The translation is doubtful, two renderings being possible.
Our Lord Jesus Christ. Exactly the same title occurs in Acts 15:26, in the letter written from the Apostolic Council to the Syrian Churches—a letter which was probably drawn up by St. James himself. The Lord of glory. The same title is given to our Lord in 1 Corinthians 2:8, and seems to be founded on Psalms 24:7, etc. The genitive, τῆς δόξης, must depend on κυρίου in spite of the intervening ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ. Similar trajections occur elsewhere; e.g. Hebrews 12:11, where δικαιοσύνης depend, on καρπόν, and, according to a possible view, Luke 2:14. Bengel's view, that τῆς δόξης is in apposition with κυρίου ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ can scarcely be maintained, in the absence of any parallel expression elsewhere. Respect of persons ( ἐν προσωποληψίαις) literally, reception of faces. The substantive is found here and three times in St. Paul's Epistles—Romans 2:11; Ephesians 6:9; Colossians 3:25; the verb ( προσωποληπτεῖν) only here in Colossians 3:9; προσωπολήπτης in Acts 10:31. None of them occur in the LXX., where, however, we find πρόσωπον λαμβάνειν in Le Acts 19:15; Malachi 2:9, etc. (cf. Luke 20:21), for the Hebrew מינִףָ זשָׂגַ. Bishop Lightfoot has pointed out that, in the Old Testament, the expression is a neutral one, not necessarily involving any idea of partiality, and more often used in a good than in a bad sense. "When it becomes an independent Greek phrase, however, the bad sense attaches to it, owing to the secondary meaning of πρόσωπον as a mask,' so that πρόσωπον λαμβάνειν signifies 'to regard the external circumstances of a man'—his rank, wealth, etc.—as opposed to his real intrinsic character. Thus in the New Testament it has always a bad sense." It is exactly this regard to external circumstances against which St. James is warning his readers; and the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ had himself been known, when on earth, as no respecter of persons (Luke 20:21), would give point to his warning. The plural ( ἐν προσωποληψίαις) is perhaps used to include the different kinds of manifestations of the sin.