Charles Ellicott Commentary James 2:1

"My brethren, hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, [the Lord] of glory, with respect of persons." — James 2:1 (ASV)

My brothers.—The second chapter opens with some stern rebukes for those unworthy Christians who had men’s persons in admiration, and, undoubtedly, that because of advantage to themselves . The lesson is distinctly addressed to believers, and its severity appears to be caused by the Apostle’s unhappy consciousness of its need. What was endurable in a heathen, or a foreigner, or even a Jew, ceased to be so in a professed follower of the lowly Jesus.

And this seems to be a further reason for the indignant expostulation and condemnation of James 2:14. Thus the whole chapter may really be considered as dealing with Faith; and it flows naturally from the preceding thoughts upon Religion—or, as we interpreted their subject matter, Religious Service.

Do not have (or, hold) the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with (or, in) respect of persons (James 2:1). “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,” wrote St. Paul to the proud and wealthy men of Corinth (2 Corinthians 8:9), “that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might be rich;” and, with a more cogent appeal, to the Philippians (Philippians 2:3–7), “In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves: look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God”—i.e., Very God, and not appearance merely—nevertheless “thought not His equality with God a thing to be always grasped at,” as it were some booty or prize, “but emptied Himself” of His glory, “and took upon Him the shape of a slave.”

Were these central, even initial, facts of the faith believed then; or are they now? If they were truly, how could there be such folly and shame as “acceptance of persons” according to the dictates of fashionable society and the world? Indeed, “Honour,” “to whom honour” is due (Romans 13:7).

The Christian religion does not allow that contempt for even earthly dignities—affected by some of her followers, but springing more from envy and unruliness than anything else. True reverence and submission are in no way condemned by this scripture: but their excess and gross extreme, the preference for vulgar wealth, the adulation of success, the worship, in short, of some new golden calf.