What Does James 2:1 Mean?
My brothers, do not hold the trust of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, the Lord of weight, by receiving faces.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.THE KEY
The trust placed in the Lord of glory cannot be separated from how people are received: “respect of persons” carries the image of receiving a face.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks now: trust in Jesus, the Lord whose name carries weight and honor, sits uneasily beside ranking people by appearance or status. The way you receive people reveals what your trust gives weight to.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that you can honor the Lord of glory while treating some people as lesser because of their appearance or status.
THE ROOT
προσωπολημψίαις
prosōpolēmpsiais
GROWS FROM
προσωπ-
Face, person, visible presence.
“receiving faces” in this verse is prosōpolēmpsiais. The word προσωπολημψία (prosōpolēmpsia, partiality) combines πρόσωπον (prosōpon, face or person) with λαμβάνω (lambanō, receive): its image is “receiving a face.” English can make “respect of persons” sound like abstract courtesy, while the Greek exposes reception shaped by the visible person.
ALSO GROWS
prosōpon: Face; person.
πρόσωπον
This is the face/person element inside προσωπολημψία, making its image of face-receiving visible.
prosōpolēmpteō: Show partiality.
προσωπολημπτέω
This related verb carries the same face/person element into the act James names in 2:9.
πίστις
pístis
GROWS FROM
πιστ-
Trust and reliance; what is trusted or dependable.
The Greek word πίστεις (písteis, trusts) belongs to the same family as the verb for trusting and the adjective for being dependable. The verse places this trust alongside partiality, so what is trusted and what is given weight cannot be pulled apart.
ALSO GROWS
pisteuō: Trust; believe.
πιστεύω
This verb gives the action of placing trust that is named by πίστις.
pistos: Trustworthy; firm, steady.
πιστός
This adjective shows the dependable quality associated with the same trust-family.
δόξης
dóxēs
GROWS FROM
δοξ-
Honor, reputation, what is esteemed; weight.
The word δόξα (dóxa, glory) also carries honor and what is held in esteem. Calling Jesus “the Lord of glory” places the greatest weight in the verse on him, making selective regard for people newly visible.
ALSO GROWS
dóxa: Glory; honor; weight.
δόξα
This is the base form of the word translated “glory” in the verse.
doxazō: Glorify; honor.
δοξάζω
The verb shares the same stem and describes giving honor or weight.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s regard is not assigned by outward status, and trust in the LORD exposes status-based regard.
For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, the awe-inspiring, who does not lift up the face of any and does not take a bribe.Then Peter opened his mouth and said, In truth I have laid hold of this, that God lifts no one's face.For there is no partiality with God.THE THREAD
But if you receive faces, you miss the mark, and are exposed by the instruction as those who step across.The same face-receiving word family returns here as προσωπολημπτεῖτε (prosōpolēmpteite, you show partiality). James 2:1 names the divided posture; 2:9 makes that posture explicit.
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