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James 2:1-13
1. Jesus taught “blessed are the poor in spirit”, and James expands, “has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to the heirs of the kingdom?” The poor (Mt adds “in spirit”) are those who recognize their need for God, who are better able to follow Jesus because they have less to lose (Mk 10:17-27; Isa 66:2; 1 Cor 1:29). As Blomberg and Kovalishyn put it, “God is on the side of the poor, not because they are poor, but because they are responsive to him...” So James tells us to honor the poor because God has honored them.
Can we also infer that the poor may have insights that we don’t, simply because they are forced to rely on God in ways we aren’t? What about the other blesseds of Mt 5, those who mourn, the meek, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and the persecuted? What would it mean to seek these out for wisdom and teaching?
2. The very early church leaders responded to complaints of favoritism of Jewish widows over Gentile by deliberately raising up to positions of leadership a group of Hellenistic Jewish believers. In our culture we see favoritism shown not just to the rich, but to the young, the white, the male, etc. While our suburban locations may prevent the poor from easily wandering into our churches, too often our councils are monochromatic. What can we do about this? What, if anything, do you feel the Spirit convicting us of in this area?
3. James refers to the “law” (James 1: 9-11), the “royal law” (8), and the “law of liberty” (12). Based 2:1-13 and 1:25, can you identify each of these?
4. James contrasts two groups in James 1:25. The first are those who are all holy talk but no action, who “deceive themselves”, and who look into a mirror and forget what they saw. The second look into the “law of liberty” and persevere in actually loving others. What does it mean to “look into the law of liberty?”
5. “So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be shown without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment” (2:12-13). What does this mean?
- a. Awareness of God’s mercy toward us is what motivates us to show it to othersb. The judgmental rich will be judged; the merciful poor will be sparedc. If you are judgmental, others will not show mercy toward you, but if you are merciful, others will see that and show you mercyd. Everyone will be shown mercy, as all are sinnerse. Those who show no mercy are condemnedf. Real Christians can’t help but show mercy toward others
6. In the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:25-37), what is the meaning of “mercy” (10:37)? What is it in James 2:1-13?
7. Jesus is well known for keeping the company of everyone from middle class fishermen, the well-off (Lazarus and his sisters) to the untouchable tax collectors, prostitutes and even on at least one occasion Samaritans. Jesus seemed to make people on either side of any aisle feel equally welcome. You’ve been studying the person and life of Jesus for decades. Given your experience, how exactly did Jesus do this?
Fun fact: “To avoid partiality on the basis of clothing, some second-century rabbis required both litigants to dress in the same kind of clothes.” Also: “Roman laws explicitly favored the rich. Persons of lower class, who were thought to act from economic self-interest, could not bring accusations against persons of higher class, and the laws prescribed harsher penalties for lower-class persons convicted of offenses than for offenders from the higher class.” (Keener, IVP Bible Background Commentary, on 2:3-4)