Have you ever let yourself be prejudiced against someone
before you really knew him? Have you ever allowed criticism or harsh words or
mistaken judgment to influence you about the person so that your mind was made
up about him before you met him? Then, when you finally meet him, you had a
distorted view of who he is. You found yourself thinking wrongly of the man. Right
from the beginning, he’s someone behind the eight ball. However, as you get to
know the person more, you discover that you have misjudged him. You feel
ashamed for so quickly judging a man on the basis of some criticism you heard
against him.
If we all are honest with ourselves, we have done something
like that before. Or we ourselves may have been the recipient of the same kind
of prejudice. This is what James addresses in James 2:1-13. Verse 2 says, “For
if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings [literally, ‘a
gold fingered man’], in fine apparel and there should also come in a poor man
in filthy clothes….” Back then, social status was noted by the number of rings
one had on and the fine clothing. You could tell a man’s so-called quality by
just looking at him. Verse 3 continues, “and you pay attention to the one
wearing to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, ‘You sit here in a
good place,’ and say to the poor man, ‘You stand there,’ or ‘Sit here at my
footstool’….”
This scenario described by James is the problem of judging
(or misjudging) a person, or the problem of partiality. It is warning against
showing favouritism. No one can determine the heart of another by a first time
encounter; it is impossible to judge another man’s motives simply on the basis
of outward appearance.
The clearest reason why prejudice is sinful is because it is
inconsistent with the character of God who judges without partiality (verse 1).
It is also incompatible with the rest of Scripture. It may have been that James
was anticipating an objection – is social preference really that serious? James
says it is - on the basis of the royal law: love your neighbour as yourself.
Partiality violates God’s supreme law of love. The sin of partiality breaks the
royal law to love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbour as
yourself.
What happens when there is prejudice in the church? It can
lead to real problems. Cliques can be formed. Or legalists rule. Or power
hungry people take over. And they can put enormous pressure on others to
conform to their rules of behaviour.
Are we quick to condemn others on the basis of appearance?
Is there a tendency to feel prejudice toward those of social status, education,
rank, looks, age, or background or whatever it is? We need to consider what James
is saying. This is a warning to us not to be judgmental. The Lord deals with us
in His mercy. But, we must remember that we all stand before Him as the Judge.
This truly should be humbling to us…. We are called to be merciful as He is
merciful, as He is impartial and merciful to us in Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.
before you really knew him? Have you ever allowed criticism or harsh words or
mistaken judgment to influence you about the person so that your mind was made
up about him before you met him? Then, when you finally meet him, you had a
distorted view of who he is. You found yourself thinking wrongly of the man. Right
from the beginning, he’s someone behind the eight ball. However, as you get to
know the person more, you discover that you have misjudged him. You feel
ashamed for so quickly judging a man on the basis of some criticism you heard
against him.
If we all are honest with ourselves, we have done something
like that before. Or we ourselves may have been the recipient of the same kind
of prejudice. This is what James addresses in James 2:1-13. Verse 2 says, “For
if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings [literally, ‘a
gold fingered man’], in fine apparel and there should also come in a poor man
in filthy clothes….” Back then, social status was noted by the number of rings
one had on and the fine clothing. You could tell a man’s so-called quality by
just looking at him. Verse 3 continues, “and you pay attention to the one
wearing to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, ‘You sit here in a
good place,’ and say to the poor man, ‘You stand there,’ or ‘Sit here at my
footstool’….”
This scenario described by James is the problem of judging
(or misjudging) a person, or the problem of partiality. It is warning against
showing favouritism. No one can determine the heart of another by a first time
encounter; it is impossible to judge another man’s motives simply on the basis
of outward appearance.
The clearest reason why prejudice is sinful is because it is
inconsistent with the character of God who judges without partiality (verse 1).
It is also incompatible with the rest of Scripture. It may have been that James
was anticipating an objection – is social preference really that serious? James
says it is - on the basis of the royal law: love your neighbour as yourself.
Partiality violates God’s supreme law of love. The sin of partiality breaks the
royal law to love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbour as
yourself.
What happens when there is prejudice in the church? It can
lead to real problems. Cliques can be formed. Or legalists rule. Or power
hungry people take over. And they can put enormous pressure on others to
conform to their rules of behaviour.
Are we quick to condemn others on the basis of appearance?
Is there a tendency to feel prejudice toward those of social status, education,
rank, looks, age, or background or whatever it is? We need to consider what James
is saying. This is a warning to us not to be judgmental. The Lord deals with us
in His mercy. But, we must remember that we all stand before Him as the Judge.
This truly should be humbling to us…. We are called to be merciful as He is
merciful, as He is impartial and merciful to us in Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.
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