It is not about my definition....it is about God's. I get mine the same place James got his.....from God's word. Let's read it,,,,
Lev. 1
[15] Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.
Now that we have GOD'S definition the question remains.
James says we sin if we have respect of persons. This was NOT in the (10) commandments, thus it was NOT in the ark, but we still must not break this law.
You say we must only keep the (10), those that were in the ark!
So which is it? Do we keep this law of God or not?
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Its Lev 19:15 not 1:15 im posting the NKJ
[quote[sup]9[/sup] ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. [sup]10[/sup] And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather
every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I
am the LORD your God.
[sup]11[/sup] ‘You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. [sup]12[/sup] And you shall not swear by My name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I
am the LORD.
[sup]13[/sup] ‘You shall not cheat your neighbor, nor rob
him. The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning. [sup]14[/sup] You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall fear your God: I
am the LORD.
[sup]15[/sup]
‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor. [sup]16[/sup] You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people; nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor: I am the LORD.
[sup]17[/sup] ‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. [sup]18[/sup] You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I
am the LORD. ][/quote]
So just what is so unusual about this verse or the context its found in, it looks very much like Jesus teaching from the new testament. Have no other God but the father in heaven and to love your neighbor as yourself, upon these hang all the laws and the prophets. The verse you two have quoted is simply not to give favoritism to a man based on whether he be rich or poor but treat both and judge them fairly and equally in righteousness. This is the commands to the Levis on how to govern the people. There is nothing special in this revelation, the problem is in mens hearts, unfortunately men don't have the Spirit, they have to have a law to govern every aspect of life. For example from the verse above its clear that men with vineyards would harvest every single grape and ignore the needs of those less fortunate, so now here is the plain language telling them to not do it, why so the poor can glean the fields after the harvest to survive. Had they been loving one another as themselves there would never have been the need to tell them such a thing. Just look at the evolution of laws in the US, the library of congress to keep every crook and snake oil sales men in check, why because the don't keep the basic laws and principles of God. Men are always looking for the loop hole in the law and using it to enrich themselves at the expense of others. Its the same with Christians that don't accept basic principles of the NT they need it spelled out in plain English because they don't know or have the Spirit of truth to practice fairness, equality and compassion for their neighbor, understanding the heart of God.
To end I don't see the relevance in this related to the topic we have have been talking about. If your loving one another as yourself do you still need to be told to not give the favored seat in the assembly to the man wearing a gold ring, simply because hes rich? Or to not bear false witness against another because he wronged you at a point in the past. Unfortunately many do need just that, simply because they are still without ears to hear and eyes to see.