CHAPTER II. view, which is on the whole preferable, it is parallel to eh. iii. I. The faith of our Vere. 1-13.-WARNING AGAINST RESPECT Lord. "The faith" here may be either (1) OF P1'RSONS. objective (fides quai creditur), as in the Ver. 1.-The transl(ltion is doubtful, two Epistle of St. J.ude, 3, 20; or (2) subjective renderings being possible. (1) That of the (}ides qua creditur), "Have the faith which A.V. and R.V., "Hold not the faith of our believes in," etc. (cf. Mark xi. 22). Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with Lord Jesus Christ. Exactly the same title respect of persons," (2) That of the R.V. occurs in Acts xv. 26, in the letter written m(lrgin and Westcott and Hort, " Do ye, in from the Apostolic Council to the Syrian o.ccepting persons, hold the faith of our Churches-a letter which was probably dl'.a. wn Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory?" up by St. Ja.mes himself. The Lord of glory, According to this view, the seotion com- The same title is given to our Lord in 1 Uor. mences with a question, as does the follow- ii. 8, o.nd seems to be founded on Ps. xxiv. ing one, ver, H. According to the former 7, etc. The genitive, Tijs 3J{71s, must depend THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. [en. II. 1-20.
on Kupfou. in spite of the intervening 'l11<Toii In goodly apparel. The se.me phrase is Xpurrov. Similar trajeotions oocur elsewhere· rendering "gay clothing" in ver. a. Tllo e.g. Heb. xii. 11, wher~ Bu,a,oo-6.,.,,s depend: ve.riation is quite unnecessary, the Greek 011 1<ap1rov, and, e.ooordmg to a posllible view being identical in both places, and rightly 1,uk~_ii. 14 (see_ Hort's 'Greek Testament,: rendered by R.V. "fine clothing." It is ml. 11:: appendix: p. 56).. _Bengal's ,·iew, ourious to find a simile.r needless variation !lrnt '.:'!' ~0{11! rs m appos1i1on with Kuplou ~n the Vulgate, which has in 1Je1te candid11 . l71<TouXp1!M'ou can scA.rcely he mA.int.ainl'd, m ver. 2, and 1JeSt.l praiclara in ver. 8. ID the absence of any parallel expression Ver. 4.-The copula (Ka.I) of the Received. elsewhere.. Respeot of pe?BOnl (<Iv 7rpO<To,1ro- Text is certainly spurious. It is found in A'l11Vfai,) ;_ ht:ernlly, re.ception of face,s. The K, ~. but is _wantiug in N, A, B, C, Vulgate, Fubste.ntive 1s found here and three times in Syr1ao, Coptic. B also omits the nege.tive St. P~~l'8 Epistles-Rom. ii. 11; Epb. vi. 9; ov (so Westcott c.nd Hort margin). If this Col. m. 25_; the verb (..-po<T..,TroATl'IM'<'iv) manuscript is followed, the sentence must only here ID ver. 9; ..-pO<T..,1roAi,1r.-11 s in be read as a direct statement and not 118 Acts x. 3-l. None of them occur in the interrogative. But if (with 'most mll.nu- LXX,-, wh_ere. howe_ver, we find .,,po<Twrov scriJ?ts and editions) the interrogative be Aau.~av.,v m Lev. x1x. 15; Me.l. ii. 9, etc. retamed, the translation is still doubtful. (cf. Luke xx. 21), for the Hebrew o•i;i Niiil. A1E1<pf611.,.• <Iv i!auTo'is may mean: (I) "Are Bishop Lightfoot has pointed out (;Gai~- ye not divided in your own mind?" so the tians,' p. 10S) that, in the Old Testament Syriao and R.V., which would imply that the expression is a neutral one, not neces: this respect of persons showed that they Earily involving any idea of partinlity, and were halting between God and the world- more often used in a good than in a bed in fact, •double-minded. (2) "Do ye not sense. "When it becomes an independent make distinctions among yourselves?" R.V. Greek phrase, however, the bad sense attaches margin: this gives an excellent sense, but to it, owing to the secondary meaning of is wanting in authority, as there appears to .,,p&<T..,1rov as • a =k,' so that ,rpO<Ta,1rov be no other instance forthcoming of the Mu.~cf.v,w signifies • to regard the external passive with this meaning. (3) "Did yon circumstances of a man '-his rank, wealth, not doubt among yourselves?" this (doubt) etc.-as opposed to his real intrinsic ch&- is the almost invariable meaning of 3,aKpl- J'IMlter. ThllB in the New Testament it has voµ.a.i in the New Testament, and the word always a bad sense." It is exactly this has already been used in this sense by St. regard to external eireu:rnstances against James (i. 6). Hence this rendering is to which St. James is warning his readers; be preferred. So Buther, l:'lumptre, and and the fact that our Lord JeSUB Christ Farrar, the latter of whom explains the had himself been known, when on earth, as paBBage as follows : " It shows doubt to act no respecter of persons (Lnke XL 21), would as thongh Christ had never promised his give point to his warning. The plural (lv kingdom to the poor, rich in faith ; and r.po<T..,...0A71,j,,a1s) is perhaps used to include wicked reasonings to argue mentally that the different kinds of manifestations of the the poor m,l/,llt be less worthy of honour sin. than the rich." J'udges of evil thoughts Yers. 2-4.-Proof that they were guilty (Kp,.,.al o,a>..rryurµii,v ,rov11pwv); sc. their own of rapeet of persO'IUl. Observe the insight (thoughts), which caused them to respect which this passage gives us into the cha- persons. 'l'hus the phrase is equivalent to racter of the e.ssemblies of the early Chris- "evil-thinking judges." (Qn the genitive, tians, showing (l) that the entrance of a see Winer,' Gra.m. of N. T. Greek,' p. 233; rich man we.a not entirely unknown, but and cf. eh. i. 25, a.Kpod-r11s w1A11<Tµ.ovi,,.) (2) that it was probably exceptional, be- Vere. 5-9.-Proo/ of the BinfulnesB of cause so mnch was ma.de of him. Notice respect of persons. (3) <Tuva.-y,,,.,,-1, used here, and here only in Ver. 5.-Hearken (a1<oo<TaTE). This he.a the New Testament, of a Christian assembly been noticed o.s a coincidence with the for worship ( cf. Ignatius,• Ad Polyc.,' c. iv., speech of St. Jo.mes in Acts xv. 13. It is,, flu1tv6npov <Tvvtryorya.l -yu,fr6r,,<Tav). (On the however, too slight to be wo1th much. (of. distinction between <Tuva-y~ and IKIU\.'7<T!a, Acts vii. 2; xiii. 16; uii. 1). For Toi l<O<Tµ.ou 'l'OOTOu, read 'l'<p KO<Tµq, (M, A, B', C1), and the hiHtory of the terms and their use, see o.n interesting section in Trench's • Syno- "poor 11s to the world;" perhaps "in the n yms,' p. l.) estimation of the world." These God chose Yer. 2.-A man with a gold ring (l&n,p (to be) rich in faith, and heirs of the king- xpuuaio.1<-r~/1.,os). The word is found here dom, etc. The kingdom; mentioned hero ooly. 'l'he Engli1,h Versions (both A.V. only by St. James (and even here, N1, A and R.V.) needleosly limit its meaning. read l1ra-y-yeA!ar); cf. 116µ.ov /3a.<T1/l.11<611 in ver. 8, The man was probably bedecked with a Whioh he hath promised. As Dea.n Plump-- nuIJ.Jber of rings, a.nd bed not one only. tre has pointed out, •• it is scc.rcely possible OH. U. 1-26.] 'l'llE OENEUAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. 29