James 2:4

are ye not then partial in yourselves?] The verb is the same as that translated "waver" in chap. James 1:6 and elsewhere, as in Matthew 21:21; Mark 11:23; Acts 10:20; Romans 14:23 by "doubt." Nor is any other meaning, such as that of "making distinctions," necessary, or admissible, here. "When you acted in this way (the tense assumes that the thing had been actually done) did you not doubt, as others doubt, in your own hearts?" Faith in Christ's words as to the deceitfulness of riches and the little honour due to them would have kept men from such servility. They shewed by their words and acts that they were half-hearted, or, in St James's sense of the word, "double-minded."

judges of evil thoughts?] The construction is the same as that of the English phrase "a man of bad temper," and is precisely analogous to that rendered "unjust judge" (literally, judge of injustice) in Luke 18:6, and to the "forgetful hearer" or "hearer of forgetfulness" in chap. James 1:25. It means accordingly, " evil-thinking judges." In acting as they did, men made themselves judges between rich and poor, and with "base reasonings," or better, perhaps, what we call "base calculations," gave a preference to the former.