“My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ and say to the poor man, ‘You stand there,’ or, ‘Sit here at my footstool,’ have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?” James 2:1-7.
The above passages were examined in “Partiality, James 2:1-7”, posted on 10-8-20 they are shown here to maintain context. We will continue the study on partiality below.
“If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.” James 2:8-11.
Since this epistle was written mainly to Jewish Christians at the time, it is not surprising that the law would come up at some point. Still, the comparisons that show here apply to both Jew and Gentile Christians; this should become apparent soon enough.
This royal law is found in the Old Testament, and it is also carried over into the New by Jesus Himself.
“You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” Leviticus 19:17-18.
By way of explanation, the phrase, “You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him” has the idea of keeping short accounts.
The word rebuke here means reprove, and works like this, if your neighbor defames you, gives you cause for grief, or anger, you must go immediately and tell them of their offense against you.
Often the slight was unintentional and an apology will solve the problem; if not, at least you have done your part and the offense does not fester on in your heart causing you to sin by harboring hatred against them. Having done this, the entire weight of their sin against you falls back on them, and they become God’s problem.
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, ‘”You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.’” Matthew 22:36-40.
“Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” Romans 13:8-10.
“For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!” Galatians 5:13-15.
There can be little question as to why this is called the royal law. This thought is taken further when it says that, “…if you show partiality you commit sin”, then it really starts to snowball. In James 2:6a, it states “But you have dishonored the poor man”; this is not a show of love, but one of bias since anyone who receives the beautiful people and disdains the unlovely, becomes a transgressor of the law.
“For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.” James 2:10-11.
The above verses are marvelous because they shut everyone up under sin, there is none who can say, “I have not sinned”, yet who has not been angry with someone for little or no reason, or hated someone, or failed to show love toward them.
All have broken the royal law which sums up the whole law. Can they confess it? If they determine never again to hate anyone, does it stop?
No, the very next morning the cycle begins again and we cry out in the words of the Apostle Paul.
“O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I Thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.” Romans 7:24-25.
“So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over Judgment.” James 2:12-13.
“For this is the covenant that I will make with house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Hebrews 8:10.
This is an explanation of the law of liberty. For the Christian it works this way, we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us and He directs our hearts in the way we should go.
We have the option of listening to the Spirit of God or of ignoring Him; this is what made Paul cry out in Romans 7 above, the flesh wars against the Spirit and the Spirit wars against the flesh.
“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” Galatians 5:16-18.
The law of liberty is a law that is within the heart of a Christian and they are guided by it rather than following a bunch of rules and regulations such as the Mosaic Law.
The Mosaic Law is useful to convince a person that they have fallen short of God’s standards and need Christ. However, the law condemns; it does not save.
“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” Romans 6:14.
So, how can you be judged by the law of liberty? The Scripture plainly says the following.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:1.
As a Christian a person does not have to fear hell; however there are earthly consequences for their actions right here in the right now.
If a Christian shows no mercy to his brother, he will receive no mercy when he falls into a similar calamity.
Some, taking advantage of God’s grace, indulge in gross sin thinking that the law of liberty somehow has them covered. However, if they do not repent they will wind up dying prematurely.
“Mercy triumphs over judgment.” If you are a merciful person, you will be shown mercy and not come under judgment.
“Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Or can declare all His praise? Blessed are those who keep justice, and he who does righteousness at all times!” Psalm 106:1-3.
Partiality, James 2:8-13 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 8-24-11, updated on 10-11-20.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.