Bible Study Notes On Letter of James Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Bible Text

Notes and Thoughts

1 ¶ My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
2 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,
3 and ye have respect for him that weareth the grand clothing and say unto him, "Sit thou here in a good place," and say to the poor man, "Stand thou there," or, "Sit here under my footstool,"
4 are ye not then partial in yourselves and have become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Hearken, my beloved brethren: Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which He hath promised to those who love Him?
6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you and drag you before the judgment seats?
7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by which ye are called?
8 ¶ If ye fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," ye do well.
9 But if ye have respect of persons, ye commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend on one point, he is guilty of all.
11 For He that said, "Do not commit adultery," said also, "Do not kill." Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
12 So speak ye, and so do, as those who shall be judged by the law of liberty.
13 For he shall have judgment without mercy that hath shown no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
14 ¶ What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and hath not works? Can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food,
16 and one of you say unto them, "Depart in peace; be ye warmed and filled," without giving them those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit?
17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18 Yea, a man may say, "Thou hast faith, and I have works." Show me thy faith apart from thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.
19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well. The devils also believe--and tremble.
20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?
23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, "Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness"; and he was called the friend of God.
24 Ye see then how by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise also, was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way?
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

2:1-26 A faith shown.
2:1-13 A Christian and other believers.
This passage shows that Christ has no respecter of person, He does not think more of a rich person than a poor person (by the world’s standard), neither should we treat the poor or rich Christian in different ways. We tend to treat those who have worldly riches different to those who are poor, this is against our faith as we believe God supplies all our needs. It is not wrong to be rich, or need to be poor to be spiritual, everyone, rich or poor, is precious in God’s eyes. It is our attitude to wealth that is important, 1 Tim 6:10. "The love of money" is the problem. The poor can love money just as much as the rich person, Phil 2:5.
Worldly possessions are temporary, I must ask myself "am I living to please myself or the Lord." 2 Tim 2:4.
It is easy to quote Phil 4:19, but do we believe it?
v5 The poor have so much in Christ, while the rich may have to humbles themselves and empty themselves of the things of the world. See and consider the Luke 18:18-30 story and the parable of Luke 16:19-31.
v8 The Royal Law, the divine love through a believer, Rom 5:5; Heb 10:16 Love our neighbour as yourself. Not a law which condemns us, a law of how to show your new life.
v9-12 shows how serious it is to show different response to rich and poor believers, you are breaking our Lord’s law. If we break one small law then we are guilty of all the Lord’s law’s, He loves everyone.
We all think some sins are worse than others, the world usually puts murder at the top of seriousness but in the eye’s of God all sin is equally wrong, one sin is enough to keep us from God. Therefore no one can be more holy (better) than another as to break one law makes us guilty of all.
v12,13 James goes further and says our behaviour as a believer will be judged by the law of liberty, how we honour the Lord in our daily life will be judged and will be reward according to that behaviour, Rom 14:10; 2 Cor 5:10.
2:14-26 Works and Faith.
James now switches from ‘respecting people’ to ‘works and faith.’ This passage has caused problems and serious discussions, even been used to build false doctrine.
Believers tend to go for one or the other, faith or works, many do not see the connection as James is now showing. Some center on proper doctrine and avoid the guiding hand of the Holy Spirit, others live completely by experience and avoid doctrine. We should have a balance of the two, but based on proper, true doctrine. Christianity is faith which is shown by works.
v14 Note the word "say," James is considering what a person speaks compared with how he/she lives. "Saving faith" is not just a mental action, there is a practical action as well, a change of life. "Can faith save him?" asks James, belief, v19 tells us that just believing there is a God does not save, as even devil’s believe. James is saying what Paul later wrote in Rom 10:9,10. We can believe in our mind that Jesus died for us, you can know all about his life and death, yet not personally trust in Him.
James says there will be "works," but there will also always be evidence of a change following real faith and belief.
v15-18 James gives some examples of what kind of "works" he is talking about. If the person sees a need and only offers words then James said "the faith is dead." Paul however thought of "works" as a way some people think they can get into heaven, Eph 2:8,9. Paul is talking about how you are saved, James about the result of salvation.
v18 James is saying "I have faith, how can I prove it? By my actions." Think about Matt 7:16-20.
James continues by using Abraham’s life as an example, v21. Abraham believed God’s promises and his action showed his faith, "Was not Abraham our father justified by works," Abraham had been trusting God to keep His promises for 40 years when he was given this test by Abraham offering Isaac his son, he showed that he trusted in God’s promise, that he was willing to obey God’s commandments. Because of this he was "justified by works," Rom 4:2,3; Gal 3:6; Heb 11:17.
v25 James uses Rahab as another example, (see Joshua 2 for story). Rahab believed that God had given Israel the land of Canaan and helped the spies. Her faith was shown by her action.
v26 Faith comes first but works to prove the faith must follow, without it the faith is dead.

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The Letter of James