Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
James 2:1-13, The gold ring and the good seat
James forbids favoritism in the assembly. A rich man with a gold ring is given a good seat and a poor man in dirty clothes is told to stand, though it is the rich who drag believers into court and slander the noble name; the royal law of love rules out partiality, and mercy triumphs over judgment.
James 2:1-13, in every translation this tool compares.
James attacks favoritism in the Christian gathering, using the scene of a well-dressed rich visitor given a good seat while a poor one is sent to the floor. He points out that God has chosen the poor to be rich in faith, while it is the rich who oppress believers and haul them before judges. Showing partiality breaks the command to love one's neighbor, and those who show no mercy will receive none.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/synagogue\/","n":"The synagogue","s":"The local gathering place where Jews met on the Sabbath to pray and study Scripture. It was also a community center, run by people of standing.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/honor-and-shame\/","n":"Honor before a crowd","s":"Public standing was the currency of the ancient Mediterranean. People competed for honor and dreaded being shamed in front of others.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/patrons-and-benefactors\/","n":"Patrons, clients and benefactors","s":"Favors in the Roman world came with strings. A patron gave help and protection, the client paid it back in loyalty and public honor, and rulers who gave gifts to the public were hailed as benefactors.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/roman-trials-and-appeal\/","n":"Roman trials, the judgment seat and appeal","s":"A Roman governor heard a case only when someone brought a formal charge, questioned the accused himself, and gave sentence from the judgment seat. In Judea only Rome could put a man to death, and a Roman citizen could ask for his case to go to Caesar.","r":""}
The word for meeting is literally synagogue, used either because James addresses the whole Jewish community or because Jewish Christian congregations thought of themselves as messianic synagogues (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes; Wright and Bird); the ESV Study Bible says it is probably a Christian house church. At Rome gold rings marked the equestrian or the senatorial class (the cultural backgrounds notes; Keener). The cultural backgrounds article on dress calls the tunic "The only item of clothing the poorest people may have owned", often dirty. The best synagogue seats were on raised platforms (the cultural backgrounds notes); the nearer the front, the greater the honor (the Zondervan dictionary). Roman law openly favored the rich (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes). The royal law may recall an imperial edict, which outranked the justice of the aristocracy (Keener), or, probably, the law King Jesus himself endorsed (Wright's commentary). Who drags them into court and slanders the name is read differently: Sadducean aristocrats, one of whom later had James executed (the cultural backgrounds notes), the Jewish aristocracy (Wright and Bird), the rich who feared the new messianic movement (Wright's commentary), or rich unbelievers in general (the ESV Study Bible).
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, introduction to James 2:1-13, and on James 2:1, 2:2, 2:3, 2:4, 2:6, 2:7, 2:8 and 2:9-10
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on James 2:1, 2:2, 2:3, 2:6 and 2:7
- ESV Study Bible, study notes on James 2:2-4 and 2:6-7
- N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World, ch. 31, The Argument of James, section 3
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, article Dress and Fashion in the Greco-Roman World
- J. D. Douglas and Merrill C. Tenney, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, entry seat
- N. T. Wright, Early Christian Letters for Everyone, comment on James 2:1-13
