In this message we shall consider chapter two of the Epistle of James.
Verse 1 says, “My brothers, do not have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with respect of persons.” This verse indicates that this Epistle, especially this chapter, was written to the New Testament believers in the Lord Jesus Christ of glory. Here James tells us not to have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with respect of persons. This certainly is a virtue of Christian perfection. If we have the faith of the glorious Lord, we should not have respect of persons.
In verse 2 James continues, “And if there comes into your synagogue a man with gold rings in splendid clothing, and there also comes in a poor man in filthy clothing.” Here “synagogue” is the anglicized form of the Greek word sunagoge, composed of sun, together, and ago, to bring; hence, a collecting, gathering, congregation, assembly; by transition, the place of gathering. It was used in the New Testament to denote the congregation (Acts 13:43; 9:2; Luke 12:11) and the congregating place (Luke 7:5) of the Jews, where they sought the knowledge of God by studying the Holy Scriptures (Luke 4:16-17; Acts 13:14-15). In Jerusalem there were quite a few synagogues of various kinds of Jews (Acts 6:9). This word, used here by James, may indicate that the Jewish believers considered their assembly and assembling place as also one of the synagogues among the Jews. If so, this bears, as the whole Epistle does, a Jewish character, and may indicate that the Jewish Christians regarded themselves as still a part of the Jewish nation, as the chosen people of God according to the Old Testament, and that they lacked a clear vision concerning the distinction between God’s chosen people of the Old Testament and the believers in Christ of the New Testament.
We see once again that although James was a very godly man, he did not have a clear vision concerning God’s New Testament economy. I am concerned that in the years to come certain saints may think that it is good enough to be like James, godly and perfect in character and behavior. As we have pointed out, we need to be balanced in our Christian life; that is, we need to care for God’s New Testament economy and also have in our daily living the necessary practical Christian perfection. We have seen from this Epistle that, on the one hand, James indicates that we need practical Christian perfection and that, on the other hand, this Epistle serves as a warning that even a godly man may not have a clear vision of God’s economy. This was the reason in the foregoing message we considered James’ word in Acts 21. The mixture in Jerusalem between the old and new dispensations was a cause for God’s allowing the Roman army to destroy the city. Nothing is more offensive to God than opposing His economy. Of course, if we have poor character, that will be offensive to Him. But poor character is not as serious a matter as being opposed to God’s economy.
Concerning a rich man and a poor man who may come into the synagogue, James asked the recipients of his Epistle, “And you look upon the one wearing the splendid clothing and say, You sit here in a good place; and to the poor man you say, You stand there, or sit under my footstool; have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil reasonings?” (vv. 3-4). Any distinctions that existed between the rich and the poor among the Christian brothers were a shame to the Lord and to the salvation of His divine life.
A poor brother reading these verses may commend James. However, one with a clear vision concerning the distinction between God’s economy in the Old Testament and in the New might say, “James, you are clear that there should be no distinction between rich and poor, but you are not as clear that there is a distinction between the two dispensations.”