Trailblazin Ministries

Favoritism: Part 11 - James 2:8

Written by LaRosa Johnson
Monday, 08 October 2007

After spending a total of seven verses giving his readers a very firm depiction of just how cruel favoritism can be, James is now shifting gears a bit as he now focuses in on giving a summary of what he just said, as well as some practical Scriptural application as a means of remedying this situation in both their individual lives and as a corporate body of believers. The rest of this section, from verses 8 to 13, is spent laying out this information by relating it to the Law, which these Jewish readers would have been very familiar with. James begins in verse 8, which reads:

James 2:8 (NASB95) - If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well.

To begin his summarization as to why we are not to show favoritism, James begins by telling his readers that if they are fulfilling the Law, especially what he chooses to quote from Leviticus 19:18, then they are doing what they are supposed to. In other words, if you are loving your neighbor as yourself, then you cannot possibly be showing favoritism because everyone is then being treated equally. Now, this is not the fulfillment of the Law, but for those who were familiar with it and attempted to abide by it their entire lives, this is something that they would have been very familiar with. The Jewish readers of this letter knew very well what God expected of their treatment towards others because it was written in their Law. Even Jesus said that we are to do to others what we want them to do towards us (Matthew 7:12). What's more, Jesus also quoted this same passage when telling what the two greatest commandments were, which are: 1) to love God above all else, and 2) love your neighbor as yourself. In essence, if you are doing those two things, then you are fulfilling the entire Law.

With James knowing that only his half-brother Jesus was the only one to fulfill the Law, he isn't stating that we are able to fulfill the law ourselves. Instead, James is using this as a means of illustrating his point, of which we will see much clearer as we get further along in the text. The point that James is trying to illustrate is that Christians should be characterized by love, which is simply an outpouring of the love that God has so graciously shown towards us. Although the Gospel of John hadn't been written yet, many of those who followed Jesus would have been familiar with these words, "all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:35)." Now, this is not to say that we are to be obsessed with ourselves, as self-love is a sin (2 Timothy 3:2); but, instead, we are to simply treat others the way we know that we would like to be treated, doing those things that we know are right. Truly, if we do not love our brother, whom we have seen, then we cannot honestly say that we love God (1 John 4:20), especially since God is the full essence of love.

So, as James said, if we are able to treat our neighbor right, then we are doing well because we are exhibiting the kind of character that is consistent with the nature of Christ. If this is who we are and what we are characterized by, then showing favoritism towards people should not even be an issue. Matter of fact, it will not be an issue because it will be inconsistent with our character, which is a reflection of Christ. Walk in love today, treating others like you want to be treated, knowing that favoritism should not be a part of who you are!

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