Do Not Show Favoritism

The letter has been circling the poor and the rich, and here it stops circling and lands on them directly. It opens with a command that ties the whole matter to who Jesus is.

My brothers, as you hold out your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, do not show favoritism.

Faith in a glorious Lord and favoritism toward the well-dressed do not belong in the same room, and James sets them beside each other to show how badly they clash. Then he draws a scene so specific it is almost uncomfortable. Two men come into the meeting. One wears a gold ring and fine clothes, and the other is poor and dressed in rags. The rich man is shown to a good seat and told here is a place of honor, while the poor man is left standing or waved to a spot on the floor. James does not leave the scene to speak for itself. He asks whether they have not discriminated among themselves and become judges with evil thoughts, ruling on people by their clothing and treating the ruling as nothing. Then he turns the room's scoring upside down.

Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?

The very people the room passed over are the ones God has drawn to himself and made heirs of his kingdom. To dishonor them is to stand against God's own choosing. And James drives it home with a blunt question about who actually gives these believers trouble.

Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?

He reminds them that it is the rich who haul them before judges and speak against the good name they were called by. So the favoritism is not only unkind. It is aimed at exactly the wrong people, honoring the ones who oppose them and shaming the ones God has chosen. What started as a small courtesy over a seat has exposed whose eyes they are seeing people through, God's or the world's.