“Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?”
Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised to those who love him? — James invokes God's preferential option for the poor, a perspective that inverts worldly hierarchies and establishes a divine logic contrary to human status-consciousness. The poor are chosen (eklexato) by God to be rich (plousioi) in pistis (faith), and thereby become heirs (kleronomoi) of the kingdom. The rhetorical structure demands agreement: surely the believers know this divine standard.
Church Fathers on James 2:5
But we must remember whence that sentence is taken, and what goes before it, and in what connection it occurs. My brethren, he says, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory, with respect of persons. For if there come into your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; and you have respect to him that wears the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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