But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
Parallel translations
- WEB But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.
- BSB But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
- NKJV but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
- NASB But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the Law as violators.
- NLT But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
But to show partiality is to commit sin and stand convicted by the law as a transgressor. Favoritism is a clear breach of God's command to love.
Overview
James draws the verdict: partiality violates the law of love and so is genuine sin, convicting the offender as a lawbreaker. There is no neutral favoritism; it directly contradicts the command just cited. This sets up the following verses' teaching that any single violation makes one guilty before the whole law.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Lev 19:15Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.
- Jas 2:1–4My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
- John 8:9And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
- 1 Jn 3:4Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
- Rom 3:20Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
- John 16:8And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
- John 8:46Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?
- Gal 2:19For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
- Jude 1:15To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
- 1 Cor 14:24But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all:
- Rom 7:7–13What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
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Christ at the center
The wisdom from above and the royal law of love are the life of those who belong to 'our glorious Lord Jesus Christ' — faith in him made visible in works.
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Original language
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