SEV Biblia, Chapter 2:5
Hermanos míos amados, oíd: ¿No ha elegido Dios los pobres de este mundo, para que sean ricos en fe, y herederos del Reino que prometi a los que le aman?
Clarke's Bible Commentary - James 2:5
Verse 5. Hath not God chosen the poor of this world] This seems to refer to Matt. xi. 5: And the poor have the Gospel preached to them. These believed on the Lord Jesus, and found his salvation; while the rich despised, neglected, and persecuted him. These had that faith in Christ which put them in possession of the choicest spiritual blessings, and gave them a right to the kingdom of heaven. While, therefore, they were despised of men, they were highly prized of God.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 5. Hearken, my beloved brethren , etc.] As to a matter of importance, and worthy of attention and regard; being an instance of the divine conduct towards the poor, and carries in it a strong argument against respect of persons: hath not God chosen the poor of this world ? this interrogative is equal to a strong affirmative; and the sense is, that God has chosen the poor of this world; and which is to be understood, not of the choice of them to an office, either in church or state; though sometimes this has been the case, as the instances of David, and the apostles of Christ, show; nor merely to the Gospel, and the outward means of grace, though the poor have the Gospel preached unto them; nor of the effectual calling, though this is true; but of eternal election, which is the act of God the Father, and passed before the foundation of the world; and is an act of sovereign grace, and is irrespective of faith, holiness, and good works; and is the source of all grace, and remains immutable and irrevocable: now the objects of this are, the poor of this world; that is, who are poor with respect to the things of this world, but not with respect to the things of another world; for they are chosen to be heirs of a kingdom, and shall enjoy it; though these are not all chosen by God, nor are they the only persons that are chosen; there are some poor men that are not chosen, and are miserable here and hereafter; and there are some rich men that are chosen; but for the most part, or generally speaking, they are not many mighty, nor noble, but the poorer sort, which God has made choice of to partake both of grace and glory. It may be the apostle has some peculiar respect to the poor among the Gentiles, whom God had chosen; it was usual with the Jews to call the Gentiles the world, and they were Jews the apostle now writes to, and who were scattered abroad among the Gentiles; and therefore he might very aptly call them this world, among whom they lived; and suggest to them, that God had chosen some of the Gentiles, as well as of the Jews, and even some of the poorer sort of them; and it was usual with the Jews to distinguish between lary yyn[ , the poor of Israel, and lw[ yyn[ , the poor of the world, or lw[h twmwa yyn[ the poor of the nations of the world f20 : the Alexandrian copy, and some others, leave out the word this, and so the Syriac and Arabic versions, which makes the phrase more agreeable to the Jewish way of speaking. The Gentiles, in common, were despicable with the Jews, and especially the poor of them; and yet God chose these: rich in faith ; not that they were so, or were considered as such, when chosen, and so were chosen because of their faith; for then also they were, or were considered as heirs of the kingdom, which would be monstrously absurd; and yet there is as much reason, from the text, for the one, as for the other; but the sense is, that they were chosen to be rich in faith; and so the Syriac version supplies in the next clause, that they might be heirs; which if it had been placed before this clause also, would have been right; election to grace is signified in the one, and election to glory in the other: men are chosen, not because they do believe, or shall believe, but that they might believe; and which faith they have in consequence of election; and which when they have, they are rich: faith is a rich precious grace itself; it is a part of the riches of grace, and is more worth than thousands of gold and silver; and it is the means of receiving and enjoying much riches, as Christ the pearl of great price himself, and all spiritual blessings along with him; such as the rich robe of his righteousness, full pardon of sin, which is according to the riches of his grace, and adoption, which makes men heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, and even the eternal inheritance itself, both the promise of it, and a right unto it; all which are said to be received by faith; and therefore believers, how poor soever they may be, to this world's goods, are truly rich men: and heirs of the kingdom ; of glory, which is prepared for all the chosen ones, from the foundation of the world; and is freely given to them by their Father, and to which they are called in the effectual calling; and hence they are made kings and priests unto God, and have crowns and thrones provided for them: the Alexandrian copy reads, heirs of the promise which he hath promised to them that love him; that is, which God has promised them, as the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions read; not that their love to God is the cause of this kingdom, or of their choice to it, or of the promise of it to them; all which flow from the love of God to them; but this is descriptive of the persons who shall enjoy it, and may expect to enjoy it, as in ( James 1:12).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-13 - Those who profess faith in Christ as the Lord of glory, must no respect persons on account of mere outward circumstances an appearances, in a manner not agreeing with their profession of being disciples of the lowly Jesus. St. James does not here encourag rudeness or disorder: civil respect must be paid; but never such as to influence the proceedings of Christians in disposing of the offices of the church of Christ, or in passing the censures of the church, or in any matter of religion. Questioning ourselves is of great use in ever part of the holy life. Let us be more frequent in this, and in ever thing take occasion to discourse with our souls. As places of worshi cannot be built or maintained without expense, it may be proper tha those who contribute thereto should be accommodated accordingly; but were all persons more spiritually-minded, the poor would be treate with more attention that usually is the case in worshippin congregations. A lowly state is most favourable for inward peace and for growth in holiness. God would give to all believers riches an honours of this world, if these would do them good, seeing that he ha chosen them to be rich in faith, and made them heirs of his kingdom which he promised to bestow on all who love him. Consider how ofte riches lead to vice and mischief, and what great reproaches are throw upon God and religion, by men of wealth, power, and worldly greatness and it will make this sin appear very sinful and foolish. The Scriptur gives as a law, to love our neighbour as ourselves. This law is a roya law, it comes from the King of kings; and if Christians act unjustly they are convicted by the law as transgressors. To think that our goo deeds will atone for our bad deeds, plainly puts us upon looking for another atonement. According to the covenant of works, one breach of any one command brings a man under condemnation, from which n obedience, past, present, or future, can deliver him. This shows us the happiness of those that are in Christ. We may serve him without slavis fear. God's restraints are not a bondage, but our own corruptions ar so. The doom passed upon impenitent sinners at last, will be judgmen without mercy. But God deems it his glory and joy, to pardon and bles those who might justly be condemned at his tribunal; and his grac teaches those who partake of his mercy, to copy it in their conduct.
Greek Textus Receptus
ακουσατε 191 5657 αδελφοι 80 μου 3450 αγαπητοι 27 ουχ 3756 ο 3588 θεος 2316 εξελεξατο 1586 5668 τους 3588 πτωχους 4434 του 3588 κοσμου 2889 τουτου 5127 πλουσιους 4145 εν 1722 πιστει 4102 και 2532 κληρονομους 2818 της 3588 βασιλειας 932 ης 3739 επηγγειλατο 1861 5662 τοις 3588 αγαπωσιν 25 5723 αυτον 846
Vincent's NT Word Studies
5. Hearken, my beloved brethren. Alford cites this phrase as one of the very few links which connect this epistle with the speech of Jas. in Acts xv. 13.
The poor of this world (touv ptwcouv tou kosmou). But the correct reading is tw kosmw, to the world; and the expression is to be explained in the same way as ajsteiov tw Qew, fair unto God, Acts vii. 20, and dunata tw Qew, mighty through (Rev., before) God, 2 Cor. x. 4. So Rev., poor as to the world, in the world's esteem. Poor, see on Matt. v. 3. Rich in faith. The Rev., properly, inserts to be, since the words are not in apposition with poor, but express the object for which God has chosen them. Faith is not the quality in which they are to be rich, but the sphere or element; rich in their position as believers. "Not the measure of faith, in virtue of which one man is richer than another, is before the writer's mind, but the substance of the faith, by virtue of which every believer is rich" (Wiesinger, cited by Alford).
