Daily Bible Verses for 3/23/2017
Daily Verse(s)
Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?
Reading Notes
James continues his discussion about showing partiality. The next point James makes in his discussion is a logical argument. Which is, why show partiality to those who hate Jesus and seek to destroy Christians? It makes no sense for Christians to disregard the poor and seek after the rich. Here’s another way to put it. We as followers of Jesus should not in any way be chasing after the things of this world which have no eternal reward. And we should not be chasing it from people who are doing their best to destroy us. We do not set our sights on a world which hates Jesus and hates God’s word, the Bible. By doing this James is now appealing to common sense and logic. He is showing his readers their actions of showing partiality to the rich made no sense and in the long run had only hurt themselves and their Christian witness.
In addition, their partiality only furthered the persecution against them and other Christians alike. And this is true for our world today. James reminds his readers that it was the Jewish leaders and the rich who used the court system to take away the property and possessions of the poor. It was the Jewish leaders and the Gentile authorities who were blaspheming the name of Jesus, rebelling against God and attacking Christians. Therefore, it makes no sense for a child of God to show partiality to those who are in rebellion against God and seeking the destruction of Christians. Why would we who are the children of God and joint-heirs with Christ show partiality to a world system that is at enmity with God? Moreover, the poor were in no way involved with the activities to hurt Christians. Why should followers of Jesus then disobey God and persecute the very people whom God told them to watch over?