the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ .....inspiration by mail from David Guzik

Inspiration by E-Mail for the Week of March 7, 2010

BEING FAIR TO EVERYONE

"My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lord of glory, with partiality." (James 2:1)

The letter of James to the Christian world is somewhat different
from other letters in the New Testament. It is different because the
style is sometimes more like the Book of Proverbs than a single,
directed argument from beginning to end. Instead, under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, James touches on many different
ideas important for Christian thinking and living.

So, after speaking about the nature of true godliness in the
previous words, now James makes an important statement that he
will, in the following words, explain in greater detail. Yet consider
the simple statement: "My brethren, do not hold the faith of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality."

Before looking at the main point in these words of James, look at
something he says as a side point. James used strong words to
refer to Jesus Christ, calling Him "the Lord of glory." One Bible
commentator (James Moffatt) said that in the Jewish mind, this
striking phrase described Jesus as the full manifestation of God's
presence and majesty – what the Jewish people called the
shekinah glory of God.

This is especially meaningful because James is widely (and
properly) regarded as one of the first letters of the New Testament
written (perhaps somewhere between A.D. 44 and 48). This means
that the earliest Christians considered Jesus to be God, and said so
in strong and unmistakable words.

Now, for the main idea of James: Simply said, the glorious faith we
have, the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, should never be
associated with partiality (discrimination). The Lord of glory
Himself shows no partiality (Deuteronomy 10:17 and Acts 10:34),
so neither should those who put their trust in Him.

There is no way to misunderstand what James wrote, simply
commanding against partiality in the community of Christians. We
do well to remember that James wrote to a very partial age, filled
with prejudice and hatred based on class, ethnicity, nationality, and
religious background. In the ancient world people were routinely
and permanently rejected and hated because they were Jew or
Gentile, slave or free, rich or poor, Greek or barbarian, or whatever.

A significant aspect of the work of Jesus was to break down these
walls that divided humanity, and to bring forth one new race of
mankind in Him (Ephesians 2:14-15).

The unity and openness of the early church was astonished the
ancient world. But this unity didn't come automatically. As this
command from James shows, the apostles had to teach the early
church to never "hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . with
partiality." We should learn and practice what they did.

By David Guzik


For Bible Study resources by David Guzik, go to:
www.enduringword.com/library_commentaries.htm