True Faith Knows No Partiality

Today, we live in a culture that excels at grading, sorting and valuing people. From the clothes we wear and the cars we drive to our academic credentials, professional titles and what we can offer to one another — and even down to our nationalities and physical appearance — human worth is constantly being calculated.

Tragically, the church is not immune to this worldly mindset. Fellow brothers and sisters sometimes judge one another (and even themselves) according to these external standards, erecting invisible walls between one another and dividing the body of Christ. More than that, this prejudice affects our witness for Christ when we view others through a worldly lens, deciding who might be more "deserving" or "convenient" to share the gospel with.

The Apostle James addresses this sin of partiality head-on in James 2:1–13. Having just exhorted believers to be doers of the word and not hearers only — specifically by actively loving those in need (1:19–27) — James illustrates exactly what this sin looks like within the local church. He describes the contrasting, discriminatory treatment of two men who enter the church, distinguished solely by their clothing and socio-economic status. And James passes a swift indictment on this behaviour: by treating people differently based on these external markers, believers make themselves judges with evil thoughts, dishonouring the very people Christ came to save (2:4–5). Within these verses, James shares two key Biblical truths with believers.

The Core Truth: There is No Partiality in Christ

The first (and central) Biblical truth of this passage is found straightaway in verse 1: that true, saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is utterly incompatible with partiality because there is absolutely no partiality in Christ.

When Jesus came into the world, He did not court the wealthy, the powerful or those of high social standing, but drew near to the lowly, the poor and the outcast. He had meals and spent time with the diseased, the prostitutes and the tax collectors. By doing so, God reveals how His saving grace reverses all worldly hierarchies. Christ came to save sinners — all sinners, without distinction. What a joyous and glorious truth this is for sinners like ourselves! That is why I love the lyrics sung in the song “O Come, All Ye Unfaithful”. Instead of calling those who have it all together, it speaks directly to the broken, the weary and the struggling, the very ones Christ died to save.

James therefore reminds us that showing partiality to each other is something that fundamentally contradicts the very nature of Christ who we claim to follow. When we catch a glimpse of the absolute, blinding glory of the crucified and risen Christ, all human distinctions fade into insignificance.

The Severity of the Sin of Partiality

For many of us, the act of showing partiality (or favouritism) is so deeply ingrained that it sometimes feels like an automatic reflex whenever we meet someone new. We routinely brush it aside and not give it a second thought because of how “normal” it is to do so. And what we normalise, we inevitably trivalise. But here, James confronts our complacency with the sobering truth of what Scripture calls it: sin. The sin of partiality is a sin that transgresses the law, just like any other sin, and is not one to be taken lightly.

James points us to the “royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’” (v8). When we show partiality, we are not just being discourteous; we commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors (v9). To further emphasise his point, James reminds us that we simply cannot pick and choose which parts of the law to obey. Think of how ridiculous it would be for someone accused of murder to stand before a judge and say, "But look at all the other laws I kept!". After all, the breaking of one law still makes the person a lawbreaker. In the same way, we cannot excuse our partiality by pointing to our good behaviour elsewhere. To keep the whole law but fail at this one point of partiality makes us guilty of breaking all of it (v10).

The Triumph of Mercy

James finally concludes by exhorting believers to show mercy as a means to overcoming our tendency to judge others (v13). In God’s rich mercy, we who were undeserved sinners and with nothing to offer, have been clothed with the righteousness of Christ and graciously invited into His kingdom. As recipients of this astonishingly radical act of mercy, how can we withhold this same mercy from others? May I encourage you to prayerfully reflect on the Beatitudes found in Matt 5:3-12 and allow the Holy Spirit to transform your heart so that we may grow to be a church that reflects a genuine Christ-like love for one another that knows no partiality.

Deacon Tan Jiayi