Partiality

“If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.”

James 2:8-13 NASB1995

James here shows us that if, IF, you DID fulfill the law you need not worry because you are perfect, yet we obviously know that this is not the case. He says that if you show partiality then you are guilty of breaking the law. Now, what is the law?

This is the law of Moses, the 10 commandments that God has given Him on Mt Sinai. This law is the standard and bare minimum requirement to enter Heaven.

1. ““You shall have no other gods before Me. (V.3)

2. “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. (VV.4-6)

3. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. (V.7)

4. “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it, you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. (VV.8-11)

5. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. (V.12)

6. “You shall not murder. (V.13)

7. “You shall not commit adultery. (V.14

8. “You shall not steal. (V.15)

9. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (V16)

10. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”” (V.17)

Exodus 20:3-17 NASB1995

Now you may ask what does showing partiality have to do with any of these laws? You see if you take a deeper look into these 10 commandments you can see that 1-4 are summed up in this,

“And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment.”

Matthew 22:37-38 NASB1995

If you love God like this you will never make any other thing before Him.

Now laws 5-10 sum up what Jesus called the second greatest commandment,

“The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Matthew 22:39 NASB1995

If you are showing partiality to certain people then you are putting others down. Now, this is not to say that you shouldn’t treat your wife better than literally anyone else. However, there is a different form of treating people equally. Everyone is made equal by God, but not everyone should be treated exactly the same. There is a certain way men ought to treat women and Vice versa. There is a certain way we ought to treat people of authority such as the President. There is a certain way you ought to treat a pastor. However, it would be a sin to treat a janitor as less than the President. I may still treat them differently as is fitting for their roles, but nonetheless I still ought to treat them as equal human beings. Treating them unequally would be wrong. And even as such treating our fellow brethren in Christ unequally would be a division of the church which Paul especially took very seriously. Now I go into it to show you that this is not loving your neighbor and that if you are caught up in this it is certain that you are violating any of the 10 commandments right along with it. And since there is one lawmaker, when you break any one of the laws, since you are disobeying the lawmaker Himself, you are breaking the entirety of the law. If you are not loving your neighbor then you are not loving God, and if you are not loving God it is impossible for you to love your neighbor.

So what does James say? “So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.” We as Christians are free from the bondage of the law, but that doesn’t mean the law does not have anything to do with us anymore. Rather, we are free to keep the law. We are free to live by the law. Contrary to popular belief, freedom is not the ability to pursue of whatever hedonistic behavior you want. Freedom in actuality is found in abiding by rules and principles that are good for your life and that are established by a higher authority. Take a game of basketball for example. Imagine playing basketball with your friends, but no one wants to follow the rules. They say, “oh I’m free I’m not gonna follow the rules”. You would say that wouldn’t be any fun because you can’t have the actual game of basketball if there are no rules. Without rules, basketball becomes chaos. But if everyone abides by the rules of the game, you are free to enjoy it because it is ordered and structured to how it ought to be. The rules are good. The same goes for our lives. When we follow these rules, these rules given to us by our very creator who knows us better than we know ourselves and knows the best for us, we thrive.

The principles ensure that we live honest lives and when we abide by them we see much better fruit spring forth from us. We are happier and more fulfilled. People who do constantly pursue whatever hedonistic impulses they may have are empty inside and they lack meaning and purpose. These rules are meant for our good not just for God to be a controlling slave master. Once you realize that and you willingly follow these rules you will find yourself freer than you’ve ever been because you are able to play the game rightly and emerge victorious.

Now, this does not mean that keeping the law will save you, but again, when before you were slaves to your sinful nature now you are free in Christ. Now you can keep the law but you are not punished by the law. Paul wrote to the Romans, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?…for he who has died is freed from sin.” Romans 6:1-2, 7 NASB1995

If we continue on living in our sin then we are making ourselves slaves again. Christ has freed us and now we live for Him. We study His word, we begin to pray, we have fellowship and over time by the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, we become more like Christ.

So this is not out of a feeling of legalistic obligation that we do good works for Christ, but rather out of our love and devotion to Him that we serve Him and grow to be more like Him. The Christian life that is void of works is void of Christ. Only through Him and because of Him do we do these works and these works are the evidence of our salvation.

(Written by Thomas Lucia, my loving and supportive boyfriend)