--- title: "James 2 - Study King James Bible with burkitts expository notes with practical observations on the nt" description: "Read James 2 with burkitts expository notes with practical observations on the nt commentary. 1 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. 2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/burkitts-expository-notes-with-practical-observations-on-the-nt/james/2" --- [ Read](/kjv/james/2)[ Commentary](/study/james/2)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/james/2) Audio 1 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, *the Lord* of glory, with respect of persons. 2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; 3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: 4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? 5 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? 6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? 7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? 8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: 9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. 10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one *point*, he is guilty of all. 11 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. 12 So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. 14 What *doth it* profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be *ye* warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what *doth it* profit? 17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. 20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? 22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? 23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. 24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. 25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent *them* out another way? 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. [James 1](/study/james/1) [James 3](/study/james/3) ## Commentary To verse 1 For the better understanding of these words, let us consider. 1. What the apostle doth not; 2. What he doth condemn. 3. What is here not condemned, namely, 1. The paying of civil respect to all persons, according to their character, and a different respect to persons, according to their different qualities: honour is to be given to whom honour is due, and the rich are entitled to respect; and that they receive it from us, is no ways displeasing unto God. 2. Much less does our apostle here speak against honouring magistrates, or paying respect to our ecclesiastical or civil rulers and governors in their courts or judicature: civility, yea, Christianity, calls for outward respect and reverence to them that are above us, especially if in authority over us. But positively, that which is here condemned, 1. In general, is partiality in our respect to persons in religious matters, for in the things of God all are equal: the rich and the poor stand upon the same terms of advantage; external relations and differences bear no weight at the gospel-beam; therefore, to disesteem any of the poor members of Christ, as such, is to disesteem and undervalue Christ himself. Holiness in not less lovely to him because clothed with rags, nor unholiness less loathsome because it goes in a gay coat with a gold ring. Wickedness is abominable to Christ, and ought to be so to us, though it sits upon a throne, and holiness shines in his eye, (and may it in ours also,) though it lies upon a dunghill. 2. That which seems here to be condemned in particular, is the accepting of persons in judgment, upon the account of outward advantages, proceeding not according to the merits of the cause, in their ecclesiastical and civil judicatures, but according to external respects. Our apostle would by no means have them pay a deference to a rich man in judgment because of his riches, or gay attire; nor to pass over the poor saints in their assemblies, for want of the gold ring, and goodly apparel, seeing their faith clothed them with a greater and a more valuable glory, which renders them more honourable than any riches or gay clothing could do. And mark the apostle's vehement expostulation, which carries with it the force of a severe reprehension; **Are you not partial, and become judges of evil thoughts?** As if he had said, "Are ye not condemned in yourselves, and convinced in your own consciences that you do evil? Are ye not become judges of evil thoughts; that is, do you not pass judgment from your evil thoughts, in thinking the rich worthy of respect in judgment for his gorgeous attire, and outward greatness, and the poor fit to be despised for his outward meanness? Is not this an evil, a very evil thought in you, to think him the best man that weareth the best clothes, and him a vile person that is in vile apparel? From the whole learn, 1. That men are very prone to honour worldly greatness in general, yea, to give too great a preference to it, even in matters of judgment. Man is very often swayed in judgment by the power, pomp, and splendour of men; we are apt to think that they that are worth most are most worthy: thus men, good men, may mis-judge of men; but thus to accept the persons of men, either in spiritual or civil judgment, is a provoking sin. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/burkitts-expository-notes-with-practical-observations-on-the-nt/james/2#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/burkitts-expository-notes-with-practical-observations-on-the-nt/james/2#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/burkitts-expository-notes-with-practical-observations-on-the-nt/james/2","name":"James 2 - Study King James Bible with burkitts expository notes with practical observations on the nt","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/burkitts-expository-notes-with-practical-observations-on-the-nt/james/2#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read James 2 with burkitts expository notes with practical observations on the nt commentary. 1 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. 2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/burkitts-expository-notes-with-practical-observations-on-the-nt/james/2#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/burkitts-expository-notes-with-practical-observations-on-the-nt/james/2"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/burkitts-expository-notes-with-practical-observations-on-the-nt/james/2#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/burkitts-expository-notes-with-practical-observations-on-the-nt","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/burkitts-expository-notes-with-practical-observations-on-the-nt","name":"burkitts expository notes with practical observations on the nt"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/burkitts-expository-notes-with-practical-observations-on-the-nt/james","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/burkitts-expository-notes-with-practical-observations-on-the-nt/james","name":"James"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/burkitts-expository-notes-with-practical-observations-on-the-nt/james/2","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/burkitts-expository-notes-with-practical-observations-on-the-nt/james/2","name":"2"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```