James 2
W E E K T H R E E
Most of us aren’t murderers, thieves or adulterers. Those sins are the “worst” of sins, the extra-double-plus bad ones. Those are the sins that clearly break God’s law. We don’t do those things. Yet we’re all law-breakers in one overarching way: we lack love. Wait, what? Yes, a lack of love and a lack of mercy not only break God’s law, but this is where all law breaking comes from.
James brings this to our attention by describing favoritism in the church. A wealthy person receives honor while a poor person is ignored and pushed to the fringes. The richly attired person is moved front and center while the shabby person is asked to sit in the back. In our context today, this kind of attitude and behavior dons other garments—racial favoritism, gender favoritism, generational favoritism, and cultural favoritism. We are all inclined to favor one kind of person over another. And in so doing, we fail to love as Christ loved.
If the Christian life is a shared life, there's no room for favoritism, partiality, and discrimination. Christians are related by blood. Because we share the name of Christ by the blood of Jesus, we're brothers and sisters, born again into the family of God the Father through faith in His only Son. The church is a family. You don't get the benefit of a church family without loving the crazy uncle or the embarrassing sibling. We are called to accept others, no matter what they have to offer, how they look, or what they've done... family is family!
As disciples of Jesus Christ, our proclamation of faith is validated in our demonstration of good works. When Jesus is acknowledged as the good King who sits on the throne over all of our desires, it changes the way we live out our faith. We live as God’s children—children who believe in the one true King. And we live as His servants who want to carry out His will and assist others along the way.
Our works do not save us. Jesus’ work alone produces the saving faith that springs forth from one’s heart. Only by faith in Jesus’ kingship and His triumph over the power of death can we be brought to a newness of life—new creations, found in Him complete. God the Father gives this gift of faith by grace. Grace is a currency that is unattainable by any human work. We are people of imperfect faith, but we are met with perfect grace. By remembering and trusting in God’s faithful work, our faith will never die. Our faith is living and active because it is in a living, active God who eternally loves us and uses us for His glory.
This is the beauty of Christianity: our faith in Jesus saves us, and it also frees us from striving to be enough, trying to earn approval, stature, or recognition through what we do. I can do good works without having to worry about measuring the outcome. Faith in Jesus’ final, finished work gives me the security to do good without worrying that I’m doing enough.
James 2
My brothers and sisters, do not show favoritism as you hold on to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. For if someone comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and a poor person dressed in filthy clothes also comes in, if you look with favor on the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here in a good place,” and yet you say to the poor person, “Stand over there,” or “Sit here on the floor by my footstool,” haven’t you made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Didn’t God choose the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? Yet you have dishonored the poor. Don’t the rich oppress you and drag you into court? Don’t they blaspheme the good name that was invoked over you?
Indeed, if you fulfill the royal law prescribed in the Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. If, however, you show favoritism, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all. For he who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not murder. So if you do not commit adultery, but you murder, you are a lawbreaker.
Speak and act as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has not shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him?
If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? In the same way faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith by my works. You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder.
Senseless person! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless? Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works in offering Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was made complete, and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works in receiving the messengers and sending them out by a different route? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
READ :
Read James 2 for your main study this week.
Consider reading the passage in several different translations of the Bible in order to get a more complete understanding of the text!
OBSERVE & INTERPRET :
What initially stands out to you about this passage?
Look for key words, comparisons/contrasts, commands, etc. - what did you highlight or underline in this passage?
Key Words:
Comparisons:
Contrasts:
Commands:
Questions:
What leads us to treat people who are rich/poor, popular/unpopular, smart/simple, (and so on) differently?
Why does breaking one of God's laws make us guilty of breaking the whole thing (2:10-11)?
In your own words, summarize the relationship between faith and works. How does this compare to what you thought about faith and works before studying this passage?
APPLY :
Are there certain people that you struggle to love? If so, who and why?
How can you care for someone who is different than you this week?
Why is delighting in the Lord a vital part of faith and works?
Realizing that faith without action is dead, ask God to help you do more than speak your surrender to Him - to live it out! Write down a specific situation in which you can submit to God, and make an action plan on how to follow through.
EXTRAS :
Use a resource like the Faithlife Study Bible app or the Logos Bible app to do some word studies or get new insight into specific words or phrases and how they fit into this passage of Paul’s letter.
STUDY TOGETHER
There is great encouragement that comes with community and accountability when we study the Bible with other believers! If you plan to study with other people, follow these few steps during your STUDY TOGETHER time:
READ - Make sure to read the passage together
DISCUSS - Use the study questions from this blog to discuss your study of James over the week. If there were parts of the passage that you didn’t understand, ask other people what they thought or understood!
CHALLENGE - Spend time talking about how this passage applies to your life right now. How can you keep each other accountable to what you are learning or what God is working out in you?
PRAY - Don’t forget to talk to God and lift each other up while you are together. Take notes and be intentional to pray for your small group throughout the week.
SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT
R E S O U R C E S
A list of resources used throughout this online Bible Study series in James
James: A Double-Edged Bible Study, A TH1NK LifeChange Study by NavPress. A NavPress resource published in alliance with Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Copyright 2013 by The Navigators.
James Study by SheReadsTruth, https://shereadstruth.com/plans/james/ Copyright 2019 by SheReadsTruth, LLC. All rights reserved.
James Study by HeReadsTruth, http://hereadstruth.com/plan/james/ Copyright 2019 by HeReadsTruth, LLC. All rights reserved.
Grounded: Wisdom for Real Life from Proverbs and James by Clayton and Sharie King, LifeWay Press, 2018.
James: Faith / Works by Matt Chandler. Copyright 2018 The Village Church, Lifeway Press, All rights reserved.
