James expands on James 1:9-11 here and deals with the sin of favoritism. 

 Favoritism (prosopolempsia) literally means to “lift up face” or to “receive face”. It describes the basis of receiving someone based on external appearance.  It’s also interesting to note that 2:1 is the last time we see Jesus mentioned in this epistle. 

 The big idea here is that our faith leads us to not treat certain people better than others. In the rest of this chapter James will get at faith and actions of love being 2 sides of the same coin.  

Paul vs. James… 

o It has been argued that James and Paul are talking about 2 different points of faith. Paul is talking about entrance into a community (who’s in and who’s out) and James is talking about who’s already in and how to live your faith. Faith results in action. 

o If this is so Paul is saying trust is what puts you in but once you are “in” you need to walk the journey by embodying Christ’s faithfulness (James’ POV). Trust is just the starting line. 

o James and Paul both seem to be against easy-believism. The analogy of a marriage or a friendship (James 2:23) is fitting… If I simply believe I am married or someone’s friend and that as far as it goes, simply affirming that fact- what happens? If I am married or a friend I will invest in the relationship and live according to that. 

o “Works” in James are work of love (The Royal Law), “Works” in Paul are works of Torah that marked someone out as Jewish. 

o James and Paul both affirm actions that flow out of faith (faithfulness)… true faith results in action. See the end of Galatian and the fruit of the Spirit, See Romans 12 and the actions and mindset that come along with being a living sacrifice, See all that we covered in James today. 

o James and Paul might be talking about different situations but they agree that you are saved by faith and works that working together in love. True faith fulfills the Royal Law.