In verse 5 James goes on to say, “Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor in the world, to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which He promised to those who love Him?” The kingdom of God here is also the kingdom of Christ, which will be inherited by the overcoming believers in the coming age (Eph. 5:5; Gal. 5:21; 1 Cor. 6:10; Rev. 20:4, 6). The reality of this kingdom should not be practiced in the Jewish synagogue, but in the Christian church, which is the Body of Christ (Rom. 14:17).
In verse 5 James speaks the second time about loving God (see 1:12). We believe in the Lord for our salvation (Acts 16:31); we love God (1 John 2:5, 15) for our overcoming so that we may receive the promised kingdom as a reward.
We cannot receive the kingdom simply by believing. According to the Gospel of Matthew, the kingdom will be a reward. Receiving this reward requires that we love God. In order to receive salvation, it is adequate that we believe in the Lord. But if we would receive the reward of the kingdom, we need to love God.
In 2:2 James speaks about the synagogue, and in 2:5, about the kingdom. This indicates that he puts these two matters together. What a serious mistake! This is a further indication that James was lacking with respect to God’s economy. It is not possible to practice the reality of the kingdom in a Jewish synagogue. This can be practiced only in the church life.
In verses 6 and 7 James says, “But you have dishonored the poor. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you to the courts? Do they not blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?” The Greek word rendered “courts” may also be translated “tribunals.” James’ word in verse 6 is also a mixture. I do not believe that the rich brothers in Christ dragged the poor brothers to the law courts. Rather, I believe that James is referring here to wealthy, unbelieving Jews, who took certain brothers to court. According to verse 7, these rich ones blasphemed the honorable name by which the believers are called. Literally, “by which you are called” is “which is called upon you.” Here James indicates that it is a rich unbeliever who blasphemes the name of the Lord.
Verse 8 says, “If indeed you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you do well.” The royal law refers to the commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This is the king of all laws, and covers and fulfills all laws (Gal. 5:14; Rom. 13:8-10). Loving God and loving our neighbor are the greatest requirements of the law. All the law hangs on these (Matt. 22:36-40).
In verse 9 James says, “But if you respect persons, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.” This indicates that to respect persons is contrary to the law, and anything contrary to the law is sin. Having respect of persons is against the royal law, the commandment to love our neighbor as ourself. To say to a poor man, “You stand here, or sit under my footstool,” is not to love. We would not like to be treated in this way. The point in verse 9 is that those who respect persons commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
In verse 10 James goes on to say, “For whoever keeps the whole law, yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.” The word in verses 8 through 11 indicates that the Jewish believers at James’ time were still practicing the keeping of the Old Testament law. This corresponds to the word in Acts 21:20 spoken by James and the elders in Jerusalem to Paul. James, the elders in Jerusalem, and many thousands of Jewish believers still remained in a mixture of the Christian faith and the Mosaic law. They even advised Paul to practice such a semi-Judaic mixture (Acts 21:17-26). They were unaware that the dispensation of law was altogether over and that the dispensation of grace should be fully honored, and that any disregard of the distinction between these two dispensations would be against God’s dispensational administration and would be a great damage to God’s economical plan for the building up of the church as the expression of Christ. Thus, James’ Epistle was written under the cloud of a semi-Judaic mixture, under a background that made matters obscure.