One Spot is Enough

James 2:8-12

8 If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law, according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well.

9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin {and} are convicted by the law as transgressors.

10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one {point,} he has become guilty of all.

11 For He who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not commit murder." Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

12 So speak and so act, as those who are to be judged by {the} law of liberty.(NAS)

The Royal Law, James tells us, is that 2nd of the two great commandments Jesus spoke of in Matthew 22:39. James is pointing out very obviously, again on the subject of not showing favoritism, that by loving your neighbor as yourself, you will avoid the favoritism mistake. You will be too busy being concerned about the next person no matter who he is or what his station or financial condition in life is, that you won’t be guilty. But, he says, if you start showing partiality, favoritism, you will be breaking the law. Notice James says you will be convicted by the law as transgressors.

Now what is the purpose of the law. The Apostle Paul tells us that

Rom 3:20

20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.(KJV)

He also says that no flesh shall be justified in God’s sight by obeying the law. Why? First of all, no one can keep it perfectly. And no one but Jesus ever did keep it perfectly. He was the only sinless one. However for the rest of us, the following proves true.

Rom 3:10

10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:(KJV)

Rom 3:12

12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.(KJV)

Gal 3:23-25

23 Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed.

24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.

25 Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.(NIV) 

So you see, the Law was put there to convict us of sin, since none were righteous, and then to bring us to Jesus so that we might live by faith in Him instead of worrying about how to obey the Law. We are no longer under the old school master (Law) as it says in the two verses above.

Now should Christians ignore the Law? Well to be sure we do not have to live by Mosaic rules and regulations, but you stop and look at not only the 10 commandments, but also the other Laws of Moses and you will see various and sundry ways God gave the people of Israel for obeying those 10 commandments. Those 10 commandments have principles behind them that they are based on and those principles have never changed. And the 10 commandments are all based on the 1st two commandments Jesus and the Torah gave us-loving God first with heart, soul, strength, and mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

If we are under grace, why is James making an issue of not being partial, not showing favoritism? Because he is pointing out to us what is sin and what isn’t and showing us that one sin is just as bad as many. Look at the verses again above. He says

10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one {point,} he has become guilty of all.

Let’s look at an analogy here. Ever had a white table cloth that you spilled grape juice or spaghetti sauce on. Normal washing will not get that out. You have to soak it in something that can get that organic matter disintegrated. I just thought of another lesson from this. At any rate, you aren’t going to want to use it again, till it is spotless. The one spot mars the whole thing. One sin mars the whole person. Do you see the comparison? James is saying one sin is as bad as lots of sins. One sin makes you guilty of breaking all God’s commands. He is saying don’t sin.

James’ point here is-"12 So speak and so act, as those who are to be judged by {the} law of liberty."(NAS) That law of liberty is "Love your neighbor as yourself." You see how James is calling all of us to a much higher standard that merely obeying laws to be righteous. He is calling us to love of everyone the way God does.

Now why do you supposed James was writing all this to the folks in his day? Do you think it was just for future generations, such as ours? No it was also for his generation too, because people then were doing the very things for which he was scolding them. You see human nature does not change from generation to generation. What were the flaws in the body of Christ then are the same flaws in the body of Christ now. This is why the Bible is relevant to all generations.

Do you see how practical James is in his approach and counsel and correction? He doesn’t just get into abstract expressions, he gets in to the nitty gritty, to even a larger degree than the other apostles did. Not that the abstract part was unnecessary, because that is the part that gives us the theology for the basis of our lives and actions.

That’s all for today, folks. May you have a very blessed weekend. The Good News Lady