Looking Down Your Nose

The expression "looking down your nose" was and is an American idiom used with reference to looking upon someone with condescension, dishonorably, with a degree of contempt. It is felt that the other person is beneath you, undeserving of your status and dignity. That is the subject of this article.

James says:

"My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, 'You sit here in a good place,' and say to the poor man, 'You stand there,' or, 'Sit here at my footstool,' have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,' you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not murder.' Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment." (James 2:1-13 NKJV)

This is a sin I see being committed day after day out in the world. I have been around secondary public schools for a long time and this is a sin that runs rampant there. Kids have their cliques and often mistreat those who do not fit in. They embarrass them, ostracize them, and often call them names. One must learn where he/she fits in lest they become a victim. Know your place and stay in it.

However, this is not confined to just teenagers. The janitors and cooks, the aides, the secretaries, the support staff, as they call it, are not considered as honorable as the teachers, often by the teachers. Not by all, of course, but it is common. Then the administrators often seem to feel a lot the same way toward the teachers.

I suspect that just about every organization has much the same pecking order, usually determined by position, the amount of money being earned, and that sort of thing. The attitude conveyed is that if only these guys and gals below me had half my drive and natural ability, they would have done as well as I have. They are not as smart, lack my drive, and really are not worthy of what I receive. Anyone can do their work, but it takes a special type of person to do mine, one who is worthy.

It is said by those who study such things that during our Civil War many southerners were dirt poor and had no slaves. Why then did they side with the slave owners and support the Confederacy in the war?

The answer was that every man needs a sense of self-worth, no matter how big a failure he may have been in this world, as the world measures such. The slaves were the one group that poverty-stricken white southerners could look to and feel a sense of betterment. Without the slaves, their sense of self-worth was nonexistent. Being at the bottom of the pile is pretty destructive to a human being, to what he thinks of himself and about himself. The slaves gave them worth as they saw it. They were at least better than them, so the thinking went.

In the country of India, they used to have the caste system, and to an extent, it is still in existence there in a few places. The caste system was the way society was organized so that your birth determined what social/economic group you would be in for life. If you were born into a low-caste family it meant you would remain there all your life doing menial labor for low wages. You did not marry or socialize outside your caste. This is the way it was for the slaves in the pre-Civil War South.

The thought comes to me that we are a lot like that here in America, in some respects, even today. It is not likely you will see a janitor or clerk, for example, visiting and socializing with an executive in their home. Teachers and school cooks do not get together and visit in each other's homes, but it is that way pretty much all across our society.

James, by inspiration, tells us this is not the way the Christian is supposed to be. We are to treat each other honorably and show no respect of persons.

I would like to go back now and take a look at parts of the text quoted from James. Verse 1 teaches us clearly that there is to be no partiality among us. It is a command. The ESV says, "show no partiality," and that sums up the command. However, I ask the question whether this is a one-way street?

Some years back, my wife and I were invited to go home for dinner after Sunday A.M. church services with a very wealthy couple (wealthy by our standards). I found an excuse not to go, but the truth is, I really did not want to go. This family did not know me well enough to realize the great economic gulf that separated our two families, but I knew, and I knew where they lived, and thus the kind of money they had to have.

Did I, the poorer party, show partiality? Looking back on it, yes, I did. Showing partiality is a two-way street. In rare circumstances, it may be the poorer one who proves to be guilty.

But, while the text from James is using economic well-being as an example, do you believe the command is limited to monetary matters? Have people never shown partiality by race, sex, age, looks, social skills, or the lack thereof?

Kids are often embarrassed by their parents and sometimes would like to hide them. Why? Maybe they are older and out of touch, maybe they lack the social skills the new age demands, or they are poor, maybe they are ashamed of their parents for the kind of work they do, whatever. Is this sin? Is this showing partiality? So, there is more to partiality than first meets the eye.

Then there is verse 4, where James says of us, if we show partiality, have we not "become judges with evil thoughts?" Two thoughts come to mind as we read this. (1) Who made me or you a judge? How is it that I think so highly of myself as to consider myself worthy of being a judge of others? Is there not some arrogance tied up in that?

Paul tells us, "For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you glory as if you had not received it?" (1 Cor. 4:7 NKJV) Most questions that are asked seek an answer, and we try to answer if directed at us. These questions bring us to silence. What can we say in response?

What do you have that you did not receive from God? Was it your looks, your intelligence, your ability, your good health? What was it you have that you did not receive, that you got on your own, that sets you apart from other men? If you have made great achievements, could you have done it without these natural gifts from God?

Some have great natural intelligence and can go through the finest colleges and make lots of money. Who gave this ability to them? How does a gift from God merit superiority in one's thinking?

Who gives great natural athletic ability or singing ability that leads one to fame and fortune? Who gives beauty? Who gives the health that allows one to work and achieve? Without God on your side and giving you gifts, you, nor I, nor any other is able to achieve anything.

Did you ever think that even if you were right in thinking you had some superior gifts from God, that is all the more reason for grace in your life toward others? It is all the more reason for you to be their servant in the sense that you are able to help them, the stronger helping the weaker. When we have the attitude that every man is my brother and every woman my sister, and I am going to help all I can, then we cease to judge and begin to love.

God says to the rich, "Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share." (1 Tim. 6:18 NKJV) In the verse just before this, he, through Paul, speaks much like James in the passage we are studying, for he says "command those who are rich … not to be haughty." (1 Tim. 6:17 NKJV)

I also want to look at the second part of verse 4 from our text, where Paul says that if we show partiality, we become judges with evil thoughts. What kind of "evil thoughts?" First of all, the Bible teaches that evil thoughts themselves are sin.

Hear Jesus, "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man." (Matt. 15:18-20 NKJV)

We are not told exactly what the evil thoughts of James 4:7 are, but we all pretty much know. It is I am better than this guy, what a loser. It is the attitude of the Pharisee who went up to pray and was thanking God that he was not like the other man there, the tax collector. But, Jesus says, "I tell you, this man (the tax collector--DS) went down to his house justified rather than the other (the Pharisee--DS); for everyone who exalts himself will be abased, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 18:14 NKJV)

When I begin to judge the other guy, I am automatically exalting myself above him. In Jesus' eyes, we are all sinners. How is it we think one sinner worthy of death is better than another sinner worthy of death?

I recently read a sermon that was well worth my time. The thesis of the sermon was that God looks at world history and/or national history differently than man does. Our history books are full of famous men's names. They are famous because of their exploits in politics, business, war, etc. We say they have been great successes in life.

We suspect God's view of history is vastly different based on his word. Most of the names of people in our history books were not Christians. Their names are not going to be found in God's book of life, his history book, so to speak. God's great men and women of history will be, at least for the most part, people who were not well known in this life, simple God-fearing people who went about serving God and others in ordinary daily life. I had never thought about it this way. I am convinced the man who wrote the sermon had it right.

God's word is too plain to deny that with him, the greatest person is not the one lording it over the other but the one who is serving. Remember when James and John came to Jesus desiring to sit one on his right hand and the other on his left hand in his glory?

Jesus said in part, "You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all." (Mark 10:42-43 NKJV)

We are not really being a servant when we desire the lordship, and that is what we do in heart when we show partiality over others as though we are better. James says it is sin, "if you show partiality, you commit sin." (James 2:9 NKJV)

Do we realize that when we show respect of persons in a way that the person becomes aware of it, we have also become a thief? James says in chapter 2, verse 6, "You have dishonored the poor man." (NKJV) When we dishonor a man or woman, we are robbing them of their self-respect and dignity, and this makes us one of the worst thieves of all. You can take a man's money, but when you take his self-respect, what does he have left?

In verses 8 and 9, James contrasts loving a person with showing partiality. When we show partiality, it shows that we do not love the one whom we are mistreating. James quotes scripture saying, "'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,'" (James 2:8 NKJV) and says this is the "royal law according to the Scripture." (James 2:8 NKJV) How can you love a man whom you judge to be of lesser worth or value? Sin is a transgression of the law (1 John 3:4 KJV). When we show partiality, we transgress the royal law. We fail to love. We sin.

Verse 13 then logically follows, "For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment." (NKJV) A merciful man is the man who loves his neighbor as himself. His desire is to help. If indeed there is one less fortunate than oneself, the attitude needs to be I want to help, how can I help?

It would be good if we could all burn into our memories and, more importantly, into our hearts the scripture, "judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy." (James 2:13 NKJV) A merciful man is not a man who has an attitude of partiality. As he is merciful and not judgmental, he will be shown mercy.

I want to make one final point before closing. There is no partiality with God. Peter spoke of this in Acts 10:34 when he said, "In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality." (NKJV) This he spoke concerning God's willingness to save all men of whatever race or background.

But as God is not partial in who he will save neither is he partial in whom he will condemn for Paul says in Rom. 2:11-12, "For there is no partiality with God. For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law." (NKJV)

Again in Col. 3:25, "But he who does wrong will be repaid for the wrong which he has done, and there is no partiality." (NKJV)

Peter says to us, "And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your sojourning here in fear." (1 Peter 1:17 NKJV)

I suspect way too many of us think that God is going to treat us a little differently than others; my character and circumstances are such as to merit special consideration. I wonder if we think in the back of our mind that I am a little more deserving than some others, and so will be treated differently. If so, we are delusional.

With me, one of the most frightening passages in the Bible is this one from Paul in 2 Thess. 1:7-9, "And to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power." (NKJV)

God is no respecter of persons. One has either believed and obeyed the gospel, or he has not. God is either a liar or he is not. The only hope so many have is that God is a liar, that it is all a lie. But there is no partiality with God, nor can God lie. Is there no fear of God within us? I can find plenty of Old Testament examples of people who did not fear or obey God. Do we want to be like them?

So, in this study, we have looked at showing partiality from man's side and shown it to be sin. But we have also looked at the subject from God's side and seen that there is no partiality with him. He will gladly save us no matter who we are if we will believe and obey, but without showing partiality, he will condemn us if we do not believe and obey. The way we live in our treatment of others is our choice. God also allows us to choose how we will treat him. The choice is ours, and that goes as much for the writer as the reader of this article.

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