“But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.”
But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers — the law itself becomes the accuser of the one who breaks it through discrimination, for partiality contradicts the law's inner principle of universal love. The hamartia (sin) of favoritism is not a trivial transgression but a violation of the law's essence. James establishes that there are no minor transgressions against love.
Church Fathers on James 2:9
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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