James 2:2

εἰς συναγωγὴν ὑμῶν : as the Epistle is addressed to the twelve tribes of the Dispersion no particular synagogue can be meant here; it is a general direction that is being given. In the N.T. the word is always used of a Jewish place of worship; but it is used of a Christian place of worship by Hermas, Mand., xi. 9.… εἰς συναγωγὴν ἀνδρῶν δικαίων … καὶ ἔντευξις γένηται πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν τῆς συναγωγῆς τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐκείνων. Harnack (Expansion … i. 60) says: “I know one early Christian fragment, hitherto unpublished, which contains the expression: Χριστιανοί τε καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι Χριστὸν ὁμολογοῦντες ”. This latter may well refer to a place of worship in which converted Gentiles and Jewish-Christians met together. And this is probably the sense in which we must understand the use of the word in the verse before us. The Jewish name for the synagogue was בית הכנסת (“house of assembly”); according to Shabbath, 32 a, the more popular designation was the Aramaic name בית עמא (“house of the people”); Hellenistic Jews used the term προσευχή = οἶκος προσευχῆς as well as συναγωγή. ἀνὴρ χρυσοδακτύλιος, etc.: Cf. Sir 11:2, μὴ αἰνέσῃς ἄνδρα ἐν κάλλει αὐτοῦ, καὶ μὴ βδέλυξῃ ἄνθρωπον ἐν ὁράσει αὐτοῦ. For ἀνήρ see note on James 2:7. χρυσοδακτύλιος does not occur elsewhere in the N.T. nor in the Septuagint; cf. Luke 15:22. λαμπρᾷ, probably in reference to the fine white garment worn by wealthy Jews. πτωχὸς ἐν ῥυπαρᾷ ἐσθῆτι : ῥυπαρός occurs elsewhere in the N.T. only in Revelation 22:11 (cf. 1 Peter 3:21) and very rarely in the Septuagint, see Zechariah 3:3-4; in the Apoc. of Peter we have, in § 15, … γυναῖκες καὶ ἄνδρες ῥάκη ῥυπαρὰ ἐνδεδυμένοι … There is nothing decisive to show whether the rich man or the poor man (presumably not regular worshippers), who are thus described as entering the Synagogue, were Christians or otherwise; on the assumption of an early date for the Epistle they might have been either; but if the Epistle be regarded as belonging to the first half of the second century non-Christians are probably those referred to; but it would be futile to attempt to speak definitely here, for a good case can be made out for any class of worshipper.