ALL ROADS LEAD TO CHRIST
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST
THE BOOK OF JAMES CHAPTER 2 (Part One Study)
Beware of Personal Favoritism: The Law of Love
2 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. 2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in [a]fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in [b]filthy clothes, 3 and you [c]pay attention 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,” 4 have you not [d]shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? 7 Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; 9 but if you [e]show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
NOTES JAMES 2 STUDY – (vv. 1-13)
2:1-4: Unjustly judging others is an example of fainthearted faith being manifested in unjust works … Favoring the rich over the poor is contrary to true faith … Our dignity and self-worth as people come from God alone, and not from fellow human beings … Summing this up, we aren’t to judge others by earthly standards of ranks, wealth, attainments, and or appearances …
2:5-7: God is not partial to anyone … THE POOR are more likely to repent and renounce this world for the sake of the Kingdom, for they are more easily see the emptiness of earthly things … THE RICH – (v. 6), on the other hand, tend to prize earthly things, desire material things, and even hurt others to gain them – (see, Luke 6:21-25; and 1Corinthians 1:26-28) … They may mock Christians for the NAME BY WHICH – (v. 7) they ARE CALLED, the name invoked by baptism …
Luke 6:21-25: 21 Blessed are you who hunger now, For you shall be filled.[a] Blessed are you who weep now, For you shall laugh. 22 Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man’s sake. 23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.
Jesus Pronounces Woes
24 “But woe to you who are rich, For you have received your consolation. 25 Woe to you who are full, For you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, For you shall mourn and weep.
1Corinthians 1:26-28: Glory Only in the Lord
26 For [a]you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many [b]noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the [c]base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
2:8-13: The corrective standard of judgement is perfect faith manifested in perfect works … THE ROYAL LAW (v. 8), THE LAW OF LIBERTY – (v. 12; and James 1:25), is the second great commandment of Christ: love for neighbor – (John 13:34) … The Standard by which we judge is the same way we will all be judged; the mercy we give will be the same mercy we receive … “God has shown mercy to us … Let us in our turn show mercy: let us feed the poor, and with divine water and fasting let us wash the defilement from our souls … O Heavenly angels, entreat the Giver of good to accept in His infinite mercy our poor and mean repentance … “– (Matins, Friday before Lent) …
James 1:25: But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does
John 13:34: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
PSALM 144 (145) STUDY
Evening reflection from our Proverbs 16- Humility, Discernment and Righteousness …
I will do the readings of these studies in my video content which is posted with my daily writeups … I will also do a short read a prayer like I did this morning and post it in a link when I get all work for the day done … Be blessed have an evening of peace and thankful to the Lord for all we have – Jehovah Shalom …
All roads lead to Christ
Christ is in our midst
Peace be with you all
In- Christ- Jared
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