St. James 2: 1- 13

January 22, 2023

My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;

3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:

4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?

7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?

8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.

10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.

12 So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.

13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

It’s that comma I wonder about. Read the first verse again. It reads as if James is saying that we shouldn’t be like Jesus in regard to people. That’s just crazy because we know Jesus is no ‘respecter of persons’. But if you read the verse without the comma, then it reads that James thinks the brethren of the church don’t have the faith that Jesus has – that makes a whole lot more sense. At least to me it does. The rest of the verses support my premise. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

But I’ve read my Bible enough and attended Bible study enough to know Jesus and to notice that there might be a translation or punctuation issue occasionally. That’s the problem with folks who use Scripture to support whatever point they are trying to make – they choose one verse and give no heed or mention to the verses before and after. That’s how error comes in; lots of televangelists have that problem which is why I don’t watch them. Their point is not necessarily the point Jesus wants to make. We have make ourselves ‘math’ experts – rightly dividing the word of truth (2Timothy 2:15)