James 2:3, commentary and pictures

It rebukes giving the well-dressed and wealthy an honored seat while telling the poor to stand aside or take a low inferior place, which is partiality and respect of persons and judging with evil thoughts. God makes no distinction on grounds of caste, color, rank, wealth, honor, talent or learning, and a person's worth is measured not by outward appearance, clothing or possessions but by character, integrity, purity and oneness with Christ. All are one family bought by Christ's sacrifice, the poor of this world are chosen to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, and slighting needy believers slights Christ Himself who dwelt among the lowly and will judge by purity and love rather than wealth or position. It requires giving the poor as much interest, sympathy, counsel and courtesy as the rich, and forbids letting fashionable dress rule in worship, or in God's institutions bestowing favors on a select few while neglecting and discouraging faithful worthy workers. Applied to race it forbids putting dark-skinned people in back seats or behind a curtain while others come forward and treating them with contempt, requiring them to be welcomed and valued as fully as white believers, though this does not require fanaticism and intermarrying, and separate schools in the prejudiced South are allowed while principle is still taught.

What the Verse Rebukes

The verse pictures a well-dressed, wealthy person being given an honored good seat while a poor person is told to stand aside or take an inferior low place beneath another's footstool or in back seats. In the setting of the Sanitarium, its managers must not show that favoritism to the wealthy and neglect of the poor, since the poor may have greater moral worth in God's sight. The same unequal seating condemns ranking visitors by wealth, clothing, or social standing and refusing the company of those who belong to Christ because they are poor, unlearned, or socially lowly. It likewise forbids giving the rich or favored a good place while putting fellow workers in God's institutions in a low place, requiring that every worker be treated as bought by Christ's blood under the command to love neighbor as self. Forming a confederacy to bestow favors on a select few while neglecting and setting aside others and assigning them hard places leaves them with grieved and wounded spirits, and the temptations that come to those unjustly treated are charged to those who dealt partially with them.

That unequal treatment is branded as respect of persons, partiality, unkind judgment and caste spirit. It is being partial and becoming judges with evil thoughts, despising the poor, and exalting self or selected people over others. Union with Christ rules out such exalting of oneself or a favored few, calling instead for serving the weak and suffering with sympathy and forbearance. The strength and spirituality of God's people is shown by a distinct line separating them from the world's selfish love of earthly things, luxury, self-indulgence and applause, manifesting Christ's self-sacrificing spirit heartily and not by halves in every branch of the work. Those who live by it do not seek their own aggrandizement, cannot by practice sanction any phase of oppression or injustice to the least child of humanity, and by a well-ordered life and godly conversation condemn the folly, impenitence, idolatry and iniquitous practices of the world, being willing to be humble and unknown and to sacrifice even life for Christ's sake.

The verse belongs to practical instruction that presents principles for daily life and character building. Putting those principles into practice brings spiritual strength, happiness, and an experience of God's salvation.

How God Values People

With God there is no caste, no rank, no color, no wealth, no worldly honor, no nationality, no talent and no education admitted as ground of distinction. A rich man counts for no more than a poor man on account of riches, position, talent or education, for all such advantages weigh nothing in His scale unless they are brought as tribute to lay at His feet and the whole being is surrendered to Him to cooperate with divine agencies as a vessel unto honor. To rank visitors by dress and social standing, giving the finely dressed a seat of honor while bidding the poor stand or sit beneath a footstool, is therefore rebuked as false measurement, since worth is not decided by rank, wealth or learning but by oneness with Christ.

Outward appearance, clothing, possessions, real estate, bank stock, rank and learning do not determine moral worth before God. What He values is character, integrity, purity, nobility, love for Christ and oneness with Christ, prizing in particular the humble contrite heart and a meek and quiet spirit above outward beauty and riches. The poor may possess greater moral worth in His sight than the wealthy, so to honor fine dress and neglect the needy for lack of it is partiality that dishonors them. Refusing the company of those who belong to Christ because they are poor, unlearned or socially lowly brings His rebuke.

God has chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom and of the immortal inheritance promised to those who love Him and believe in Him. For that reason the poor, if a child of God, is an heir to what Christ will give in that day to all believers, and despising him while favoring the rich and preferred is becoming partial and a judge of evil thoughts.

All stand as part of the great web of humanity, objects of God's love bought by the sacrifice of His Son, having the same heavenly Father and the same Redeemer who loved them and gave Himself for them all without distinction. In Christ they are made one family quarried out from the world by truth and brought into His worship to be prepared for His temple and the same heaven, where rich and poor and learned and ignorant meet without social rank or worldly distinction. The worth of human beings is to be judged in the light of that sacrifice rather than by wealth, for He gives His blessings to rich and poor alike, and men are designed to regard themselves as brethren helping one another with pity, sympathy and love. No caste, no pride of nationality and no difference on account of skin color can remain on this ground.

To slight His needy children is to slight Christ in the person of His saints, and to neglect those who suffer in poverty may be to neglect Christ in His people. Christ Himself kept this law by seeking no worldly admiration or applause, commanding no army and ruling no earthly kingdom, passing by the wealthy and honored and the leaders of the nation and dwelling among the lowly as a humble man with few friends. His impartiality is as the sun, Christ the Sun of Righteousness, shining on rich and poor alike. At the final judgment wealth and position will make no difference, for men will be judged by purity, nobility and love rather than by rank or possessions.

Showing No Partiality Today

The poor are to receive as much interest, attention, sympathy, counsel, courtesy and compassion as the rich, with no favoritism shown to relatives, friends, the wealthy or the favored, and no neglect, slighting, cold treatment or oppression of the poor before the wealthy. Honoring the rich while slighting, neglecting or treating the poor coldly is partiality shown by wealth or clothing and is sin before God, for outward wealth does not determine moral worth before God. Union with Christ rules out exalting self or a select few over others, and His followers serve the weak and suffering with sympathy and forbearance. Neglecting those who suffer in poverty can mean neglecting Christ in the person of His saints, and slighting His needy children slights Jesus who loves them. The reason is that a poor man, if he is a child of God, is an heir to the immortal inheritance Christ will give to all who believe in Him.

When fashionable dress gains distinction for the wealthy in worship while the poor are made to feel unwelcome and embarrassed, that is the wrong of treating worshipers differently because of clothing and wealth. It illustrates the world's proud, partial, exclusive spirit that gives the well-dressed a favored place while treating the poor as inferior. Such favoritism is opposed to pure religion, which makes God's children one family in Christ and welcomes suffering people of every class.

The same partiality is forbidden in God's institutions and among fellow workers, where there must be no confederacy to bestow favors on a select few. Every worker is bought by Christ's blood under the command to love neighbor as self, so giving special favors to those who do not need them while neglecting faithful, worthy, deserving and suffering workers is being partial and becoming judges with evil thoughts, despising the poor though God has chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom promised to those who love Him. The same distinction appears when one person is favored and another is treated harshly or indifferently, when deserving souls are assigned hard places, discouraged, left with grieved and wounded spirits, and when needed means are withheld and turned into other channels. That withholding is called robbery which God will judge, the temptations that come to those unjustly treated are charged to those who dealt partially with them, and those who hinder instead of help must examine themselves and without delay reform and do the work needed. In the setting of the Sanitarium its managers must not favor the wealthy and neglect the poor, who may have greater moral worth in God's sight, for God values a meek and quiet spirit above outward beauty, adornment, riches or worldly honor.

Applied to race and nationality, the verse forbids giving places of honor or exclusion based on skin color, and Christ would not tell the dark-skinned to file into back seats while those of lighter skin come forward, nor draw a curtain between colored people and white people, for to do so grieves His heart. There is to be no caste, no pride of nationality and no difference made because of color, since color is no criterion of the soul's value, all have the same heavenly Father and the same Redeemer who loved them and gave Himself for them all without distinction, and all classes and nationalities have been quarried out from the world by truth and brought into His worship to be prepared for His temple and for the same heaven. Treating Black people with contempt because of black skin, keeping their minds in a species of slavery, depressing and trampling down those who should be helped up and educated to clean, pure souls, shows ignorance of God's mind and reproaches God who gave the colored skin which none can change. Converted colored men and women who love God and do His will are His property and children of as much value in His sight as white people, and they must be treated just as respectfully, welcomed into places of worship, hold membership in the church with white brethren, and receive care, consolation, tender regard and every effort to wipe out the terrible wrong done to them. Believers are to labor for every soul for whom Christ died, make Christian effort where it is most needed, use influence against prevailing worldly customs, and unite to accomplish a special work for Blacks to restore to them as far as possible what was lost through years of privation and slavery. White prejudice in the South does not excuse neglect, the question must be placed on the ground of principle with those who accept the truth educated to be Bible Christians working according to Christ's order, there is no license from God to exclude colored people from worship, and the church bears sin when it fails to work with greater effort for their salvation and enlightenment.

That duty must not be carried to extremes and fanaticism, and does not require throwing down every partition wall and intermarrying. Separate schools for white and Black people in the South are allowed because of particular prejudice, while the duty must still be placed on principle and believers educated to work according to Christ's order.

The strength and spirituality of God's people is shown by a distinct line separating them from the world, which loves earthly things and acts selfishly without regard to the principles Christ set forth in His life. Christians manifest the self-sacrificing spirit of Christ heartily and not by halves in connection with every branch of the work, not studying their own aggrandizement, not living in luxury and self-indulgence while suffering ones are around them, and not sanctioning by practice any oppression or injustice to the least child of humanity. They relinquish all selfish delights, unholy passions and love of applause which is the food of the world, are willing to be humble and unknown and to sacrifice even life for Christ's sake, and by a well-ordered life and godly conversation condemn the folly, impenitence, idolatry and iniquitous practices of the world. They work from the Bible standpoint and not from the world's standpoint, live fully in the light of God's countenance to know how to treat those less favored, help one another with pity and love, exemplify the spirit of Christ to elevate character, and act nobly and courageously in the sight of God and the Saviour and before heavenly intelligences without cowardice and without regard to gain or loss, winning others to equal respect by precept and example. As the church appointed by her Lord, they are to overthrow slavery, the caste system, unjust racial prejudices, the oppression of the poor and the neglect of the unfortunate, which are unchristian respect of persons on account of social status and a serious menace to the well-being of the human race.