<p>2:5 <i>Listen, my beloved brothers. Did not God choose those that are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those that love him?</i>- James really pleads with us to see the importance of all this, as if he is physically with them and known to them. This would again imply that the initial readership which James was focussing on was quite a small group of brethren. This should not be read merely as meaning 'God has called the poor people to the Gospel'- seeing that the rich to whom James was writing had also been called (cp. Is. 66:2). Rather the emphasis is on &quot;<i>God</i> (has) chosen the <i>poor </i>of this world&quot; for positions of authority within the ecclesia- implying, in the context of v.3, that <i>they </i>had made a wrong choice, saying to the man in gay clothing &quot;sit here in a good place&quot; in the ecclesia. Thus James implies that God's choice should be our choice. The fact has to be faced that looking around the ecclesias of today, it is not &quot;the poor of this world&quot; who are in places of authority. Yet James here implies that they should be- as does Paul (1 Cor. 6:4). Now it can reasonably be argued that this category of brethren do not want such positions, and are happy to see those humanly more competent doing the job. Because of this, it is not the done thing to even nominate such brethren for office. Perhaps the fault lies with both sections of our community- surely those brethren should both be nominated and be prepared to accept responsibility, in the light of what James and Paul are saying? Remember that Peter, James and John were simple working men- but through the power of the Spirit James could talk to his brethren as &quot;my beloved brethren&quot; and rebuke them. That same Spirit can be in us through the word. 1 Cor. 6:4 shows beyond cavil that in a case of disagreement or difficulty in judgement- and such cases are now increasingly common- the opinion of the most humble and least esteemed brother should be sought and accepted. Such a brother will, by his very qualification for the task, naturally demur- as doubtless the brother chosen in the Corinth ecclesia did initially (if they obeyed Paul's advice). But surely this is what is required by these passages?</p><p>&quot;Heirs of the Kingdom which he has promised to them that love Him&quot; (v.5) &nbsp;mirrors 1:12 &quot;Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which he has promised to them that love Him&quot;. The implication is that it is &quot;the poor of this world&quot; who successfully endured spiritual temptation by the power of the word, and who therefore will have the reward &quot;which the Lord has promised to them that love Him&quot;. The repetition of this phrase in 1:12 and 2:5 encourages us to make this interpretation. Yet in the first century, &quot;the poor of this world&quot; would have been those with the least free time, probably unable to read and anyway unlikely to be able to afford their own Scriptures, and probably more heavily burdened with domestic cares than the &quot;rich men&quot; of the ecclesia. Thus the point is again made that our spirituality is not related to the amount of spare time which we have free to devote to Bible reading. It is from the constant daily meditation on whatever spiritual food we have had time to feed on that we can overcome temptation and thus have the heart-warming knowledge of being thought of by God as &quot;them that love Him&quot;. &quot;If you love me, keep (in memory) my commandments&quot; Jesus had also said. Note that &quot;the Kingdom&quot; and &quot;the crown of life&quot; are equated by comparing 1:12 and 2:5; as in 2 Tim.4:1,8. Thus &quot;the Kingdom&quot; does not only refer to the 'political' situation on the earth when Christ's rule has been established, but is also a synonym for eternal life, &quot;the crown of life&quot;. Thus at the judgement seat the sheep are told &quot;Inherit the Kingdom&quot; (Mt. 25:34)- when the Kingdom in the sense of Christ's political rulership of the earth has not yet been established. Similarly, Christ's preaching &quot;The Gospel of the Kingdom of God&quot; to Israel (Mt. 4:23) was not just composed of details about the state of the world after His second coming- but also about the opportunity of receiving &quot;the crown of life&quot; at His return. A study of the Greek word 'basileia' translated 'Kingdom' indicates that it can refer to all aspects of the King's rulership, not just the political Kingdom.</p>