2:4a–b

have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?: This is a rhetorical question. James was not asking for information but making an emphatic statement: “You certainly have discriminated.” He was also implying that they had done some things wrong, and he was rebuking them for it.

Some ways to translate this emphasis and rebuke are:

• As a rhetorical question. For example:

do you not see that you are discriminating among your members and judging by wrong standards? (Revised English Bible)
-or-
You have discriminated among yourselves. You have become judges with evil thoughts. Why have you done that?

• As a statement. For example:

You have certainly done wrong by discriminating among yourselves and becoming judges with evil thoughts.
-or-
That is the same as saying that some people are better than others, and you would be acting like a crooked judge. (Contemporary English Version)

Translate this emphasis and rebuke in the way that is natural in your language for making a strong statement.

2:4a

have you not discriminated among yourselves: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as you…discriminated among yourselves means “you think that some people are better than others, and so you treat them better.” By treating the rich and the poor differently, they were creating distinctions within the fellowship of God’s people. The meaning is essentially the same as “show favoritism” in 2:1.

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

have you not made distinctions among yourselves (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
You are making some people more important than others (New Century Version)
-or-
You are treating some members of your congregation as if they were better than others
-or-
That is the same as saying that some people are better than others (Contemporary English Version)

2:4b

and become judges with evil thoughts: This is a metaphor. When people in the Christian community discriminated and favored the rich over the poor, they were acting like evil judges. Some ways that these Christian people and judges with evil thoughts are similar are:

(a) both make decisions about who is good/right and who is evil/wrong.

(b) both prefer the rich. They unjustly make decisions that favor the rich.

When Christians act this way, they become like judges who have evil thoughts.

Some ways to translate this metaphor are:

• Change the metaphor to a simile. For example:

and you would be acting like a crooked judge (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
you have become like evil judges who mistreat good people

• Keep the metaphor as in the Berean Standard Bible. In some languages, it may be necessary to translate the noun “judge” as a verb. For example:

you have become people who have evil thoughts and who judge the rich man better than the poor man

• Translate the meaning without the metaphor. For example:

You think that you can decide who is worthy of honor. That is a wrong way of thinking.
-or-
you favor the rich because of what you hope to receive from them. That is an evil way of thinking.

This phrase does not mean that these Christians had become judges who sit in a court.

with evil thoughts: The phrase with evil thoughts means evil in their way of thinking. It includes the idea that these people judge with an evil standard. This means that they make decisions based on someone’s wealth and social status. It also means that they decide with evil motives. (Some commentators (Moo (2000), page 105; Martin, page 64; McCartney, pages 140 and 144) point out that in a legal context, it is also possible to interpret this as “evil verdicts.”) They make decisions based on what they can get, such as a bribe.

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

with evil motives (New American Standard Bible)
-or-
using a corrupt standard (God’s Word)
-or-
evil/corrupt judges

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.