Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

1 John 4:20 (NIV)

If someone with a famous name, a well-known sports personality, movie star, or TV celebrity, were to walk into one of your worship services, they would doubtless have a warm welcome. Most members of the congregation would be eager to acknowledge their presence and, if possible, snatch a ‘hello’ or venture a handshake. Of course, such an individual should be greeted at church and made to feel welcome – but no more so than any other individual who might wander in.

In the days of the apostles, as the church was growing in understanding, in numbers and in diversity, some old attitudes persisted. Sometimes members needed to be directed back to scripture, to the gospel message, and the teachings of the apostles, in order to eliminate wrong thinking. One such area was the inapt practice of favouritism (James 2:1-4). 

James, pastor of the Jerusalem church, directed his concerns to Jewish believers scattered throughout Judea and Samaria, following violent persecution in the time of the apostles (Acts 8:1). Some in the dispersion regarded themselves as superior, perhaps on account of their social status or strict Torah obedience. James reminds them that commitment to ‘the royal law’, one of the two principal hooks upon which the whole Torah is suspended (Mark 12:31), is all well and good, but, if they are guilty of favouritism, then the very law they boast in and place their reliance on pronounces judgement against them (James 2:9-10).  

Their confidence needed to be in the gospel: in the grace of God granted to all believers through faith in Jesus, not in the law. Believers should look to what James calls, ‘the law of liberty’ (James 2:12 ESV), that frees us from the domain of sin, false reliances, and wrong attitudes, and by which we extend fellowship, love and mercy to others, shouldering one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2); serving God ‘in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code’ (Romans 7:6 NIV).

The apostle Peter reminds us that God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34); therefore, neither should we show partiality. We are all of equal value and dignity in God’s sight.  However, there is one name that is above all names (Philippians 2:9) and it is the name of Jesus, that we carry. That’s why our behaviour is so important and why favouritism is so damaging when it finds its way into the church. It is our responsibility to not only hear the word of the gospel, to be warmed and comforted by it, but to put it into practice in our lives, letting the name of Jesus radiate through us. The distinctive mark of grace is love for the brethren (John 13:35).

The Holy Spirit imparts to us ‘the same mindset as Christ Jesus’ (Philippians 2:5 NIV), enabling us to speak and act as those who freely submit to ‘the law of liberty’ of which James speaks; the law of the new life that allows the mercy we have received, by the grace of God, to flow out from us in unjudging love, witnessing to the truth that, in the end, ‘Mercy triumphs over judgment’ (James 2:13 NIV).

Prayer
Heavenly Father, help us to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus, your Son, as we allow the Holy Spirit to work within us and as we faithfully carry and magnify his name, bearing daily witness to his love. Amen.