<p>2:6 <i>But you have dishonoured the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you, and themselves drag you before the courts</i>?- &quot;The poor&quot; here are brethren- and therefore the poor labourers who were oppressed by the &quot;rich men&quot; of the ecclesia in 5:4 must also refer to brethren in the ecclesia. &quot;Dishonour&quot; here in 2:6 in the Greek can also carry the idea of active abuse- it is also translated &quot;dishonour&quot; in Jn. 8:49, &quot;suffer shame&quot; in Acts 5:41 and &quot;entreated shamefully&quot; in Lk. 20:11. These are all concerning the Jews persecuting Christ and the early church. The only other occurrence of the word (Rom. 1:24) is also concerning the apostate Jews. Thus it may be that James is implying that this despising of the poor Jewish believers and Gentiles in the ecclesia was the same as the Judaizers and Jewish authorities behind them were doing. It would be surprising if the letter of James, being addressed to Jewish Christians, did not make some reference to the Judaist infiltration of the ecclesias, which Paul's letters show was a major threat to the early church (e.g. Gal. 2:4). The use of this word &quot;despise&quot; may thus imply that this group of rich Jews had been infiltrated by the Judaizers. Their lack of total commitment to the word would mean that their resistance to the Judaist infiltration was low indeed. It is therefore to be expected that they succumbed.</p><p>This recalls the descriptions of Jewish persecution of the saints:</p><p>&quot;Saul&hellip; entering into every house (church?), and haling (&quot;Dragging&quot;- same word in Jn.21:8) men and women committed them to prison&quot; (Acts 8:3); &quot;they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city&quot; (Acts 17:6). The believers to whom James was writing had therefore suffered violent physical persecution, and yet still they lacked any deep spirituality. The rebuke later in this chapter of their attitude that works alone could substitute for their weak faith may well have reference to this (cp. 1 Cor. 13:3; Rev. 2:13,14). No doubt it is extremely tempting when being physically persecuted to feel that this excuses us from making the effort to control our minds by the application of the word. In the holocaust to come which we may well have to endure we will do well to remember this. The implication behind James' use of these words is that as the Jews were doing to them, so they were doing to their brethren, thus equating them with the Jews- maybe implying that the Judaist infiltration was so subtle that they were being influenced doctrinally by these people, and yet also submitting to persecution from their 'provisional' wing. Israel's relationship with Egypt, Assyria and Babylon had been similar.</p>