James 2:1-7
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 2
Rich and Poor in the Christian Assembly.[a] 1 My brethren, since you are believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, you must never practice favoritism. 2 Suppose a man wearing a gold ring and expensive clothes comes into your assembly as well as a poor man dressed in shabby clothes. 3 If you lavish special attention on the one wearing the expensive clothes and say, “Please sit in this good seat,” while to the poor man you say, “Stand over there,” or “Sit on the floor at my feet,” 4 have you not shown favoritism among yourselves and judged by wrongful standards?
5 Listen to me, my beloved brethren. Did not God choose those who are poor[b] in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him? 6 But you have humiliated the poor man. Furthermore, is it not the rich who oppress you? Are they not the ones who drag you into court? 7 Is it not they who blaspheme the noble name that was invoked over you?
Read full chapterFootnotes
- James 2:1 Remaining impartial is the most difficult as well as the most significant demand of the Bible and the Gospel. But even in the liturgical assembly notables are often honored because of their fortune and their culture, while the poor are sometimes put down. The Gospel cannot stand for such discrimination. On the contrary, it calls for all to be poor.
- James 2:5 Poor: the poor of the Lord, who relied on God alone and were in turn loved by God and under his protection (see Ps 35:10; Isa 61:1; Mt 5:3; 11:5; Lk 6:20; 1 Cor 1:17-20).
