Respect of Persons by James Sawyer

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 14, 1882

Respect of Persons.

By James Sawyer

BY JAMES SAWYER.

“To have respect of persons is not good; for a piece of bread that man will transgress.” Prov. 28:21.

The wise man here reasons from cause to effect. He infers that some principle has been violated, and hence there must be a corresponding result; the conduct is affected, and the end is transgression under a small temptation. He lays it down as a proposition that has been fully demonstrated, that there is a principle of fraternal courtesy that cannot be overlooked. He says, substantially, that the man who shows a preference for persons stands in danger of falling, and becoming the easy prey of Satan.

The Holy Spirit does not seem to confine this principle to any one class of individuals. Whether learned, or rich, or poor, he who will not accord to his fellows the right of courteous recognition to which they are entitled, will ere long become unworthy to be intrusted with small matters. “For for a piece of bread that man will transgress.” “To have respect of persons is not good.”

One definition of the term “respect,” is to esteem highly. We show our respect to God when we worship him. To have respect for God and one another calls into action one of the highest faculties of the human mind. If a man strive to avoid giving offense to the humblest of God’s creatures, from a desire to avoid inflicting pain, he thus brings into action this high faculty of mind.

But the term, “to have respect of persons,” as set forth in this proverb, must have a peculiar signification, which may be determined by comparing it with other scriptures. The idea of partiality seems to be involved in its use. We read, “It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment.” Prov. 24:23. This, of course, allows circumstances to be equal, and we may judge people by their merits, and not from outward appearances. The apostle James sets the matter in a clear light: “My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come into 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 partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?” James 2:1–4. Here, then, we have the right definition of the term, “to have respect of persons:” it is to be partial.

This principle in society gives aristocracy its rigid selfishness, causes the rich to despise the poor, makes the professor of religion a Pharisee, and turns the church of Christ into a weak and imbecile body. We sometimes find the same principle in the public school. There are teachers who are disposed to be partial toward the children of the wealthy. Being better clothed than those of the poor, or possessing more brilliant talents and clearer intellectual faculties, they prefer to help them; while the dull and backward pupils are neglected, because it requires patient labor and ingenious planning to get them deeply interested. How many pupils have been grieved to the heart as they saw this preference shown to their fellow-students. This is very cruel. A teacher who would do this, would, if the circumstances were favorable, be turned from his integrity by a small temptation. “For for a piece of bread that man will transgress,” says Solomon; and he understood human nature pretty well.

Again, we meet this development of selfishness in the social world. In the Old World, society has fixed castes; and the New World is fast approaching the social state of imperial Rome, under whose sway the distinction of classes was almost intolerable to the poor. Crowned with riches and honor, mankind are in all ages in danger of despising the poor.

On pages 5, 6, of Geikies’ Life of Christ, we find the following in relation to society in the time of our Saviour:—

“The slave before Christ came was a piece of property of less worth than land or cattle. An old Roman law enacted the penalty of death for him who killed a plowing ox, but the murderer of a slave was called to no account whatever. . . . The poor were in almost as bad a plight as the slave. ‘How can you possibly let yourself down so low as not to repel a poor man from you with scorn?’ is the question of a rhetorician of the imperial times of Rome, to a rich man. No one of the thousands of rich men in Rome ever conceived the notion of founding an asylum for the poor, or a hospital for the sick. There were herds of beggars. Seneca, a noted writer, says that most men carefully avoided all contact with a beggar. Among the Jews the poor were thought to be justly bearing the penalty of some sin of their own or their fathers.”

The spirit of Christ set this matter in a different light altogether. “I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me.”

Society is made up of the educated and the ignorant, the rich and the poor; and while each has his proper place to fill, it does not follow that the more favored should ignore the relations existing between themselves and their neighbors. So sure as a man does this, the frown of God will rest upon him. When he begins to say in his heart, and by his actions, “I am holier than you; you are my inferior in both intellect and position,” and forgets to show the courtesy which should be extended to each member of the human family, then is that person in danger of forgetting his God, and he will transgress for some trifling excuse. Such a person’s mind has become degenerated, his organ of veneration has been perverted; and it matters not how high the position he occupies, in the sight of God he is an abomination.

The same principle is also illustrated in the political world. How many statesmen who once bade fair to defend the rights of their fellow-men, have stranded their ship of state upon some shoal of party. They succumbed to a money power. They panted after the favor of some

influential organization. They were willing to take a bribe. They became partial because of the almighty dollar. They courted the favor of the strong at the expense of the weak. They helped the strong become stronger; they excluded philanthropy and charity, and introduced a prelude to Nihilism and ruin.

Let us not say this picture is overdrawn. This spirit of Nihilism is coming in like a flood. It is driving millions to find a refuge in the New World. Men cannot endure to be crushed under the iron rule of despotism which pervades the kingdoms of the East. They have heard the sound of liberty, and eagerly throng our shores. But even on this Western soil they soon find the aristocratic spirit in gigantic proportions. They see the masses separating. The rich are becoming very rich. The poor are becoming very poor. The capitalist is found almost universally bringing the laborer into hostile relations. Feelings of envy arise, and the laborers unite to resist the aggressions of the large corporations. Strikes are the result. All parties and classes are laboring to protect themselves. In this state of things it is easy, as one can see, for the spirit of partiality to increase greatly. The soil is rightly prepared for a rank growth of caste and selfishness among men.

The church are in danger of drinking in the same spirit. The words of Christ should guard them in this hour of temptation: “Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” He referred to the very age in which we are living. The apostle James refers to this spirit of partiality which will be found working even in the church just before the coming of the Lord. He says, “But ye have despised the poor.” He shows them that this is a mean spirit, akin to blasphemy, and states that rich men oppress them in the same manner: “Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? . . . . But if ye have respect of persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.” This agrees with what Solomon said on the same subject.

We know that some are naturally more gifted than others, and hence are our superiors; but this does not permit Christians to foster an egotistical and overbearing spirit. We are to love as brethren. There is order in Heaven and there should be order on earth, but love should permeate every member of the body of Christ.

The poet has clearly illustrated this subject:—

“Order is Heaven’s first law, and, this confessed, Some are and must be greater than the rest; But whoso’er infers that such are better, Shocks common-sense in spirit and in letter.”

If we are followers of Christ, we shall have sympathy for others. He can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. If we have his spirit, we can never treat with coldness and indifference any for whom he died. We should remember the words of our Master on this subject: “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in Heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in Heaven.”