My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory, with respect of persons.
αδελφοι μου μη εν προσωποληψιαις εχετε την πιστιν του κυριου ημων ιησου χριστου της δοξης
9 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Why, he says, do you think highly of yourself? Or why does another despise you? Are we not all, great and small, one body? Since in essence we are one and are members of one another, why do you foolishly boast? Why are you ashamed of your brother? As he is your member, so you are his. Therefore there is great equality of honor.
Whoever does anything with partiality brings great shame upon himself. He fails to honor one of the same nature, and before that, he fails to honor himself. For one's treatment of someone similar returns beforehand to the very one who acts.
Somewhere among the holy prophets God says, “My glory I will not give to another” (Isa 42:8). How, then, will the Son be Lord of glory if He is in reality of another kind and alien to the essence of the Father?
For nothing created will be clothed with the glory that befits God alone. But the Son is the Lord of glory, for the Spirit of truth does not lie when He speaks this in the saints.
Therefore He is not created, but rather the image and express imprint of the Father, who is the Lord of glory. Of Him who possesses by nature all the characteristic properties of the Father, it must rightly be said, together with the rest, that He is also the Lord of glory.
Whoever does something while looking at faces fills himself with every kind of filth and defilement. By dishonoring his neighbor, he dishonors himself through that very act. For if someone does anything toward one like himself, his deed returns upon himself.
“My brethren, hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, without respect of persons.”
In many places of the divine Scripture, St. Metrophanes explains, partiality is condemned as a great transgression. “You shall not favor the poor, nor shall you defer to the face of the mighty,” says Moses (Lev 19:15). Again: “You shall not show partiality in judgment... and you shall not be afraid of the face of man” (Deut 1:17). According to the chief Apostle Peter, “God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34). According to Paul, “there is no partiality with Him” (Eph 6:9).
Thus the Lord Jesus Christ is without partiality, both as God and as man. “He shall not judge by glory, nor reprove by hearsay, but with righteousness He shall judge the lowly and reprove with uprightness the humble of the earth” (Isa 11:3-4).
Likewise, when teaching the Jews, He said, “Do not judge according to appearance,” that is, by person and partiality, “but judge with righteous judgment” (Jn 7:24).
Since, I say, the Master Christ is without partiality, everyone who sincerely believes in Him must do the same. If he is placed in a position to judge others, he must judge without partiality. He must give no preference to those who surpass others in honor and rank, boast of noble birth, or take pride in possessions and acquisitions.
For this reason the brother of God commands here that Christians have faith in Christ without preference of persons. If anyone acts with preference for a person, esteeming one and neglecting another, he sins grievously and becomes liable to condemnation. He dishonors a brother of the same nature as himself.
Before dishonoring his brother, he dishonors himself. For when we dishonor men like us by nature, the dishonor rises back to ourselves. More than this, the dishonor of our brethren rises to Christ Himself, since He receives it as done to Himself and says, “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me” (Mt 25:40).
We note that James here calls the Lord “Jesus Christ of glory,” that is, of the Godhead. Gregory the Theologian has the same meaning in mind in the apostolic phrase, “the Father of glory” (Eph 1:17). Theophylact also gives the same interpretation.
When, in answer to the Lord’s question to the Apostles, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter replied, “the Christ of God” (Lk 9:20), one must understand here “the Christ of glory,” not merely a glorious or glorified Christ.
Metrophanes of Smyrna says that the brother of God gives here, in the phrase “our Lord Jesus Christ of glory,” an excellent image of equality. Paul likewise said, “Had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor 2:8).
St. Cyril of Alexandria also cites this saying: “We find these saints calling the Son the glory of God the Father, even after He became man. And James, though not numbered among His disciples, says, ‘My brethren, hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory without respect of persons.’”
Thus, according to the word of this holy Father, obedience must be rendered to the Father, whom we do not see, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the glory of the Fathe[...].
The Apostle has pointed to charitable love for the poor and unfortunate (Jas 1:27) as the expression of one property of true piety. Its first foundation is undoubtedly faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, since without this faith piety cannot properly be Christian piety.
Unfolding this feature of piety, namely love for the poor, the Apostle shows in greater detail how inconsistent partiality is with it. He means the preference of the rich over the poor, and shows how contrary this is to the perfect law, the law of liberty (Jas 1:25; Jas 2:12).
“My brethren”: compare the note on Jas 1:2.
“Have faith in Jesus Christ”: that is, as the first foundation of Christian piety and worship of God, expressed especially in charitable love toward the poor and unfortunate.
“The Lord of glory”: this is a deliberate addition. It may indicate the exalted disposition of spirit which disciples and followers of the Lord of glory must possess. It may also inspire due reverence toward the instructions and exhortations which the Apostle gives in the name and on behalf of the Lord of glory.
Or it may show the utter absurdity of preferring the rich, the glorious of this world, over the poor before the face of the Lord of glory. This is the matter he immediately discusses.
“Without respect of persons”: without partiality, as he explains further by an example.
“For whoever does anything with partiality dishonors himself. He shows disrespect toward one akin to himself, and first of all disrespect toward himself. For the character of actions toward one like oneself passes also to the one who acts” (Theophylact).
Having spoken at the end of the first chapter about the care of widows and orphans, the Apostle now speaks of the poor, of unjust treatment toward them, and of partiality in general.
Persuading his readers to put aside partiality and the preference of the rich over the poor, he reminds them of God’s chosen ones. In both the Old Testament, among the prophets, and the New, among the Apostles, they were chiefly poor in the world, yet rich in faith.
“God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong” (1 Cor 1:27), says the Apostle Paul.
That wealth often does not lead to the glory of God is shown quite often by examples in Scripture (see Lk 12:21; 1 Tim 6:9). The Apostle James shows that even among Christians there were rich people unworthy of the name of Christian.
Yet it was precisely to such persons that preference was often shown, and even in assemblies. Truly, this was an action done neither according to conscience nor according to discernment.
See Jas 1:27.
Faith in Jesus Christ makes all equal. Those who believe in Christ Jesus are all children of God by the grace of regeneration, and therefore they are brothers among themselves.
In Christ Jesus there is no distinction between noble and lowborn, rich and poor. This distinction exists in ordinary life, but it has no place in the Church of Christ.
Therefore every believer must be treated with equal honor and love, whoever he may be, noble or lowborn, rich or poor. To prefer some to others in this matter would be partiality, which is intolerable in the society of believers in Christ Jesus, the Lord of glory.
Before the majesty of His glory every human glory grows dim, as does every outward superiority of some over others.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 15 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS