercy. And for that person, there is this glorious promise: "Mercy triumphs over judgment." At the final judgment, for the believer in Christ, mercy will have the last word. The condemning verdict of the law has already been nailed to the cross of Christ. The judgment for our sin has already fallen upon Him. Therefore, when we stand before the judgment seat, the mercy we have received in Christ, and the mercy we have shown to others out of the overflow of that grace, will shout down and triumph over any accusation. The gospel is the ultimate triumph of God's mercy over the judgment we all deserve.