Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of James 2:9
But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
9. but if ye have respect to persons ] The Greek gives a compound verb which is not found elsewhere, If ye be person-accepting.
ye commit sin ] The Greek is more emphatic, “ It is sin that ye are working, being convicted by the Law.” However generally decorous their lives might be, yet through this one offence they failed to meet the requirements of the Law. The way in which they dealt with rich and poor was, in the strictest sense of the term, a crucial test.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin – You transgress the plain law of God, and do wrong. See the references on Jam 2:1.
And are convinced of the law as transgressors – Greek By the law. The word convinced is now used in a somewhat different sense from what it was formerly. It now commonly refers to the impression made on a mans mind by showing him the truth of a thing which before was doubted, or in respect to which the evidence was not clear. A man who doubted the truth of a report or a proposition may be convinced or satisfied of its truth; a man who has done wrong, though he supposed he was doing what was proper, may be convinced of his error. So a man may be convinced that he is a sinner, though before he had no belief of it, and no concern about it; and this may produce in his mind the feeling which is technically known as conviction, producing deep distress and anguish. See the notes at Joh 16:8. Here, however, the word does not refer so much to the effect produced on the mind itself, as to the fact that the law would hold such an one to be guilty; that is, the law pronounces what is done to be wrong. Whether they would be personally convinced of it, and troubled about it as convicted sinners, would be a different question, and one to which the apostle does not refer; for his object is not to show that they would be troubled about it, but to show that the law of God condemned this course, and would hold them to be guilty. The argument here is not from the personal distress which this course would produce in their own minds, but from the fact that the law of God condemned it.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 9. But if ye have respect to persons] In judgment, or in any other way; ye commit sin against God, and against your brethren, and are convinced, , and are convicted, by the law; by this royal law, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; as transgressors, having shown this sinful acceptance of persons, which has led you to refuse justice to the poor man, and uphold the rich in his oppressive conduct.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin; the second part of the apostles answer, in which he sets persons in opposition to neighbour: q.d. If you, instead of loving your neighbour, which excludes no sort of men, poor no more than rich, choose and single out (as ye do) only some few (viz. rich men) to whom ye give respect, despising others, ye are so far from fulfilling the royal law, that ye sin against it.
And are convinced of the law; either by the particular law against respecting persons, Lev 19:15, or rather, by that very law you urge; your thus partially respecting the rich to the excluding of the poor, being so contrary to the command of loving your neighbour, which excludes none.
As transgressors; i.e. to be transgressors, viz. of the whole law, as fellows.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. Respect of personsviolates the command to love all alike “as thyself.”
ye commit sinliterally,”ye work sin,” Mt 7:23,to which the reference here is probably, as in Jas1:22. Your works are sin, whatever boast of the law yemake in words (see on Jas 2:8).
convincedOldEnglish for “convicted.”
as transgressorsnotmerely of this or that particular command, but of the wholeabsolutely.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, c] This is not doing well, but is a transgression of the law, as every sin is hence it follows,
and are convinced of the law as transgressors; which carries on a formal process against such persons; it accuses them of sin, and charges them with it; it proves it upon them, and convicts them of it; it pronounces them guilty, and curses them for it; and passes the sentence of condemnation and death upon them; wherefore care should be taken not to commit this sin, and so fall under the convictions and reproofs of the law.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
But if ye have respect of persons ( ). Condition of first class by contrast with that in verse 8. For this verb (present active indicative), formed from , here alone in the N.T., see in 2:1. A direct reference to the partiality there pictured.
Ye commit sin ( ). “Ye work a sin.” A serious charge, apparently, for what was regarded as a trifling fault. See Mt 7:23, (ye that work iniquity), an apparent reminiscence of the words of Jesus there (from Ps 6:8).
Being convicted (). Present passive participle of , to convict by proof of guilt (John 3:20; John 8:9; John 8:46; 1Cor 14:24).
As transgressors ( ). For this word from , to step across, to transgress, see Gal 2:18; Rom 2:25; Rom 2:27. See this very sin of partiality condemned in Lev 19:15; Deut 1:17; Deut 16:19. To the law and to the testimony.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Ye have respect to persons [] . Only here in New Testament. See on ver. 1.
Ye commit sin [ ] . Lit., “work sin.” Compare Mt 7:23; Act 10:35; Heb 11:33. The phrase is rather stronger than the more common aJmartian poiein, to do sin, Joh 8:34; Jas 5:15; 1Pe 2:29. The position of sin is emphatic : “it is sin that ye are working.”
And are convinced [] . Rather, as Rev., convicted. The word, which is variously rendered in A. V. tell a fault, reprove, rebuke, convince, while it carries the idea of rebuke, implies also a rebuke which produces a conviction of the error or sin. See on John viii. 46. Compare Joh 3:20; Joh 8:9; 1Co 14:24, 25.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) Hypothetically, one is charged with (Gr. hamartian) lawlessness, if of his own accord, or making, he shows respect of person, or a good face to one person and a bad face to another.
2) He is convinced or convicted or discovered as a (Gr. parabatai) transgressor, under the law, Mat 7:23; Psa 6:8; Deu 1:17; Deu 16:19; Joh 3:20; Joh 8:9; 1Co 14:24.
3) This sin of partiality (transgression) is described and condemned, Lev 19:15; Gal 2:18; Rom 2:25-27.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
When, in the second place, he says, that those who had respect of persons were convinced, or reproved by the law, the law is taken according to its proper meaning. For since we are bidden by God’s command to embrace all mortals, every one who, with a few exceptions, rejects all the rest, breaks the bond of God, and inverts also his order, and is, therefore, rightly called a transgressor of the law.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE CHURCH DOES IT CATER TO THE RICH?
Jas 2:9
THIS charge has often and seriously been lodged against the churchIt caters to the rich! Practically all the men who belong to organized labor, and not a few of the poor, hold that opinion somewhat tenaciously. That they have some ground for their convictions, observing men will not dispute. It is a long time since James penned this Epistle. In that day the Church was made up almost entirely of the plain and poor people. But the Jewish synagogue service, of which he was speaking, presented another scene. There culture and wealth were largely in control, and to both, the synagogue service did cater. James, while a Christian, is also a Jew, and is writing to his brethren in the flesh regarding the synagogue services, and he openly charges them with fawning upon the rich, and flouting the poor.
I want to arrange this chapter around three suggestions:
REGARD FOR THE RICH
The church is not to needlessly despise the rich. There is such a thing possible as being a respecter of persons by exalting the poor beyond their deserts, and abusing the rich beyond occasion. Unquestionably we have come upon such a time as that in America at this moment. There is hardly a millionaire alive who is not berated in certain circles. The fact that he is in possession of so much money is accepted as prima facie evidence that he is guilty of having robbed the public and wronged his fellows. The opinion is often without justification. Some men are poor for the solitary reason that they are fit for nothing! Laziness, intemperance, and moral indifference combine to create their poverty, and some of these are the most eloquent in their railing accusations against the rich. Only a few days since I listened to such eloquence, and the breath that bore it to my ear would have taken fire and burned with a blue flame, had you struck a match near his mouth. With the utterances of such subjects of sloth and sin, we have no sympathy whatever, and the time ought to come when they would no longer be privileged to convert the street corner into a pulpit for their unwarranted harangues, or the pages of The Forum into false and sacrilegious charges as in July 1930 number. We know men whose accumulated money represents industry, intelligence, and frugality, and their hands are more clean and their hearts more right than is the hand and heart of the average street speaker or magazine writer who pillories them.
As a minister of Jesus Christ, I positively refuse to let a rich man insult, neglect, or even decline Christian civilities, to the poorest that attend the services of my church. I feel equally called upon to say to the unsuccessful man who desires membership in the same institution, that he must treat with civility of speech and action his more prospered brother. I have just as little sympathy with the walking delegate among the poor, as I have with the high-handed oppressor among the rich.
The rich people of the world ought to be the subject of just as much prayer and endeavor upon the part of the church as are the poor. They need it. Their temptations are in many respects even greater than those of the poor. Whitfield showed himself a student of human life when, on one occasion, he said to his great congregation, Pray for the young man who has just fallen heir to a fortune.
Neither holiness nor happiness are insured by increased riches. Sometimes they mean both additional temptation and worry. There is a story in Fords Christian Reflector to the effect that, walking one morning after a heavy snow, the writer overtook a colored brother whose cap was much the worse for wear, but he seemed so happy that the writer asked, Are you always happy? Always happy, Boss! was the answer. Dont you ever worry? No sah; I has a good place to sleep in; nough to eat, and white folks for my friends, why should I? But you havent much money, have you? Dont want money; Boss! I notice all the rich men what I work for, never smile.
As a matter of fact the poor little realize the work and worry and the temptations and trials of the prospered.
But the church is not to fawn and cater to the rich. This is an insidious temptation. The warning of James, spoken to the synagogue, is needful to almost every modern institution wearing the Name of Christ. The relation of money to the success of large enterprises is perfectly understood.
Preachers and institutions and officials are ambitious for progress, and recognizing the power of the dollar, which in America has come to be described as all mighty, they are likely to fawn at the feet of the man who possesses the same, and in order to insure his sympathy and assistance, quite often they exalt him to office without reference to ability or character. John Flynn writing on Gods Gold says, Of the 75 multimillionaires of New York in the 20th century half of them were communicants of the Episcopal church. Sixteen of these, appointed lay-deputies one year, were multimillionaires from New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania.
George Mueller inveighed against this whole thing. His biographer tells us that he was in opposition to the fact that the individuals in whose hands the management of such societies rested, were often manifestly unconverted persons, chosen because of their wealth and influence and rank, and means (or riches) were commonly first considerations in the selection of patrons and presidents, or even the chairman for public meetings. Never once, said he, have I known a case of a poor but devoted, wise and experienced servant of Christ, being invited to fill the chair at such public meeting. Surely the Galilean preachers, who were Apostles, or our Lord Himself, would not have been called to this office, according to these principles.
It would seem, then, that we have improved some since Muellers day; or at most in this country, things are not so bad as in his land.
But even here the words of Jesus are needed, for in many instances the church does cater to the rich.
The church should accept the Divine estimation of poverty and riches.
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?
It is just possible for the poor man to be rich, and it is equally possible for the rich man to be poor.
Thomas Dixon, in his volume, Living Problems, says, There are some men you cannot make rich they have no place to put it. There are many poor millionaires. You might give them the wealth of Croesusthey would be poor stilland they would live a mean, narrow, cold, and selfish life. The Duke of Brunswick possessed his millions, but lived the life of a dog, in a miserable kennel he built, in which he dwelt, keeping watch day and night over his money and jewels. Says Jeffers: He keeps his diamonds in a thick wall; his bed is placed against it, that no burglar may break in without killing, or at least waking him. He has but one window in his bedroom, and the sash is of stoutest iron. A case of a dozen six-barrelled revolvers, loaded, lie on a table within reach of the bed.
Could any one be simple enough to think such a man is rich? The nameless cur that prowls through street and highway in search of bread, is richer in all that makes life worth the having!
Cowper says:
They call thee rich; I call thee poor,Since if thou dares not use thy store But saves it only for thy heirs The treasure is not thine but theirs.
THE ROYAL LAW
The Royal Law insures the practice of the Golden Rule. If there is anything upon which men dote these days it is the Golden Rule. In theory, they are proposing to do unto others as they would be done by; in practice, not a few of them are joining with Mr. Harum in saying, Do unto others as they would do unto you; and do it first.
Once in a while some critic makes a plea for an ethical Gospel. Can you exceed the words of Jesus for ethics? Love your enemies. Pray for them which despitefully use you. Can you attain to the injunction of His Apostle, to esteem other better than themselves? Truly, are these sentiments worthy the description The Royal Law.
We are told that Ruskin was fond of relating this instance about Tennyson. An intimate friend of the poet set himself to find out all the technical rules of his versification, and in doing so, collected quite a number of laws and their examples. Look here, said the friend, what wonderful laws you observe! IPs true, said Tennyson, I do observe them; but I never knew it. The law had become a habit, an instinct, a love. And when believing souls are filled with the love and power of Christ they keep His Commandments almost unconsciously. Says H. O. Mackay, Law has been transfigured into life and love. They can say, I delight to do Thy will. In truth, the Law of the Lord is written in their hearts.
The Royal Law requires righteous sentiment as well as action. James demands more than that one should do to his neighbor as he would be done by.
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Royal indeed! There is a story of a chaplain in the army who, as he was walking over the field after the battle, saw a wounded soldier on the ground. He said to the soldier, Would you like me to read to you out of my Bible? The poor fellow answered, I am very thirsty; I would like a drink. The chaplain emptied his canteen and gave it to him. Could you lift my head a little higher? Instantly the chaplain took off his overcoat and very tenderly put it under his head. I am very cold, moaned the man, if I only had something over me. Then the other coat came off and was spread over him. Then the dying soldier cried, For Gods sake, man, if you have anything in that Book that will make a man do as you have to his fellows, read it to me! The one thing that is certain regarding the world is this, that Christian men and women will only be able to win it to their Lord by giving to the world the genuine evidences of love. They belong to the Royal Law.
The Royal Law dispenses with respect of persons. The one institution that must accord love to rich and poor alike is the Church of God. Social clubs may be as select and exclusive as they please; not so with that fraternity which professes to be spiritual, and which does its work in the Name of Him who knew no difference between the high and low, the rich and poor.
O brother man, fold to thy heart thy brother,Where pity dwells, the peace of God is there;To worship rightly is to love each other,Each smile a hymn, each kindly deed a prayer.Follow with reverent steps the great example Of Him whose holy work was doing good,So shall the wide earth seem our Fathers temple Each loving life a psalm of gratitude.
THE METHOD OF REDEMPTION
James seems to fear that what he had written might be misunderstood, and men might come to feel that if they behaved themselves properly toward the poor, Heaven itself would be the reward; and so he reminds them that it is not so easy, declaring that redemption is upon another basis altogether.
For whosoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
For He that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the Law.
So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the Law of Liberty.
For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
By the Law of justice, condemnation is come upon all men. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23).
There is a whole school of skeptics who inveigh against the Law of Moses, declaring that it makes the innocent to suffer for the guilt of their parents. It does nothing of the sort! From the beginning of revelation to its end, there is never a phase that can ever be contorted into such an interpretation. It makes the guilty children of guilty parents responsible for their own conduct. God visited the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate [Him] (Exo 20:5). Mark the phrase, of them that hate [Him]. The very day that the child of a murderer gives his heart, in love, to God, that day he is accepted in Christ, and he will never need to answer for his fathers iniquities.
Let Ezekiel instruct us:
The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him (Eze 18:20).
Bunyans holy war brings this out! When Diabolus took possession of the town of Mansoul he did it because the inhabitants, all with one consent, said to this bramble, Do thou reign over us! And the reason that all men are under condemnation exists in the same fact; they have voluntarily surrendered to their enemy. There is none that doeth good, no, not one (Rom 3:12). And judgment is passed upon all men, for all have sinned (Rom 3:23).
The whole of the Law is involved in a single transgression.
For whosoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
We know that to be a fact of all legal administrations. Most of the men who lie in your county jail tonight are only accused of breaking the law at one point. It matters not that the man who is guilty of thieving can honestly say, I did not tell a lie; can honestly say, I honored my father and my mother; can honestly say, I was not profane; can honestly say, I did not bear false witness.
When he put forth his hand and took that which belonged to another, he broke the Law. We consent to that in civil matters; why should we not see it in religious matters. The Law is a unit and the man who has broken it at one point has broken the whole Law. The man who professes to worship one God and one only, and refuses to bow down to images, withholds his lips from profanity, keeps the Sabbath day, honors his parents, shrinks with horror even from the thought of murder, and is guiltless regarding adultery, exempt from lying and stealing, but has coveted that which his neighbor holds, and has, and by devious methods, as David did, possessed himself of his neighbors riches, secures his desire at the greatest cost, namely, at the very sacrifice of his souls interest.
There are a great many who ought to regard Jeremiahs injunction, Let not the rich man glory in his riches (Jer 9:23). As Ward Beecher said, Those riches often come at too great a cost. How many men there are that pipe over their gains, no larger than a summers mosquito on the last days of its lifethin, sharp, blood-sucking, voracious, and worthless! How many men are like steamers that have been blown about by the mighty winds until they are out of fuel and cannot get back to port again without burning the furniture and parts of themselves; and so, after all those articles on board which are combustible are consumed, part after part is torn away and burned in order to raise steam enough to get back, and they are stripped of everything from stem to stern, when they enter port! Many men thus come into the harbor of old age, empty. They have used themselves for fuel to make steam all through their life. And these are the men that walk, looking suspiciously down upon, and pitying poor menmen who are too conscientious or who have stood in their own light, as it is said; men that will not do wrong; men that abhor evil, because they are a law to themselves; men of honor; men of simplicity; men that love the thing that is right, and just, and good, and true, and purehow are they pitied by the successful men of the world; but the world has ravaged them. Many men think they have led honor captive; but they have dishonored and disgraced their essential manhood. Many men think they have built a great Babylon; but God beholds how, after all, they are to browse as beasts upon the very ground. It is a base thing for a man to be put into Gods workshop, which was set up on purpose to make men, and come out on the other side without a single attribute of manhood.
Ah! such wastes as there are! For a man to walk through the cities and town and see what becomes of manhood, is enough to turn his head into a fountain of tears. It is enough to see the wastes of antiquitythe battered statutes, the toppled-down columns, the fractured wallsthe ruins of the Parthenon. It is a sad experience, mingling both pain and gladness. But of all the destructions that have gone on in this world, and that are now going on every day in the great cities which are grinding and crushing out manhood, the destruction of men is the saddest. Men are as clusters in the wine-vat; and the feet of temptation tread them down as the vinters feet tread the clusters. And blood flows out as wine. And yet, this is a world that was made on purpose to make men better; to grind them into shape; to sharpen them; to tempt them. And woe be to the man that is burned, or that is crushed, and that comes out worthless and goes into the rubbish-heap of the universe.
The Law of Liberty is by reason of unmerited mercy. David said, I will walk at liberty; for I seek Thy Precepts (Psa 119:45).
The very man who surrenders his own will and gladly yields himself up to God, instead of losing his liberties, discovers in the experience, the Law of Liberty. By it he is happier here, because his will and his deeds are brought into harmony. The only man who can daily do what he wants, without hurt or hindrance, is the man who wants to do right, the man who prefers the will of God. And that man knows perfectly well also that his path will shine more and more unto the perfect day.
Ward Beecher, addressing a lot of men who were given to greed, said, There is going to come a time when the Christians joy will begin to rise beyond the horizon. My help will come to me when I need it most; yours comes to you when you need it least. By and by when heart and flesh fail, you will have no comfort at all, no help at all. But when my heart and flesh fail, my joy begins. Come gray hairs, come dimness of vision, come dullness of hearing; to me these are signs that I am about to grow and sprout into new life. When you come to white locks, when your eyes fail, when your ears grow heavy, you have no future.
Now, if you follow James, you will find that to come into that Law of Liberty is to come by an unmerited mercy. It is to receive the gift of God, which is eternal life. And it is to enjoy pardon, another having paid for you the price of the same on Calvary.
It is a great Law, this Law of Liberty. It releases a man from his bad, black past, and breaks the hold of all his hell-deserving sins, and not only sets him free but starts him on the path to the Celestial City.
It is something over a hundred years since John Newton lived, and the tablet on the north wall in the chapel at Woolnoth contains this inscription:
John Newton, clerk,
Once an infidel and libertine
A servant of slaves in Africa
Was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and
Saviour, Jesus Christ,
Preserved, restored, pardoned and
appointed to preach the Faith he
had long labored to destroy.
Why not say to the Son of God:
Just as I am without one plea,But that Thy Blood was shed for me And that Thou bidst me come to Thee O Lamb of God, I come, I come?
and you will be made the subject of unmerited mercy.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
(9) But if ye have respect to persons . . .Translate, But if ye respect persons, ye work sin, and are convicted by the Law (i.e., at the bar of conscience) as transgressors. The first principle has been broken, and not a mere detail. De minimis non curat lex: the laws of men cannot concern themselves with trifles; but the most secret soul may be proven and revealed by some little act of love, or the contrary: and such is the way of the Lord that searcheth the hearts (Rom. 8:27).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. Respect to persons Honouring the wicked because rich and oppressive, spurning the poor in spite of piety and humbleness.
Commit sin The reverse of do well.
Convinced Detected, convicted.
The law The royal law, which enjoins dealing according to merit, and, therefore, the whole law.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jas 2:9 is in sharp contrast to Jas 2:8 , calling the conduct of his readers, in opposition to their pretext, by its true name, and designating it directly as sin . The verb is a complete . .; James uses this word with reference to the exhortation in Jas 2:1 . On , see Mat 7:23 ; Act 10:35 ; Heb 11:33 . Theile: gravius fere est quam , . For the sake of heightening this judgment, James adds the participial sentence . . .: being convicted by the law as transgressors. If the appealed to a law, it is precisely the law by which they are convinced as transgressors, so that they are without excuse. By is meant not a single commandment, neither the above-mentioned law of love, nor specially a commandment forbidding respect of persons, as Deu 16:19 (Lange), but the law generally; so also is general: not as transgressors of one commandment, but of the law generally.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
Ver. 9. Ye commit sin ] That is flat; though ye have thought otherwise. See Trapp on “ Jam 2:4 “
And are convinced of the law as transgressors ] This they held either no sin or a small one, a peccadillo. The Civilian indeed saith, De minutis non curat lex, the law makes no matter of small matters. But God’s law condemneth small faults: as the sunshine showeth us atoms, moths.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
9 .] but if ye respect persons, it is sin that ye are working (not obedience to this royal law), being (i. e. seeing that ye are) convicted by the law as transgressors (viz. by virtue of what I have already proved as wrong in your conduct. “Deus enim proximos jubet diligere, non eligere personas.” Calv.).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Jas 2:9 . : see note on Jas 2:1 ; the word does not occur elsewhere in the N.T. nor in the Septuagint; cf. Lev 19:15 ; Deu 16:19 . : the strength of the expression is intended to remind his hearers that it is wilful, conscious sin of which they will be guilty, if they have this respect for persons on account of their wealth. It is well to bear in mind that the conception of sin among the Jews was not so deep as it became in the light of Christian teaching. : i.e. , by the words in Lev 19:15 ., . : the verb precisely expresses the Hebrew “to cross over”; cf. Rom 2:25 ; Rom 2:27 ; Gal 2:18 ; Heb 2:2 ; Heb 9:15 , and see Mat 15:2-3 . To cross over the line which marks the “way” is to become a transgressor.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
have respect, &c. Greek. prosopolepteo. Only here. Compare Jam 2:1 and Act 10:34. See Lev 19:15.
sin. App-128.
and are, &c. = being convicted. Greek. elencho. See 1Co 14:24 (convince).
transgressors. App-128.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
9.] but if ye respect persons, it is sin that ye are working (not obedience to this royal law), being (i. e. seeing that ye are) convicted by the law as transgressors (viz. by virtue of what I have already proved as wrong in your conduct. Deus enim proximos jubet diligere, non eligere personas. Calv.).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Jam 2:9. , ye have respect to persons) The respecting of persons does not love all alike.- , ye commit sin) Your whole proceeding is sin. For, in Jam 2:10, has reference to this.-, convinced, convicted) on account of your having respect to persons, and thus incurring conviction.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
sin
Sin. (See Scofield “Rom 3:23”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
if: Jam 2:1-4, Lev 19:15
are: Joh 8:9, Joh 8:46, Joh 16:8, *marg. 1Co 14:24, Jud 1:15
transgressors: Rom 3:20, Rom 7:7-13, Gal 2:19, 1Jo 3:4
Reciprocal: Deu 1:17 – shall not Ezr 10:2 – We have trespassed Job 13:10 – reprove Psa 51:4 – Against Mal 4:4 – the law Luk 18:11 – as Joh 7:24 – General Act 10:34 – Of a Rom 7:5 – which Gal 3:10 – Cursed Phi 3:9 – which is of the
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jas 2:9. No man who loves his neighbor as himself will mistreat him because he is poor. Hence he will not show respect to persons which we have seen is defined as “partiality.” Convinced of the law denotes that the one who shows partiality is guilty under the law of being a transgressor of that law.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jas 2:9. But if ye have respect of persons, ye commit sin, ye violate this royal law, and are convinced of, convicted by, the law. By the law here is not meant a single commandment, as the law against partiality or respect of persons, but the moral law, and which, as regards our duties to others, is summed up in this command to love our neighbour as ourselves.
as transgressors, because such a respect of persons is contrary and opposed to a disinterested and universal love to others.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 9
Convinced of the law; convicted by the law.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
“Sin” is the same word that is used in Rom 5:12 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:”
James uses the present tense here, something that is ongoing. Someone once stated that he had never met the Devil so he probably didn’t exist. Someone responded that if you are going the same direction you never meet.
The least you can come away from this text with is that we are definitely not to show respect between persons in the church, and that if we do it is sin. That is enough to cause us to determine not to show prejudice in the church, no matter what law he is speaking about.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
In this verse James used the verb form of the same Greek word he used in Jas 2:1, namely, prosopolepteo. The type of preferential treatment James dealt with in this pericope (Jas 2:1-13) violates the royal law because it treats some as inferior and others as sources of special favor (cf. Act 10:34). It also violates specific commands found in God’s Word that reveal God’s will in interpersonal dealings (Mat 7:12; cf. Lev 19:15).
"The passage calls us to consistent love, not just polite ushering. People of low income are to be fully welcomed into the life of the church. The passage calls us to be blind to economic differences in how we offer our ministries. The poor person is as worthy of our discipling and pastoral care and love as the person who has the means to rescue our church from its budget crisis." [Note: Stulac, p. 93.]
"Anyone who shows favoritism breaks the supreme law of love for his neighbor, the law that comprehends all laws governing one’s relationships to one’s fellowmen." [Note: Burdick, p. 180.]