Do you play favorites? are you A Respecter of Person

Do you play favorites? are you A Respecter of Person
James 2:1-13
(1) My brothers, do not have the faith of our Lord Christ, the Lord of glory, with respecter of faces.
(2) For if there comes a gold-fingered man in fancy clothing into your assembly, and if there also comes in a poor man in shabby clothing,
(3) and if you have respect to him who has the fancy clothing and say to him, You sit here in a good place, and say to the poor, You stand there, or sit here under my footstool;
(4) Did you not make a difference among yourselves and became judges with evil thoughts?
(5) Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He has promised to those who love Him?
(6) But you dishonored the poor one. Do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgment seats?
(7) Do they not blaspheme that worthy Name by which you are called?
(8) If you fulfill the royal Law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well.
(9) But if you have respect to persons, you commit sin and are convicted by the Law as transgressors.
(10) For whoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
(11) For He who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." But if you do not commit adultery, yet if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the Law.
(12) So speak and do as those who shall be judged by the Law of liberty.
(13) For he who has shown no mercy shall have judgment without mercy, and mercy exults over judgment.

Verse 1:
Being a respecter of persons:
Examples:
Looks… dressed well, pretty, piercings and tatoos, black, Asian, middle eastern, dirty, buff, white collar, business suit.
How they talk
What they drive
Where they work,
What they do for a living

Verse 10. offend in one point guilty of them all.
Basically if you disobey one rule you have broken the law, and you are punished accordingly no matter how many other laws you have kept. God has set a standard for acceptance into his kingdom, that is perfection, if we break one of his commandments we have disqualified ourselves from being perfect.

Albert Barns Notes on the Bible:
He is guilty of violating the law as a whole, or of violating the law of God as such; he has rendered it impossible that he should be justified and saved by the law. This does not affirm that he is as guilty as if he had violated every law of God; or that all sinners are of equal grade because all have violated some one or more of the laws of God; but the meaning is, that he is guilty of violating the law of God as such; he shows that be has not the true spirit of obedience; he has exposed himself to the penalty of the law, and made it impossible now to be saved by it. His acts of obedience in other respects, no matter how many, will not screen him from the charge of being a violator of the law, or from its penalty. He must be held and treated as a transgressor for that offence, however upright he may be in other respects, and must meet the penalty of the law as certainly as though he had violated every commandment.

Verse 13. Mercy is the key. If you are merciful then you shall be dealt mercifully. Recall the passage in Matthew 18:23-34 of the servant that owed much, asked for forgiveness was granted it and then went out to someone who owed him and was not merciful to him.
Matthew 18:23-35 MKJV
(23) Therefore the kingdom of Heaven has been compared to a certain king who desired to make an accounting with his servants.
(24) And when he had begun to count, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.
(25) But as he had nothing to pay, his lord commanded that he, and his wife and children, and all that he had, be sold, and payment be made.
(26) Then the servant fell down and worshiped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me and I will pay you all.
(27) Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion and released him and forgave him the debt.
(28) But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me what you owe.
(29) And his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, Have patience with me and I will pay you all.
(30) And he would not, but went and cast him into prison until he should pay the debt.
(31) So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry. And they came and told their lord all that was done.
(32) Then his lord, after he had called him, said to him, O wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.
(33) Should you not also have pitied your fellow servant, even as I had pity on you?
(34) And his lord was angry, and delivered him to the tormentors until he should pay all that was due to him.
(35) So likewise shall My heavenly Father do also to you, unless each one of you from your hearts forgive his brother their trespasses.


Mercy and the Law stand as opposites to each other. The law is hard, ridged and unyielding. It is either whole or broken. Mercy is flexible, yielding to favor and giving in grace.
Gal 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

Gal 3:10 For as many as are out of works of the Law, these are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the Book of the Law, to do them."
Gal 3:11 But that no one is justified by the Law in the sight of God is clear, for, "The just shall live by faith."
Gal 3:12 But the Law is not of faith; but, "The man who does these things shall live in them."
So you see that the law was not written to save anyone from separation from God, it was written to show us how sinful we are. The law does not deal in faith, or require faith. It does not say Believe in me and you shall be saved. It must be kept at all times in all places and situations for justification which is impossible, that is what God intended, I believe, that the law has to be impossible to keep. That is it, that is all. No one can keep the law not even the 10 that were given to Moses, let alone the 600+ that man had to make up to support the 10, as if the 10 needed support.
Grace, however is freely given and is something only God can give, unto salvation. We can give grace to each other showing our Christ-Likeness.

Been Gone but I am back

It has been a long time. I was on the road and then just got busy. I have been wanting to finish the book of James here and so now I am going to do it.
I can see that no one really looks at this blog but that is not a problem. I will get this out there.