TEXT:JAMES 2:1-4
"My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. 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; 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: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?"(KJV)
"Don’t ever attempt, my brothers, to combine snobbery with faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ!" VS1(JB PHILIPS)
"My dear brothers and sisters [ C fellow believers], as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, never ·think some people are more important than others [show favoritism/partiality;" VS1(EXPANDED BIBLE)
Christianity, in its true nature, does not admit of any form of partiality and snobbery: this is the real import of the passage under consideration. What is meant by the "...faith of our Lord Jesus Christ..." is simply Christianity. So, no man, called a Christian is allowed to exercise favouritism and snobbery: such concept is not permitted in Christ at all.
Therefore, when a man turns to Christ from every other things and sins, he is expected to treat all men equally. A need is laid on him to honour all men no matter their status in the society. God, knowing the natural propensity or bent of all men, gives this admonition through His servant, James. The tendency to categorise and classify humanity into groups is innate in us. By words and attitude, we snob and look down on some while we respect others base on what our human senses perceive of them.
It is very unfortunate that believers have been reduced into mare men that look at the outward appearance...there is this attitude of Sit-thou-here-in-a-good-place that the church of our time shows toward those she thinks are wearing a "gold ring" and dressed in a "good apparel" This is already a problem. On the other hand also we see the "Stand-thou- there or sit-here-under-my-footstool attitude.
What this communicates to us is simply a picture of an assembly that gives position to men that come into her gathering base on outward achievements and appearances. I see this kind of assembly as a very canal and myopic type, who is easily swayed by what she sees. Remember that the assembly in our passage draws this conclusion and position the very momment these two men walked in.
She has no time to check their hearts of before giving them positions...no momment of examination and testing at all before dragging them into sensitive matters. Also she has no sense to look beyond the vile or shabby clothes worn by the seemingly poor man, whom James says he may be "...rich in faith and an heir of the kingdom which God has promised them that love Him."
These two kinds of attitudes that spring up base on what we see are what James seeks to rebuke here. Out attitudes show whether we snob at men or not. All that we seek to establish here is that no believer in Christ is allowed to be carried away by what he sees men wears outwardly. The slogan "a man is addressed the way he is dressed..." is true but not absolutely and generally true.
A believer should not walk by this principle when it comes to how he relates with his fellow men. This is what James foresaw when he penned this down. In Christ, we do not address men by the way they are dressed! We address men by the way the scripture addresses them. It is only a canal church or individual that addresses man the way he is dressed. It is unfortunate that many philosophical and mind blowing sayings, which have no Biblical foundation, have beeing imported into this "faith of our Lord Jesus Christ!"
Moreover, James only uses illustration as a sample to many other classifications. In our time we believe that a Christian should dress in a certain way: in suits and on tie for instance and our women are supposed to dress in a certain manner. So when we see a man that does not meet this standard of dressing we quickly distance ourselves from him and, by our conduct, tell him to "...stand thou there or sit under our foot stool" but tell all that appeal to our fancies, "sit thou here in a good place."
The church today tends to give attention to appearance than the inner man which "...is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." Any man can wear suit and dressed like a saint! The church, when judging, must not proceed based on appearance.
Appearance is deceptive! Our attitude toward any man should not be predicated on any created thing...let us honour the king and as well honour all men! Let us tell every man that we meet in life, by our words and attitude, "sit thou here in a good place!" this is strenght of character and the spirit of this scripture!To be continued!