James 2:6

But ye have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you, and themselves drag you before the judgment seats?

It simply does not make sense for the church to dishonor the poor and to fawn upon the wealthy and powerful. As Calvin put it, "Why should a man honor his executioners and at the same time injure his friends?"[14]

Do not the rich oppress you ...? There had been countless examples of this right there in Jerusalem, where the Sadducees, the rich party of their day, were notorious oppressors of the poor.

Drag ... "This implies force and is actually mentioned in cases of arrest in Acts 9:1; Acts 16:19, etc." [15] Christians were widely hated, and this would have made it easier for prosecutors to seek them out and harass them.

Judgment seats ... These were both Jewish and Roman courts.

"Josephus speaks of the cruelty of the rich Sadducees to the poor in Jerusalem";[16] and besides this, both Isaiah (Isaiah 3:15) and Amos (Amos 4:1) speak of the same thing.

[14] Quoted by A. F. Harper, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. X (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1967), p. 211.

[15] J. W. Roberts, op. cit., p. 76.

[16] Quoted by J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 1035.