James 2:5

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? HEARKEN. James brings to trial the self-constituted "judges" (James 2:4). POOR OF THIS WORLD. 'Aleph (') B read [ too (G3588) kosmoo (G2889)] 'those poor in respect to the world.' In contrast to 1 Timothy 6:17. Not of course all the poor; but they, as a class, furnish more believers than the rich. The rich, if a believer, renounces riches as his portion; the poor, if an unbeliever, neglects what is the special advantage of poverty ...

5_Hearken, my beloved brethren_. He proves now by a two-fold argument, that they acted preposterously, when for the sake of the rich they despised the poor: The first is, that it is unbecoming and disgraceful to cast down those whom God exalts, and to treat reproachfully those whom he honors. As God honors the poor, then every one who repudiates them, reverses the order of God. The other argument is taken from common experience; for since the rich are for the most part vexatious to the good and innocent, it is very unreasonable to render such a reward for the wrongs they do, so that they should be more approved by us than the poor, who aid us more than they wrong us. We shall now see how he proceeds with these two points. _Hath not God chosen the poor of this world? _Not indeed alone, but he wished to begin with them, that he might beat down the pride of the rich. This is also what Paul...

1-13 Those who profess faith in Christ as the Lord of glory, must not respect persons on account of mere outward circumstances and appearances, in a manner not agreeing with their profession of being disciples of the lowly Jesus. St. James does not here encourage rudeness or disorder: civil respect must be paid; but never such as to influence the proceedings of Christians in disposing of the offices of the church of Christ, or in passing the censures of the church, or in any matter of religion. Questioning ourselves is of great use in every part of the holy life. Let us be more frequent in this, and in every thing take occasion to discourse with our souls. As places of worship cannot be built or maintained without expense, it may be proper that those who contribute thereto should be accommodated accordingly; but were all persons more spiritually-minded, the poor would be treated with mo...

Verse James 2:5. _HATH NOT GOD CHOSEN THE POOR OF THIS WORLD_] This seems to refer to Matthew 11:5: _And the poor have the Gospel preached to them_. These believed on the Lord Jesus, and found his salvation; while the _rich_ despised, neglected, and persecuted him. These had that faith in Christ which put them in possession of the _choicest spiritual blessings_, and gave them a _right_ to the _kingdom of heaven_. While, therefore, they were despised of men, they were highly prized of God....

HEARKEN, MY BELOVED BRETHREN - The apostle now proceeds to show that the rich, as such, had no special claim on their favor, and that the poor in fact might be made more entitled to esteem than they were. For a view of the arguments by which he does this, compare the analysis of the chapter. HATH NOT GOD CHOSEN THE POOR OF THIS WORLD? - Those who are poor so far as this world is concerned, or those who have not wealth. This is the first argument which the apostle suggests why the poor should not be treated with neglect. It is, that God has had special reference to them in choosing those who should be his children. The meaning is not that he is not as willing to save the rich as the poor, for he has no partiality; but that there are circumstances in the condition of the poor which make it more likely that they will embrace the offers of the gospel than the rich; and that in fact the great...

EXPOSITION JAMES 2:1 WARNING AGAINST RESPECT OF PERSONS. JAMES 2:1 The translation is doubtful, two renderings being possible. (1) That of the A.V. and R.V., "Hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons." (2) That of the R.V. margin and Westcott and Hort, "Do ye, in accepting persons, hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory?" According to this view, the section commences with a question, as does the following one, James 2:14. According to the former view, which is on the whole prefe

HEARKEN, MY BELOVED BRETHREN,.... As to a matter of importance, and worthy of attention and regard; being an instance of the divine conduct towards the poor, and carries in it a strong argument against respect of persons: HATH NOT GOD CHOSEN THE POOR OF THIS WORLD? this interrogative is equal to a strong affirmative; and the sense is, that God has chosen the poor of this world; and which is to be understood, not of the choice of them to an office, either in church or state; though sometimes this has been the case, as the instances of David, and the apostles of Christ, show; nor merely to the Gospel, and the outward means of grace, though the poor have the Gospel preached unto them; nor of the effectual calling, though this is true; but of eternal election, which is the act of God the Father, and passed before the foundation of the world; and is an act of sovereign grace, and is irrespec...

WORLD Greek, "kosmos", means "mankind". (_ See Scofield) - (Matthew 4:8). _...

II. THE ROYAL LAW: FAITH AND WORKS CHAPTER 2 _ 1. The faith of Christ with respect to persons (James 2:1)_ 2. The royal law (James 2:6) 3. Faith must be manifested by works (James 2:14) James 2:1 Here we have the synagogue mentioned, sufficient evidence that these Jewish believers were still gathering together in the Jewish fashion, and were not an ecclesia, an assembly, gathered out. The Epistle to the Hebrews, written many years after the Epistle of James, exhorted them to leave the camp behind and go outside of it (Hebrews 13:13

This paragraph on Servility suits exhortation of Jews incomparably better than that of Christians, among whom not many rich were found for generations. The scene of James 2:2 is the synagogue, best taken in its literal sense; and acts of oppression towards the congregation of God's poor are familiar to readers of the OT. Give up, he pleads, trying to combine with acts of servility the belief in the Lord of Glory. On the theory sketched in the introduction, the name Jesus Christ was added in the margin by an early reader: as the various efforts of translators and commentators show, the words made the sentence almost impossible Gr. when taken into the text. The worshipper in shabby clothes the adjective corresponds to the noun rendered baseness in James 1:21 is contrasted with the gold-ringed man in brilliant clothes (shining wh