Trailblazin Ministries

Favoritism: Part 9 - James 2:6b

Written by LaRosa Johnson
Wednesday, 03 October 2007

After going back to spend a bit of time on the poor and how God has made provision for them, James now is going back to the rich and giving yet another reason as to why these Jewish believers needed to guard against showing favoritism in their assembly, as well as in their everyday lives. James does not spend much time in this area, using only one and a half verses (in our English translations, as he did not use verse numbers) to discuss this particular topic. He begins in the latter half of James 2:6 and concludes in verse 7. Let us go ahead and take a look at what he has to say in verse 6.

James 2:6b (NASB95) - Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?

In essence, James wants to know why they are so intent upon showing favoritism to those who are oppressing them and making life much more difficult than it should be. In all actuality, this is a really good question for James to ask and have them think about; it is also a good question for us to think about to, especially when coupled with verse 4. One of the keys to this verse is the word "oppress," which does hold some significance in the English language, but the use of this word becomes much clearer when we look at it in the Greek. In Greek, the word used is katadynasteuō (Strong's #G2616) and can be defined as "to exercise dominion against" or "to have power." Along with those definitions, both of them carry an underlying sense of harassment or torment. It is of interest to note that this word is only used twice in the Greek, with the first being in this passage where it references the rich oppressing the poor, and the second being found in Acts 10:38 where it refers to the devil(s) oppressing people. Considering its use in referencing the oppression of devils, one can only assume that the rich were offering up very harsh treatment, the kind of treatment that is both degrading and humiliating. With that, we can get a pretty good sense of just how much the rich like to mistreat the poor.

As we look at the second half of this passage, we should take note that the rich like to drag the poor into court. Why do they do this? The simple answer is because they can, and they choose to use the law to their advantage in order to manipulate and oppress those who are lower than them. In many instances, this would involve financial matters over which the rich would bring the poor to court. The reason in doing so is so that they could continue to improve upon their financial status, even at the expense of abusing the poor for their own benefit. You could imagine someone owing a debt, and then being taken to court as a result of it, and possibly being put into worse circumstances due to their inability to pay back the debt (i.e. losing their land/house, etc.). Unfortunately, this is how many of the rich in that time operated (not all, but a noteworthy number for James to make mention of it); and, if this is the case, then why would those in the assembly of God want to show special favor towards those who are acting in such an un-Christlike manner. It could be assumed that many of these people were the Sadducees who were doing this, but we will speak more on that next time.

As far as some personal commentary, I would like to think that this is meant to drive home the point James was making in verse 4, in regard to having selfish motives. If the poor are being oppressed by these types of people, what then would be the point of showing favoritism towards them? In my best estimation, I would have to say that the purpose for showing favoritism would be to escape forms of persecution that are brought on by those with money. For example, if you treat them exceptionally well in church, maybe they won't try to come after you to bring you to court over something petty. By no means is that gospel truth, but it at least makes sense in my mind, and helps to bring further clarity to the words spoken in this passage. Why else would you want to show partiality towards someone who is doing you and your loved ones wrong?

Let that be your food for thought today; what are your motives in showing favoritism to people? Is it because it will be to your benefit? If that is the case, just remember, that Jesus Christ had a ministry of impartiality, and we are commanded to be just like Him. Until next time, keep walking in holiness!