James 2:6

But ye have despised the poor Better, ye have dishonoured, or done dishonour to, the word implying the outward act that expressed contempt. The Greek tense may point to the special instance just given as a supposed fact, "Ye dishonoured.…" The pronoun is emphatic, "God chose the poor, yeput them to shame."

Do not rich men oppress you Better, lord it over you. The word is like, though not identical with, those used in Matthew 20:25; 1 Peter 5:3, and means literally, to act the potentate over others. As a rule the wealthier class in Judæa tended to Sadduceeism (Joseph. Ant.xiii. 10. § 6), and St James's reference to their treatment of the disciples agrees with the part that sect took, including, as it did, the aristocracy of the priesthood, in the persecutions of the earlier Chapter s of the Acts (James 4:1; James 4:6; James 5:17).

and draw you before the judgment seats?] Better, drag you to courts of Justice. The same noun appears in 1 Corinthians 6:2; 1 Corinthians 6:4. The Greek verb implies violence, as in Acts 21:30. The words may point either to direct persecutions, such as that of Acts 9:1-2, or to the indirect vexation of oppressive lawsuits. In the Greek the verb is preceded by an emphatic pronoun, "Is it not theythat drag you." There seems, at first, a want of logical coherence. The rich man first appears as gaining undue prominence in the assembly of Christians, and then as one of a class of persecutors and blasphemers. This, however, is just the point on which St James lays stress. Men honoured the rich Christian, not because he was a Christian, but because he was rich, i. e. because he was connected with a class, which, as such, had shewn itself bitterly hostile to them.