James 2:1-13 - Partiality Forbidden

¹ My brothers, stop trying to maintain your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious presence of God on earth, along with acts of partiality to certain ones. ² For if a man with a gold ring, dressed in fine clothes, comes to your meeting, and at the same time a poor man clad in dirty clothes, ³ and you pay special attention to the man who wears the fine clothes, and say to him, "Sit here in this fine place," and say to the poor man, "Stand up, or sit there on the floor at my feet," ⁴ do you not make improper distinctions among yourselves and prove to be critics with evil motives?

⁵ Listen, my dearly loved brothers. Has not God chosen the poor of the world to be rich in faith and to possess the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? ⁶ But you, in contrast, have humiliated the poor man. Are not the rich men those who oppress you and drag you to court? ⁷ Are not they the ones who scoff at the beautiful name you bear?

⁸ But if you really observe the law of the King in accordance with the Scripture, "You must love your neighbor as you do yourself," you are doing right; ⁹ but if you show partiality, you are committing sin, because you are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. ¹⁰ For whoever obeys the whole law, except to slip in a single instance, is guilty of breaking it all. ¹¹ For He who said, "You must not commit adultery," also said, "You must not commit murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but you do commit murder, you are just the same a lawbreaker.

¹² You must continue talking and acting like people who are to be judged by the law that treats them as free. ¹³ For merciless judgment will be the portion of the merciless man; yet mercy will triumph over judgment.