James Chapter 2 — Commentary on Verses 2-4

    Supposeamancomesintoyourmeetingwearingagoldringandfineclothes,andapoormanin shabbyclothesalsocomesin.Ifyoushowspecialattentiontothemanwearingfineclothesand say,“Here’sagoodseatforyou,”butsaytothepoorman,“Youstandthere,”or,“Sitonthefloor bymyfeet,”haveyounotdiscriminatedamongyourselvesandbecomejudgeswithevilthoughts?

    I have put all these verses together because they are one sentence. The apostle reveals how guilty they were of the evil he warns them against by mentioning a normal practice of theirs in their church conventions.

    Supposeamancomesintoyourmeeting. In the original this is, “into your synagogue,” by which some people understand their Christian assembly for worship. But that is not probable, because the Christian assembly is nowhere referred to as a “synagogue” but only as a “church.” In the church-meeting there may be, without sin, several seats and places appointed for men of various ranks and dignities in the world; and it is a mistake to apply the censure of the apostle to such a practice. Others apply it to any meeting for deciding controversies, establishing public order, and allocating church offices; and by “synagogue” they understand the court where they judged all matters to do with themselves. Augustine seems to incline to this sense for one part of it—namely, for a meeting to allocate all church offices, which were not to be entrusted to men according to their outward quality but according to inward accomplishments. There was the same abuse in early times as is found, to our grief, among us—that people were called to office out of a respect to their worldly luster rather than their spiritual endowments. The gold ring was preferred to a rich faith, a practice wholly inconsistent with Christianity and with the dispensation of those times. God himself called fishermen and other despised people to the highest offices in the church.

    The synagogue spoken of here is not the church assembly but the ecclesiastical court or convention for the settlement of disputes, where they were not to favor the cause of the rich against the poor.

    Wearingagoldring. “A gold-fingered man” is the force of the original word. The gold ring was a badge of honor and nobility. Therefore Judah had his signet (see Genesis 38:18-25); and Pharaoh, as a token that Joseph was promoted to an honorable position, “took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger” (Genesis 41:42). Ahasuerus treated Mordecai in the same way (see Esther 8:8).

    Fineclothes. This too was a sign of honor: “Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau” (Genesis 27:15). Lightfoot says this refers to the priestly ornaments that belonged to him as his birthright. Similarly, when the prodigal returns, the father, to show him honor, calls for the best robe and a ring. It is said of the rich man in Luke 16:19 that he was “dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.”

    Apoormaninshabbyclothes. The original says, “filthy, sordid raiment.” It is the same word that the Septuagint uses in Zechariah 3:3-4, where the high priest’s “filthy clothes” are mentioned. This was a symbol of the calamitous state of the church.

    If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes. The Greek word translated

    special attention means to gaze on and observe with some admiration and special reverence.

    “Here’sagoodseatforyou.” The Greek means an honorable or worthy place. So it shows either rash allocation to them of the honors of the church or favoring them in their cause.

    “Youstandthere,”or,“Sitontheflooratmyfeet.” These are expressions of contempt and disrespect. Standing or sitting at the feet was the posture of the younger disciples. Sometimes standing indicates those who stood on their defense; it is an allusion to the posture of men in courts. This different respect shown to the poor and the rich reminds me of a passage of Bernard who, when he happened to see a poor man poorly dressed, would say to himself, “Truly, Bernard, this man bears his cross more patiently than you do.” But if he saw a rich man very well dressed, then he would say, “It may be that this man, under his fine clothing, has a better soul than you have under your religious habit.” Here is an example of excellent charity, and far better than those in the text, who said to the man in the fine clothes, “Sit” and to the poor, “Stand.” To the rich they assigned a good seat, but to the poor they assigned room by my feet.

    Haveyounotdiscriminatedamongyourselves? This clause is translated in various ways. James asks, “Are you not partial?” It is an appeal to their consciences in making such a distinction between the rich and the poor. Does your conscience not tell you it is making a distinction that God never made?

    Andbecomejudgeswithevilthoughts. From the order of the words in our translation, the meaning appears to be that they judge men’s hearts by these outward appearances of meanness and greatness in the world. Here this is expressed by what is most inward in the heart—the thoughts. But this phrase judgeswithevilthoughts is to be taken in quite another sense. The meaning is, “You judge altogether perversely, according to the rule of your own corrupt thoughts and intentions.” Their esteem and their ends were not right but were perverted by worldly desires. They esteemed outward pomp above spiritual graces, which was contrary to reason and religion.

    Notes on Verses 2-4

    Note1. People honor worldly greatness. To a worldly eye nothing else is glorious. A corrupt judgment taints the practice of faith. A child of God may be guilty of much worldliness, but he does not have a worldly judgment. David’s heart went astray; but his judgment was right, and this brought him back again (also Asaph; see Psalm 73; compare the whole psalm with the last verse, “As for me, it is good to be near God”).

    Note2. Haveyounotdiscriminated? He poses them a question. To bring us to a sense of things, it is good to put questions to our consciences, because then we go straight to our own souls. Soliloquies and discourses with yourselves are of excellent value: “Search your hearts and be silent” (Psalm 4:4). It is a difficult task to bring a man and himself together, to get him to speak a word to himself. There are many who live in the world for a long time—some forty to fifty years—and all this while they cannot be brought to converse with their own hearts. This questioning of conscience will help you in humiliation, faith, and obedience.

    In your work of humility, you will find yourself most awakened by asking these questions: “What have I done?” “Do I walk according to the holy law?” “Can I say, ‘My heart is clean’?”

    Note3. Judgeswithevilthoughts. Evils start in the thoughts: “Out of the heart come evil thoughts” (Matthew 15:19). Affections pervert the thoughts, and thoughts stain the judgment. Therefore, when God spoke of the wickedness of the old world he said, “Every inclination of the thoughts of his [man’s] heart was only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5). The reason for atheism is blasphemous thoughts: “In all his thoughts there is no room for God” (Psalm 10:4). This is why you should go to God to cleanse your spirits from evil thoughts, why you should be humbled by them, why you should be on guard against them: “Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord” (Isaiah 55:7). Note that it says not only hisway but his thoughts.

    Note4. It is an evil thought that men are valued according to their outward excellency. This is against the dispensation of God, who puts the greatest glory on those who are of least account and esteem in the world. It is against the nature of grace, whose glory is not obvious to the senses but inward and hidden. A Christian’s inside is best; all the world’s glory is in show. Agrippa and Bernice “came with great pomp” (Acts 25:23). Christ often comes to us in disguise in his poor members.