With respect of persons. This partial respect of persons is several times condemned both in the Old and New Testament. St. James here speaks of it as it was committed in the assemblies, by which many understand the meetings of Christians, in[1] synagogues and places where they celebrated the divine... [ Continue Reading ]
[BIBLIOGRAPHY] In conventum vestrum, _Greek: eis ten sunagogen umon. Synagogue is also taken for a meeting of kings, judges, &c. See Matthew x. 17._... [ Continue Reading ]
Are become judges of (or with) unjust thoughts, [2] when against justice you favour the rich. Or, if in Church assemblies you discover a wrong and partial judgment in you minds and thoughts, by the high value and esteem you shew to the rich on account of their riches, and the contempt you have of po... [ Continue Reading ]
_If then you fulfil the royal law,...thou shalt love, &c. you do well. By these words, the apostle explains what he had said before of the particular respect paid to rich and powerful men, that if these were no more than some exterior marks paid them without any injustice or interior contempt of suc... [ Continue Reading ]
Is become guilty of all. It is certain these words are not to be taken merely according to the letter, nor in the sense which at first they seem to represent, as if a man by transgressing one precept of the law transgressed and broke all the rest: this appears by the very next verse, that a man may... [ Continue Reading ]
[BIBLIOGRAPHY] St. Augustine, Ep. lxvii. num. 16. p. 600. An forte quia plenitudo legis charitas est, qua Deus, proximusque diligitur, in quibus præceptis charitatis tota lex pendet et prophetæ, merito fit reus omnium, qui contra illam facit ex qua pendent omnia.... [ Continue Reading ]
_By the law of liberty; i.e. by the new law and doctrine of Christ. (Witham)_... [ Continue Reading ]
For judgment without mercy, &c. It is an admonition to them to fulfil, as he said before, the royal precept of the love of God and of our neighbour, which cannot be without being merciful to others. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. (Matthew v. 7.) --- And mercy exalteth itself... [ Continue Reading ]
Shall faith be able to save him? He now comes to one of the chief points of this epistle, to shew against the disciple of Simon, the magician, that faith alone will not save any one. We may take notice in the first place, that St. James in this very verse, supposes that a man may have faith, a true... [ Continue Reading ]
_Some men will say: Thou hast faith, and I have works. Shew me thy faith, &c. He confutes the same error, by putting them in mind that one can shew that he has faith, which is an interior virtue, only by good works, and that good works in a man shew also his faith; which is not to be understood, as... [ Continue Reading ]
_The devils also believe, and tremble. St. James compares indeed faith without other virtues and good works, to the faith of devils: but comparisons must never be stretched farther than they are intended. The meaning is, that such a faith in sinners is unprofitable to salvation, like that of devils,... [ Continue Reading ]
Was not Abraham....justified by works? We may observe, that St. James here brings the very same examples of Abraham and Rahab, which it is likely he knew some had miscontrued in St. Paul, as if the great apostle of the Gentiles had taught that faith alone was sufficient to salvation. But St. Paul n... [ Continue Reading ]