James 2:1-9 – Fulfilling The Royal Law Without Partiality

Sermon & Translation by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 23 Apr. 2023

Introduction

v. 1 Thesis: Preferential Treatment Prohibited

vs.2-4 Hypothetical Situation Illustrating Preferential Treatment

v.5 Argument From God’s Character

v.6-7 Argument From History

v.8-9 Argument From The Law

Application

James 2:1-9 – Comparison Of Textual Traditions & VersionsA

ByzantineB

NAW

KJVC

Vulgate

PeshittaD

1:27 θρησκεία καθαρὰ καὶ ἀμίαντοςE παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ καὶ πατρὶ αὕτη ἐστίν, ἐπισκέπτεσθαι ὀρφανοὺς καὶ χήρας ἐν τῇ θλίψει αὐτῶν, ἄσπιλονF ἑαυτὸν τηρεῖν ἀπὸ τοῦ κόσμου.

1:27 This is pure and undefiled religion according to our God and Father: to watch over orphans and widows in their distress, [and] to keep oneself unsullied from the world.

1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit [the] fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

1:27 religio munda et inmaculata apud Deum et Patrem haec est visitare pupillos et viduas in tribulatione eorum inmaculatum se custodire ab hoc saeculo

1:27 [For the] worship that is pure and holy before God X the Father, is this: to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and that one keep himself unspotted from the world.

1 ᾿Αδελφοί μου, μὴ ἐν προσωποληGψ­ίαις ἔχετεH τὴν πίστιν τοῦI Κυρίου ἡμῶν ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ τῆς δόξηςJ.

1 My brothers, it should not be with preferential treatments of persons that y’all hold the faith concerning our Lord Jesus, the glorious Anointed One,

1 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respectX of persons.

1 fratres mei nolite in personarum acceptione habere fidem Domini nostri Iesu Christi gloriae

1 My brethren, hold ye not the faith of the glory of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, with a respectX to persons.

2 ἐὰν γὰρ εἰσέλθῃ εἰς Kτὴν συναγωγ­ὴνL ὑμῶν ἀνὴρ χρυσοδακτύλ­ιοςM ἐν ἐσθῆτιN λαμπρᾷO, εἰσ­έλθῃ δὲ καὶ πτωχὸς ἐν ῥυπαρᾷP ἐσθῆτι,

2 for if a man with gold rings in splendid clothing happens to enter your synagogue, and there also happens to enter a destitute man in filthy clothing,

2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;

2 etenim si introierit in conventu ves­tro vir aureum anulum [habens] in veste candida introierit autem et pauper in sordido habitu

2 For if there come into your assembly a man with rings of gold or splendid garment[s], and X there come in a poor man in sordid garment[s];

3 καὶ ἐπιβλέψ­ητεQ ἐπὶ τὸν φοροῦνταR τὴν ἐσθῆτα τὴν λαμπρὰν καὶ εἴπητε Sαὐτῶ, σὺ κάθου ὧδε καλῶςT, καὶ τῷ πτωχῷ εἴπητε, σὺ στῆθι ἐκεῖ ἢ κάθου ὧδεU ὑπὸ τὸ ὑπο­πόδιόν μου,

3 and y’all give regard to the one sporting the splendid clothes and say {}, “You sit down comfortably here,” but to the destitute one y’all say, “You stand there,” or “Sit here below my footstool,”

3 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:

3 et intendatis in eum qui indutus est veste praeclara et dixeritis X tu sede hic bene pauperi autem dicatis tu sta illic aut sede X sub scabillo pedum meorum

3 and ye show respect to him who is clothed in splendid garments, and say to him, Seat thyself here, conspicu­ously; while to the poor man, ye say, Stand thou there, or sit thou here before my footstool;

4 Vκαὶ οὐW διεκρίθητεX ἐν ἑαυτοῖς καὶ ἐγένεσθε κριταὶ διαλογισμῶν πονηρῶνY;

4 Have y’all not made distinctions among yourselves and become evil-reasoning judges?

4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

4 X nonne iudicatis apud vosmet ipsos et facti estis iudices cogitationum iniquarum

4 X are ye not divided among yourselves, and become expositors of evil thoughts ?

5 ᾿Ακούσατε, ἀδελφοί μου ἀγαπητοί· οὐχ ὁ Θεὸς ἐξελέξ­ατοZ τοὺς πτωχοὺςAA τοῦAB κόσ­μουAC πλουσ­ίουςAD ἐν πίστει καὶ κληρονό­μους τῆς βασι­λείαςAE ἧς AFἐπηγγείλατο τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτόν;

5 Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen those who are destitute {in} regards to the world to be rich in faith and to be those who inherit the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

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 them that love him?

5 audite fratres mei dilectissimi nonne Deus elegit pauperes in hoc mundo divites in fide et heredes regni quod repromisit [Deus] diligentibus se

5 Hear, my beloved brethren; hath not God chosen the poor of the world, [but] the rich in faith, to be heirs in the kingdom which [God] hath promised to them that love him?

6 ὑμεῖς δὲ ἠτιμάσατε τὸν πτωχόν. οὐχ οἱ πλούσιοι καταδυναστεύ­ουσιν ὑμῶνAG, καὶ αὐτοὶ ἕλκουσινAH ὑμᾶς εἰς κριτήρια;

6 Y’all, however, dishonored the destitute. Is it not those who are rich who use their power against y’all and themselves haul y’all into courts-of-law?

6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and X draw you before [the] judgment seats?

6 vos autem exhonorastis pauperem nonne divites [per potentiam] opprimunt vos et ipsi trahunt vos ad iudicia

6 But ye have despised the poor man. Do not rich men exalt them­selves over you, and X drag you before [the] tribunals?

7 οὐκ αὐτοὶ βλασφημ­οῦσιAI τὸ καλὸν ὄνομαAJ τὸ ἐπικληθὲνAK ἐφ᾿ ὑμᾶς;

7 Is it not they who blaspheme the good name named upon you?

7 Do not they X blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?

7 nonne ipsi blasphemant bonum nomen quod invocatum est super vos

7 Do they X not revile that worthy name, which is invoked upon you ?

8 ALεἰ μέντοι νόμον τελεῖτεAM βασιλικὸνAN κατὰ τὴν γραφήν, ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν, καλῶς ποιεῖτε·

8 When, however, y’all achieve the goal of the King’s law according to the scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well,

8 If X ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

8 si tamen X legem perficitis regalem secun­dum scrip­tura[s] diliges proximum tuum sicut te ipsum bene facitis

8 And if [in this] ye fulfill the law of God, as it is written, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye will do well:

9 εἰ δὲ προσω­πολημπτεῖτε, ἁμαρτίανAO ἐργάζεσθε, ἐλεγχόμενοι ὑπὸ τοῦ νόμου ὡς παραβάταιAP.

9 but when y’all give preferential treatment, y’all commit sin, being convicted under the law as transgressors.

9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, [and] are convinced of the law as transgressors.

9 si autem personas accipitis peccatum operamini redarguti a lege quasi transgressores

9 but if ye have respect of per­sons, ye com­mit sin; [and] ye are convicted by the law, as transgressors [of the law].


1Gill agreed, but Calvin, Vincent, ATR, and Moo said it was more likely a worship service.

AWhen a translation adds words not in the Greek text, but does not indicate it has done so by the use of italics or greyed-out text, I put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is different from all the other translations, I underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the Greek word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original text, I use strikeout. And when a version omits a word which is in the original text, I insert an X. I also place an X at the end of a word if the original word is plural but the English translation is singular. I occasionally use colors to help the reader see correlations between the various editions and versions when there are more than two different translations of a given word. NAW is my translation. My original chart includes annotated copies of the NKJV, NASB, NIV, and ESV, but I erase them from the online edition so as not to infringe on their copyrights.

BThe Septuagint (LXX), edited by Alfred Rahlfs. Published in 1935; public domain.

C1769 King James Version of the Holy Bible; public domain.

DJames Murdock, A Literal Translation from the Syriac Peshito Version, 1851, Robert Carter & Brothers, New York. Scanned and transcribed by Gary Cernava and published electronically by Janet Magierra at http://www.lightofword.org

E2 Ma. 14:36; 15:34; Wis. 3:13; 4:2; 8:20; Heb. 7:26; 13:4; 1 Pet. 1:4
“pure and undefiled, present the positive and negative sides of purity.” ~Vincent

F1 Tim. 6:14; 1 Pet. 1:19; 2 Pet. 3:14

GCritical editions insert a μ here, but it makes no difference in meaning.

HATR: “Present active imperative of echō with negative mē, exhortation to stop holding or not to have the habit of holding in the fashion condemned.”

I ATR: “objective genitive... not subjective (‘faith of’), but ‘faith in our Lord Jesus Christ,” like… Mar_11:22 ‘have faith in God.’ See the same objective genitive with pistis in Acts 3:6; Gal. 2:16; Rom. 3:22; Rev. 14:12.”

J“of glory” is placed in the Greek text right after “Christ,” thus it either modifies “Christ” or the whole phrase “our Lord Jesus Christ” as in “Christ of glory,” or “our Lord Jesus Christ of Glory.” However, the Syriac moved it back several words in the sentence to translate it as referring to “faith” (“the faith of the glory…”) and the KJV and ESV assumed that the word “Lord” was omitted from the end of the sentence (even though no manuscript or ancient version contains the word “Lord” a second time) and so wrote in the word “Lord” followed by “of glory,” alternately, the Geneva, NASB, NIV, NET, and NLT turned the original preposition and its object into an adjective (“glorious”) describing “Lord…” Nowhere else does “Christ of glory” occur in the Greek Bible, but “Lord of Glory” occurs in Num. 24:11 and 1 Cor. 2:8.

KThree out of the four oldest-known Greek manuscripts do not have the definite article here, but it is in the vast majority of manuscripts and dates all the way back to the oldest manuscripts and there are only a half dozen manuscripts which omit it. It doesn’t make a difference in meaning, however, whether it is “a synogogue of yours” or “the synagogue of yours.”

L“[T]here were numerous synagogues in Jerusalem, representing different bodies, such as the descendants of Jewish freedmen at Rome, and the Alexandrian or Hellenistic Jews. Among these would be the synagogue of the Christians, and such would be the case in all large cities where the dispersed Jews congregated.” ~Marvin Vincent, 1886 AD

MHapex legomenon. “Not a man wearing a single gold ring... which would not attract attention in an assembly where most persons wore a ring, but a gold-ringed man, having his hands conspicuously loaded with rings and jewels. The ring was regarded as an indispensable article of a Hebrew's attire, since it contained his signet... The Greeks and Romans wore them in great profusion... To wear rings on the right hand was regarded as a mark of effeminacy; but they were worn profusely on the left... The practice of wearing rings was adopted by the early Christians. Many of their rings were adorned with the symbols of the faith - the cross, the anchor, the monogram of Christ, etc.” ~Vincent

NThis is not the usual word for “clothes;” it only appears a few other places in the Bible (Luke 23:11; 24:4; Acts 1:10; 10:30; 12:21, and in the Apocypha: 1 Es. 8:68, 70; 2 Ma. 8:35; 11:8), and only referring to the garments of kings, priests, and angels – except perhaps for here.

OAlso occurs in Luke 23:11; Acts 10:30; and Rev. 15:6; 18:14; 19:8; 22:1, 16, where it is translated by various versions: Gorgeous, elegant, bright, shining, dazzling, white, splendid, clear.

PRare word, only here, Zech. 3:3-4; and Rev. 22:11.

  1. QA handful of Greek manuscripts read “de” instead of the majority which read “kai,” and, since Vaticanus is one of them, the editors of the Nestle-Aland and UBS GNT’s went with de, but kai is supported by Sinaiticus and Alexandrinus, manuscripts of pretty much the same antiquity. At any rate, it isn’t a significant enough difference in meaning to make a difference in English translation.
    Concerning the verb, although common in the O.T., this is one of only three instances in the NT of blepo with the epi- prefix, the other two being in Luke. 1:48 (“ For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden”) and 9:38 (“look at/upon my son”).

RLit. “carrying.” Also occurs in Matt. 11:8; John 19:5; Romans 13:4, and 1 Cor. 15:49.

Sto him,” although in the majority of Greek manuscripts is found in none of the five oldest-known manuscripts, and a minority of manuscripts throughout history have carried on the form without this prepositional phrase. The referrent of speech is obvious, however, with or without the explicit object, so it makes no difference in meaning.

T This Greek adverb is translated “well” (or “good”) by all the English versions when it occurs in vs. 8 and 19. I think it should modify the verb “sit,” as in, “sit well/sit in style/sit comfortably.” Calvin translated “sit becomingly/honorably.” The contrast with the next verse (“under my footstool”) is the main point.

Uhere” is omitted in the Vulgate and in a handful of Greek manuscripts, thus it is omitted by the UBS GNT and by the NASB and ESV, but it is supported by the oldest-known Greek manuscripts, and that by a majority. The NIV and ESV “by my feet” is found in only one Greek manuscript. Furthermore, this is the only time that the NIV translates this Greek word as “feet” instead of “footstool,” and 77% of the time, the ESV translated this Greek word as “footstool,” so one is left to wonder why the inconsistency?

VAlthough the majority of Greek manuscripts start with an “and,” this conjunction is not found in any of the four oldest-known manuscripts, or in the Vulgate or Peshitta. The Nestle-Aland GNT included it, but the Westcott-Hort and UBS (3rd ed.) GNT’s don’t. It doesn’t make a difference in translation, however.

W “conclusion of the third-class condition (future) in a rhetorical question in the gnomic aorist (as if past) with ou expecting an affirmative answer.” ~ATR

XThe other place this word appears in James 1, it means “doubt.” Here, most English versions render it “to make distinctions/assessments.” Vincent, ATR, and Moo, however, translated it “you are divided among yourselves.” It is used Acts to condemn ethnic apartheid (Acts 11:1215:9), It also shows up in rivalry between apostles (1 Cor. 4:7), And in regards to socio-economic distinctions (1 Cor 11:16-33)

Y This is a quote from Jesus (Matthew 15:19), which may be, in turn, a quote from Jeremiah 4:14. Dialogizmos, while it has a morally neutral tone in the Gospels is consistently a negative thing in the Epistles: “doubting/ dissention/ disputing/ controversy” 1 Timothy 2:8, “disputing/ arguing” Phil. 2:14, “doubtful/disputable/opinion” Rom. 14:1, “imaginations/ speculations/thoughts” Rom. 1:21. Combined with “evil” here, both words spelled with genitive plural endings, it acts as an adjective describing the plural “judges.” The KJV faithfully translates the genitive case with the English word “of,” as in, “judges who are characterized by evil,” but since that construction (“judges of”) normally signals to the reader of English an objective case )“judges who judge other people’s evil thoughts”), contemporary English versions change the preposition to “with,” which works, as long as the “evil rationalizations” are understood as intrinsic (“of/characterized by”) rather than ancillary (“with”) to the judge.

Z “Chosen” cf. Deut. 7:6-8, Mark 13:20, John 15:16, Acts 13:17, 1 Cor. 1:26-29, Ephesians 1:4

AA “Poor/lowly/destitute” cf. Matthew 11:5, Luke 6:20, Luke 16:19-31, Luke 21:1-4.

AB NIV & ESV follow the Vulgate “this” instead of the Greek and Syriac “the.”

AC Although the majority of Greek manuscripts spell this prepositional phrase in the Genitive case (“of the world”), all 5 of the oldest-known manuscripts spelled it in the dative case (tw kosmw – “in/to the world”) – and the Vulgate Latin also uses in. I suspect this is merely an idiomatic style change over time, where, hundreds of years after the original writing, the idiom changed to a genitive form, but meant the same thing.
C. F. D. Moule, in his Idiom Book of New Testament Greek, p.46 wrote, The dative τω κοσμω is best translated into English by an adverb, “the literally (i.e., materially) poor.” Vincent = “poor as to the world” ATR = “ethical dative of interest, as the world looks at it”
This variant rules out the possibility of translating “of the world” in an ablative sense – “chosen out of the world.”

AD “Rich in faith” cf. 2 Cor. 8:9, Eph. 2:4-7, Rev 2:8-10
“heirs” cf. Romans 7:13-16, Hebrews 6:12, 11:7-9, Acts 14:22, Matthew 25:34.

AE Typified in the inheritance of the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 30:16)

AFLatin and Syriac insert the explicit subject “God,” but He is already understood as the subject, whether or not explicitly.

AG A few manuscripts spell this in the accusative case instead of the genitive case, but it makes no difference in translation.
Regarding the verb, it is only used one other time in the NT, Acts 10:38, where the Devil is the “oppressor,” but it occurs over 30x in the Greek OT. All three Penteteuch references refer to those who force others into slavery (also in Nehemiah). Many of the uses of the word in Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles
(and probably Hosea) refer to a foreign army conquering a nation and looting it, but in most of the times it occurs in the books of the Prophets, it refers to the problem of Jewish leaders oppressing their own people (Jer. 7:2-6, 22:1-3, Ezek. 22:6-8, 27-29, Amos 4:1, 8:4-7, Hab. 1:4). All of these are descriptions of Israel and Judah before they went into exile, but Malachi 3:5, as well as the descriptions in the New Testament of what was going on in Jerusalem make it clear that the Jewish nation fell back into the same patterns of oppressive sin that it had fallen into before the exile.

AH Used in the Gospel of John to denote “drawing in” fishnets as well as human hearts, but Acts provides two examples of what James is talking about: Acts 16:19-24, when Paul and Silas cast the demon out of the fortune-teller in Philippi, and Acts 21:30, when Paul returned to Jerusalem after his second missionary journey and attended a purification ceremony in the temple.

AI“blaspheme” cf. Luke 22:63-65, Matthew 27:38-42, Acts 13:45, 18:5-6. The contrast is between them blaspheming/ slandering the name of Christ and denying that they are Christians vs. us calling upon the name of the Lord to be saved and accepting being called by His name as Christians.

AJThe only other place in the Greek Bible where we find this phrase “good name” is Prov. 22:1, where it is speaking of a “good reputation.” Probably the meaning here in James is more along the lines of Psalm 135:3 “Praise ye the Lord; for the Lord is good: sing praises to his name; for it is good.” (Brenton) The “good name” then, is the name of Christ, after whom we are called “Christians.”

AK “called” Although this word is used about half the time in the NT in the sense of “call upon for salvation,” the other half of the time it means “named,” and the passive voice here along with the preposition “upon” make it almost certain that it should be interpreted “named,” as the phrase is used in a number of passages in the Greek O.T.:
Daniel 9:19 "Hearken, O Lord; be propitious, O Lord; attend, O Lord; delay not, O my God, for thine own sake: for thy name is called upon thy city and upon thy people."
Jeremiah 14:9 “...yet thou art among us, O Lord, and thy name is called upon us; forget us not.”
Jeremiah 7:30 For the children of Juda have wrought evil before me, saith the Lord; they have set their abominations in the house on which my name is called, to defile it.
1 Kings 8:43 “then shalt thou hear them from heaven, out of thine established dwelling-place, and thou shalt do according to all that the stranger shall call upon thee for, that all the nations may know thy name, and fear thee, as do thy people Israel, and may know that thy name has been called on this house which I have builded.”
Almost certainly the name of Christ as we see it in Acts 11:26.” ~ATR
Again, we see the shift in emphasis from the temple and the Jewish people in the O.T. to the believers in Jesus in the NT.

AL First class conditional, by which James implies that he believes it will be true that they will fulfill that law, thus my translation “when” instead of the popular “if.” The same goes for the next verse.

AM “achieve/fulfill/accomplish the law” same phrase without “royal” is in Rom. 2:27.

AN This phrase “royal law” is not found anywhere else in the Bible. (The closest I could get was Ezra 7:26 “And whosoever shall not do the law of God, and the law of the king…” ~Brenton), but it is defined by the quotation, “Love you neighbor as yourself,” quoted from Leviticus 19:18 (and by Jesus in Matt. 22:40, Luke 10:27-28). Vincent suggested that James was borrowing a Roman idiom lex regia, indicating the highest law of the land, but I am skeptical that this would have resonated with James’ Jewish readers. I suspect rather than it refers to God as the king (the “one lawgiver and judge,” as James notes in chapter 4) or to Jesus’ elevation of it to supreme status as the foremost commandment “on which is framed all the law and the prophets.” cf. ATR “It can mean a law fit to guide a king, or such as a king would choose, or even the king of laws.” Moo said it was related to the kingdom of God. Other commentators suggested things wider afield.

AO In addition to here and v.1, forms of this word appear in the Greek Bible only 4 other places, Acts 10:34; Rom. 2:11; Eph. 6:9, and Col. 3:25, all of them referring to the fact that God does not play favorites/show partiality. It is because God is fair and just and cannot be corrupted that we should be the same way. cf. Luke 14:12-14.

AP As a noun, only here (incl. v.11), Rom. 2:25-27, and Gal. 2:18, but as a verb, it occurs about 90 times.

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