Evening Service, 16 August 2009
You’ve just been accused of sin – and in particular of a sin that strikes at the very heart of the precedent and practice of your Lord Jesus Christ. How do you react?
Is not the immediate human reaction one of defending yourself?
James is a student of human nature and knows that this defence often takes the form of either an evasion of that part of the law of God you have offended, or to attack the accuser as being legalistic. James seems to anticipate the defence of those whom he accuses of partiality in the treatment of people as saying, ‘We have done no wrong. We have sought no favour from the rich man. Our love for him caused us to act as we did.’ It is a hard thing to convince people of their sin. But James as a pastor slowly and carefully helps people to see their sin and its twistings so as to lead them out from it to a more consistent, God-honouring life.
James says if your only motive is to show love then you have behaved well (which is the force of the “really” in v.8); but if you haven’t then you have sinned against God’s Law. But also that if you have shown only this to the rich and not to the poor you have been selective in your application of the Law of God and that too is sin for it is an offence against the character of God.
In in so doing he is showing them the Law of God, its place and how it is to be applied in their life. So from this specific example we can see principles that apply to the whole issue of how we as Christians should live – and that is by seeing that God’s Moral Law is:
1. Indisputable in Continuance (v.8-9)
James draws our attention to what he calls the “Royal Law”.
The word “royal” points to its importance. Such a law finds its source in the sovereignty and authority of the king. As a result it is an absolute and binding authority on all his subjects. As such it is also incontestably binding on them. There is no court of appeal or arbitration. It is a sovereign law.
The “Royal Law” comes from God and it belongs to God. Because it is His Law it is authoritative over our lives, and must be treated with a special dignity. He has just said we are heirs of the kingdom (v.5) and now spells out some of the Kingdom-law. Law that comes to us with all the weight of scriptural authority – “according to the Scripture” indicates that God’s royal law and His biblical commands are synonymous, that the “royal law” is the sum and substance of God’s Word.
By this James is clearly bringing the Moral Law into contact with the Christian life. James quotes from Leviticus 19:18c, but notice he applies this, not to unbelievers or to Jews, but to Christians. He says that even their motives must be governed by God’s Law. In so doing shows the abiding nature of the moral law upon the Christian in their daily life.
In relation to this we should remind ourselves of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 22:40 where He says concerning love God and love your neighbour that “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” That is, love God and love your neighbour form the summary of the Moral Law. Paul says, “Love is the fulfilment of the law” (Rom. 13:10; cf. vv. 8–9). When one loves God with perfect devotion, he does not break any of His commands. ‘When one loves his neighbour perfectly, he never violates another person. Thus perfect love keeps all the commands, thereby fulfilling the whole law.’ (MacArthur)
James here takes and emphasises the 2nd part of Jesus’ teaching since his purpose is to deal with relationships within the church on the human level. But this does not mean that in James’ mind the first half of the Ten Commandments are not binding – it just wasn’t in his focus of attention. On the contrary we can say that his applying of the second half indicates that the rest of the commandments also continue in force for the Christian
This continuance of the authority of the Law of God is further reinforced by an appeal to specific Commandments in v.10-11.
Is this not what was anticipated and promised in OT prophecy?
In Jeremiah 31:31 we read of the promise of the new heart, but notice with it comes the writing of the Law on that heart by the Holy Spirit. From this we see that drawing attention to the Law is not legalism, it is declaring what is essential to our nature.
The Ten Commandments are relevant to everyone – the Christian included. Though as Christians we are no longer under the Law in terms of establishing or maintaining a relationship with God, or under the Law in terms of condemnation because of our failure to keep it, we are not divorced from the law in terms of expressing our relationship with God.
We cannot go through life saying I’m redeemed from sin and doing what I like! Failure to comply is still sin. And the new role of the Law for us is to be our guide in living the Christian life.
So James says with regard to the specific issue of partiality, that to show partiality is to be guilty of breaking God’s law. Partiality or favouritism is not merely being inconsiderate or discourteous, it is a serious sin. To reinforce this James uses two words: “sin” and “transgression”. The word “sin” speaks of ‘missing the mark’, like an arrow falling short of the target; while “transgression” speaks of wilfully treading over another’s rights and declared limits. He falls short of God’s standard of righteousness effectively subtracting from God’s Word, and goes too far going beyond God’s prescribed limits and effectively adding to God’s Word. It is God’s Law that helps us then identify sin we are to depart form and to protect against.
2. Indivisible in Content (v.10-11)
In turning to vv.10-11 James seems to anticipate an alibi which the transgressors are about to make: ‘Maybe we have been guilty of a petty fault’, they think, ‘but we really haven’t committed any grievous sin. Why all this fuss about nothing?’
But this is to divide God’s Law and regard some portions as unimportant. So James reminds us that God’s Law is a Unit – v.10
This is a declaration that God does not give man the option of cancelling out that part of God’s law that he doesn’t like. It is a declaration that limited obedience is a sin.
James is saying that God’s law is not like a pile of stones where you can remove one stone and still leave the pile of stones intact. Rather God’s law is like a sheet of glass – throw a brick through a window, it strikes at only one place, but it fragments the whole! (MacArthur)
When we understand this we can see the fallacy of those who try to weigh up their obedience to God’s Law against their disobedience in the hope of tipping the scales in favour of obedience. In so doing they are effectively treating God’s law as a series of detached injunctions, which it is not. Christians of all people should know that God’s Law is an integrated law, and that as a result you cannot pick and choose which to obey, nor say some are more important than others.
In v.11 we see that what gives it this indivisible nature is God’s character – Though he mentions two commandments the real focus is on the one who gives them, that is they have the same origin which is in God Himself.
What we see James doing is moving from the Precept to the Person, from the Law to the Law-Giver. His whole point is that the God who gave the one gave the other also; that as a result all of the commandments express the character of God.
To then separate one from the list, or even to only apply it in ways that suit us is to offend the character of God, and to say that that aspect of the character of God does not matter as far as I am concerned.
Here we begin to enter into the true nature of sin. Sin is not just a breaking of God’s law, it is a slandering of God’s character, saying that something of God is irrelevant and not important to me that I should glorify it nor even to imitate and conform to it. Sin is not an expression of weakness; it is an affront to God. Sin is a slander against both God’s character and His design for our happiness in being like Him.
3. Indispensible for Confirmation (v.12-13)
James mentions two things here:
a. An exhortation to keep the “law of liberty”. This turns our mind to the Exodus.
When the Law was originally given it was given in a context of redemption – God makes this clear in His introduction to the Ten Commandments (Exod. 20:lf). God’s first act was to Redeem them, His second act was to Regulate them. God the Redeemer and God the Law-Giver is the same God. Grace comes first, then comes Commandments.
In what sense can we speak of the Moral Law as the “law of liberty”? Our relationship to the Law is now in light of the redemption we have in Jesus Christ. Those who place their faith in Jesus Christ are freed from the bondage, judgment, and punishment of sin and will ultimately be brought into eternal freedom and glory.
Even more marvellously, we are now free to obey and serve God, to live faithfully and righteously according to His Word and by the power of His indwelling Spirit. It frees us to follow our Lord willingly out of love rather than reluctantly out of fear.
The folly of the legalist is to substitute Law for Grace and thus rob us of our freedom and joy, whereas in reality Law expresses Grace and its obedience is the expression of our freedom and joy. The Law marked the end of the old bondage and the beginning of true freedom.
b. An exclamation of the triumph of mercy in the face of the exactness of God’s law – v.13.
James is not here indicating that God’s law is harsh or ruthless, rather that it is exact, that you will get what you deserve. There is a strict moral rectitude with God. God is righteous and just in judgement.
But against that James is able to make a declaration of joy – that for him, and for those who also live under God’s Law as the expression of the redeemed life, there is a confidence that they will know God’s mercy, a mercy that clearly comes through Christ, indicating that this “mercy triumphs over judgement”. James is not teaching salvation by works; rather that by living this life of obedience we demonstrate the rightness of the sense of calm confidence in that mercy in the Day of Judgement.
Put together, these indicate that our commitment to God’s law in practice demonstrates and confirms that we truly belong to God.
Our salvation depends on Christ’s obedience to God, not on our obedience. But our happiness and comfort certainly do.
When Christians obey God’s commandments they are living in harmony with Him, and in that we find our true freedom – we find ourselves realising our creation purpose. We find that we are like the train on the tracks – able to move freely within the set limits, and do what we were created to be; rather than a train off the tracks which quickly gets stuck in the field.
A person who does not keep God’s Law as a law of liberty, as expressing their liberty, cannot claim to have that liberty, to be redeemed. Your commitment to God’s Law confirms your claim to be redeemed, and that you have a true and realistic expectation of mercy to come.
Therefore it lies at the very heart of our hope to pay close attention to God’s Law in our daily life. Not only because it expresses our love for the whole of God’s character and our delight in conforming to it, but also in demonstrating that we truly are redeemed and are entitled to look to the day of Judgement with confident hope.
Let us keep the Law as an expression of the liberty we have because of Christ, and thereby show in the light of judgement day that we truly are the objects of God’s mercy and can rightly be confident of it. God forbid that any here should be calm about judgement day because of a profession of faith in Jesus as the provider of mercy before God, whilst bringing no confirmation of that profession by a change in life before God.