James 2:1-13 takes up a topic that was noted in early Christianity, and especially in Palestine: discrimination in favor of the rich. This occured in synagogues and in courts of law; in Palestine, synagogues also functioned as tribunals. The rabbis themselves spoke against special treatments given to the rich since even the Torah admonishes the Jew to be impartial in judgment like God.
The text of James 2:1-13 can be divided as follows:
- 1-4 In being partial towards the rich, the community creates discrimination within itself
- 5-7 In discriminating against the poor, these are insulted, and yet God has honored them Himself
- 8-11 When the community discriminates against the poor, it transgresses the whole Law
- 12-13 Conclusion: Act as people who are about to be judged through the Law of Freedom.
Internally, these four parts are linked to one another through key words. Click on the illustration for a bigger view.
Note the key words for "playing favorites" (1.12), rich and poor (2.5.6), various forms for "judge" and "judgment" (4.6.12.13), law (8.9.10.11.12) which when taken with the recurrences for the verb "to do" (8.12) links vv. 8-13 to the preceding section on "Hearing and Doing the Word" (1:22-25). At the same time, the expression "you do well" (v. 
anticipates the following section on "Fruitful Faith and Empty Faith" (2:14-26)
James 2:1-4.
What some of our modern translations render as "favoritism" (NIV) or "to show partiality" (NAB) is actually a Greek word that is formed from "prosopon" (face) and the verb "lambanein" (to accept) and denotes the acceptance (or rejection) of someone on the basis of appearance. We mentioned above that in synagogues and tribunals, the rich were favored, because these are the ones who can give benefices and initiate lawsuits. There was also the temptation to make wealthy converts and showing special reverence to the rich was seen negatively as a demeaning way of
soliciting funds. James makes it clear to his audience that to show partiality in favor of the rich is to act as judges "with evil intentions" (v.4) besides introducing cause for division in the community.
James 2:5-7.To drive his message home, James points out two things: (a) by showing partiality in favor of the rich, the assembly would be dishonoring the poor whom God honors (vv.5-7), and (b) to dishonor the poor this way is to transgress the whole law.
"Did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to be inheritors of the Kingdom promised to those who love him?" The rhetorical question calls to mind the macharisms of Jesus: "Blessed are you poor because the kingdom of God is for you" (Luke 6:20ff). Mary describes the mighty deeds of God in terms of saving deeds done for the poor and lowly: "He has scattered the proud in their conceit and raised up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and has driven the rich away empty-handed" (Luke 1:52-53). The Torah and the psalms proclaim a God who listens to those whom society neglects, the lowly and the poor. And this is a conviction echoed in James' declaration that if the poor are so honored by God, then to be impartial against them is to dishonor them, and indirectly, to dishonor God Himself.
James 2:8-11. It is not surprising then that James follows up the idea with a discussion of the relationship of partiality to the transgression of the Law. "if you play favorites" James says, "you are committing a sin and you are exposed by the law as transgressors" (v.9). The "law" that he mentions here is a reference to what he calls "the regal law" -- the law of the Anointed? -- and what Paul calls the summation of the law: "Love your neighbor as you love yourself". James points out two examples from the ten commandments -- adultery and murder -- that are both summed up in the "regal law". If the transgression of just one these is the transgression of all the laws expressed in the ten words, how much more when one transgresses the command that Jesus puts forward as the "other" greatest commandment? And so James admonishes his audience to act knowing that they are to be judged according to the law that makes one free.
James 2:12-13. James sums up all that he has been saying in this section with a warning: Everyone will be judged (cf. v. 12), and an unmerciful judgment will be rendered upon those who have not done mercy. Allussion is here made to the mercy and compassion that God shows to the poor and the lowly. James' warning recalls what he has been saying about being partial against the poor while at the same time putting forward compassion towards them as the proper attitude. He will later on follow this up with another discussion about the proper attitude towards the poor within the context of faith (see James 2:14-26).
Note on the Liturgy of Sunday XXIII
The liturgical selection for the second reading of the XXIII Sunday of OT B is James 2:1-4.5. The selection gives climactic prominence to verse 5 about God's election of the poor. Seen this way, the text expresses the Church's preferential love for the poor.
In its various forms - material deprivation, unjust oppression, physical and psychological illness and death - human misery is the obvious sign of the inherited condition of frailty and need for salvation in which man finds himself as a consequence of original sin. This misery elicited the compassion of Christ the Savior, who willingly took it upon himself and identified himself with the least of his brethren. Hence, those who are oppressed by poverty are the object of a preferential love on the part of the Church which, since her origin and in spite of the failings of many of her members, has not ceased to work for their relief, defense, and liberation through numerous works of charity which remain indispensable always and everywhere. (CCC 2448)
The theme of the selection coincides well with that of Psalm 146:7-9, the responsorial psalm for the day's Mass.
