For the purposes of this article, we will dive into the passage of focus in James 2.

James 2:1-13

My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. ² For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, ³ and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” ⁴ have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? ⁵ Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? ⁷ Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?

⁸ If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. ⁹ But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. ¹¹ For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹² So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. ¹³ For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

(NASB 1995)

Here we see the rich and the poor in how they so often are throughout history in this world and up to our current day. Even so, the perception of who receives the “good place” and who is to be at the “footstool” easily goes beyond rich and poor. In our day, it could be the perceived advantaged and the disadvantaged, the privileged and the oppressed. God’s Word cuts across it all and directs us to avoid such distinctions. If we do not, we sin.

To paint this point more starkly, I will take a portion of the passage above and switch out the descriptions of the rich and poor with those receiving favoritism in our day.

the following is altered to illustrate

My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. ² For if a man comes into your assembly with a Rolex and a tailored suit, and there also comes in a man in worn-out clothes, ³ and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the suit, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the other man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” ⁴ have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? ⁵

OR

My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. ² For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold chain and a well-manicured beard, and there also comes in a wild-looking man with frizzy hair and mangled beard, ³ and you pay special attention to the one who is well-manicured, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the frizzy man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” ⁴ have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? ⁵ 

Sometimes it helps to paint a picture using more common elements of our day. Ask yourself: do you show favoritism? Do you avoid some while engaging others?

The above could be further rewritten to illustrate any number of inequalities we have today in our society such as based on skin-tone or membership in a particular group.

Examine yourself and ask yourself the tough questions. Do you discriminate against your fellow man? What will you do to correct it?

To be clear, not taking corrective action would be the wrong choice.