James 2:8-13
There are three divisions to this chapter.
Verse 1-7.
Verse 8-13.
Verse 14-26.
This is the second division of James chapter 2 (verse 8-13).
It is absolutely necessary to remember that this lesson is directly tied with the previous lesson!
Verse 8 - "If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:"
I. The Royal Law is love (as explained in verse 8 and Matt. 22:34-40).
A. The way to work for God is explained in John 6:28,29.
1. It is not by doing good works in the body as the Pharisees expected.
2. The good works that God accepts is that believing in Jesus who has been sent by God.
B. The "royal law" can be explained as the difference between what is legal and what is moral.
1. There are many fine points of law that is not moral.
2. The law could even say that a sin was right, but that doesn't make it right in the eyes of God.
a. A law could be passed saying that it was legal to kill babies, but that doesn't mean God accepts that law.
b. A law could be passed making homosexuality legal, but that doesn't mean God accepts that law.
c. Matt. 5:27,28 - Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shall not commit adultery: But I say unto you, but whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
d. The royal law is that which is done in the heart, not that which is done in the body.
C. A Royal Decree from the King of Kings.
D. Neighbors - both rich and poor.
1. Note the word "neighbor" in Matt. 22:39.
2. Rom. 13:10 - Love worketh no ill to his neighbor.
3. Gal. 5:14 - Law is fulfilled in love for our neighbors.
E. Luke 10:29-37. Who is our neighbor? Parable of the Good Samaritan.
1. The man you've known all your life, your father's friend.
2. The man you've never seen before.
3. Your enemy. Matt. 5:43-48.
Verse 9. "But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors."
II. Love doesn't respect persons. God is no respecter of persons.
A. We need to be "Christian" (like Christ).
B. I Tim. 5:21 - Paul tells Timothy, do nothing by partiality.
1. Jude 16 - To respect persons is terrible. (See verses 11-16)
a. The key to understanding their wickedness is that they prefer those people who are an advantage to them.
b. Verse 11. Cain is lost. Balaam is saved (?), but with the deeds of a lost man.
2. Therefore, the law will condemn us.
3. There can be condemnation by the law without our knowledge.
a. If a person wants to please God, his study of the law will reveal his condemnation to him.
b. If a person does not want to please God, they will not study the law, therefore they will not know the law condemns them.
Verse 10, 11. "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. {11} For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law."
III. The law must be kept to perfection.
A. We must love everybody and hate nobody.
1. This is not talking about loving the sin people commit, but loving the person.
2. All sins are not equal, but they all show equal lack of respect for the lawgiver.
B. The law is brought in here for several reasons.
1. There are those people who believe "love conquers all."
a. They are sadly mistaken.
b. A person can love a dead family member very much, but that love is helpless to raise them to life.
c. The same thing can be said concerning the sickness of a loved one.
2. There are those people who believe "obeying the law conquers all."
a. They are sadly mistaken.
b. The law is unable to help anybody.
c. The law administers justice, we need mercy.
3. We must realize we are unable to keep the law, and that Jesus keeps it for us.
Verse 12. "So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty."
IV. What is the "law of liberty" that we shall be judged by?
A. It is more than a law of legal do's and don'ts.
B. It is not what a person does on the outside (in their bodies).
1. A person can do all the right things on the outside (in their bodies), yet their heart be far from God.
a. Matt. 15:8 - This people draw night unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites because they drew near to him with their mouth, but their heart was far from Him.
b. Mark 7:6 - Then the Pharisees and Scribes asked him, why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands? He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. The Pharisees question Christ because He ate with unwashen hands. They didn't understand that things on the outside wouldn't help or harm them spiritually. Spiritual damage comes from within, from the heart.
2. Rom. 6:17 - These people had obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered unto them. This is what God is looking for.
3. Eph. 5:5,6 - Servants are commanded to obey their masters, not just in their bodies, as menpleasers, but as servants of God, doing the will of God from the heart.
C. It is what they do in their hearts.
1. This is the message James has been teaching in this entire chapter.
a. The next section of this chapter (verses 14-26) puts the working of the law and the obedience of the heart together.
b. The working of the law and the obedience of the heart must go together in order to reach the elevated plane of spiritual obedience.
c. God is not going to judge us solely by what we do in the flesh.
d. He will judge with righteous judgment, judging those things that are in our hearts.
e. Our bodies do what our hearts tell them to do.
2. Matt. 12:34,35 - O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of an evil treasure brings forth evil things.
V. The pattern of our living.
A. A right pity toward the poor and no undue fear or regards toward the rich.
B. Law of liberty. By Christ, we are set free from all fleshly restraints and are able to love all in the same degree.
1. The law of liberty does not set us free to sin, but releases all fleshly restraints, enabling us to fulfill the royal law by loving friend and foe!
a. Rom. 13:10 - Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
b. Gal. 5:14 - For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself.
2. God will judge us all by this law of liberty.
3. He will judge us according to the deeds of our hearts, not the deeds of the flesh.
4. Our social and financial status will not be valued by God.
Verse 13. "For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment."
VI. Doesn't mean "if we love or show mercy, God will love and show mercy on us".
A. That kind of love and mercy is of the flesh.
1. I John 4:10,11 - God loved us before we loved Him.
2. If we are going to have God's kind of love, we will love others before they love us.
B. But "because of our love for God (we know that He loved us when we were lost sinners) we can also love those that aren't in agreement with us (our enemies). We can be merciful to them because God is and has been merciful to us."
C. Matt. 5:7 - Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.