Note: The end of 1:26 and verse 27 will be addressed later at which point the subjects (the tongue and helping the brethren) will be discussed in greater detail.

Verses one through seven: Note in verse 1 that we are to operate in (live by–Rom. 1:17) the same faith as Jesus Christ (“the faith OF our Lord Jesus Christ”). In all things we are to use His faith that He has given us. This is graphically brought out in Matthew 14:12 where he tells us: “He that believes in Me, the works that I do he shall do, and greater works than these will he do.” Mighty works, including signs, miracles and wonders, are performed by believers using faith. We cannot do the miracles or be “doers of the Word/work” (1:22,25-see previous posting) without Christ’s faith working through us.

In the 7 verses covered in this posting the Lord is simply telling us not to play favorites in the church. This is very easy to do especially when there are two extremes of socio-economic status represented within the body–very rich and very poor. In verse 4 the Lord tells us that to show favoritism is to have “evil thoughts.” Notice the word “of” in the sentence. “Of” often means ownership, depending on the context. We saw this in verse 1 relative to the faith “of” Jesus. In verse 7 the context tells us that the evil thoughts belong to the one who has “respect of persons.” In Acts 10:34 we are assured that God Himself “is no respecter of persons.” God’s respect for an individual is awarded strictly on the basis of obedience to His Word, which is obedience to Him in that His Word is His will. In verse 5 the Lord teaches us more than one lesson. He notes that the poor person who is “rich in faith” is an heir of the “promise” (salvation) if the person “Loves Him.” Here, as in other places, He highlights the relationship between faith, the Word/Law and love for Him. For example, in John 14:15 He said: “If you love Me, keep my commandments.” In 1 John 5:3 the apostle tells us, “for this is (prove that we have) the love of  God, that we keep His commandments.” And in 2 John 1:6 we find that “this is love–that we walk after (obey) His commandments.” In other places the Lord notes that the poor are much more likely to love and obey God that the rich. He also points out that all things are possible through faith.

A sociological study relative to mankind’s tendency to treat rich people differently than poor people was conducted several years ago. In this study a man driving a new, expensive car would stop at red light and, when the light turned green, would deliberately hesitate until someone behind him honked their horn. Another person in the car would time the episode with a stop watch. This was done a number of times in various places. In each instance the time lapse between the light turning green and the first horn blast was recorded.

Then the same people, driving a old, inexpensive car did exactly the same thing–hesitating at green lights and waiting for a horn to blow. It was found that people had far less patience with the driver of the inexpensive car than they did with the driver of the expensive car. This attitude is as old as man. Recall that when Jesus told the disciples that a rich man entering the kingdom would be more difficult than a camel (animal or rope) passing through the eye of a needle (sewing instrument or small opening in a city gate), the disciple were astounded, asking, “Who then can be saved?” The rich were thought to be special in the eyes of God. Not surprisingly, preferential treatment of the wealthy can still be found in all societies, even among church people. Let us work to keep this attitude out of our thought system, for to show respect based on social status causes us to blaspheme the name of God. L.J.