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James 2:8-13 says,
“If you really fulfill the royal law
according to the Scripture, “You shall love
your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing
well. But if you show partiality, you are
committing sin and are convicted by the law
as transgressors. For whoever keeps the
whole law but fails in one point has become
accountable for all of it. For he who
said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said,
“Do not murder.” If you do not commit
adultery but do murder, you have become a
transgressor of the law. So speak and so
act as those who are to be judged under the
law of liberty. For judgment is without
mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy
triumphs over judgment.”
There are two laws at issue in this passage,
not one. The royal law of liberty and the
Old Covenant (Mosaic) Law.
The “royal law” in James 2:8-9 is the law of
love from Leviticus 19:18 which says to
“love your neighbor as yourself.” When you
show partiality, you are not showing your
love for others equally, which makes your
behavior sinful (Matt. 22:39; Mark 12:28-31;
cf. Rom. 13:8-10). This is the same thing
that Paul called, the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:2 says, “Bear one another’s
burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
James went on to say that any
violation of even one commandment separates
us from God (James 2:10). Paul says the same
thing in Galatians 3:10, “For all who rely
on works of the law are under a curse; for
it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does
not abide by all things written in the Book
of the Law, and do them.” (cf. Deut. 27:26)
James and Paul were in complete
agreement.
Galatians 3:10
is a quote from Deuteronomy 27:26 to show
that failure to keep the law perfectly
brings divine judgment and condemnation.
Even one violation of the law deserves the
curse of God ( Deut. 27-28 ). James and Paul
both understood that no one can keep God’s
law perfectly, not even Paul who was a
strict Pharisee before his conversion to
Christianity (Rom. 7:7-12).
James 2:12-13
tells us that “believers will be
judged by the law of liberty, which is the
law of love.” Believers who practice love
and mercy are the ones who will triumph at
the judgment seat of Christ [James 2:5, 8].
James’s statement, “judgment is without
mercy to one who has shown no mercy” is
comparable to Paul saying those who do such
things are under a curse (Gal. 3:10).
If you want to live by the law,
you must keep it perfectly to be saved.
The purpose of the Law was to show us
our inability to fulfill God's righteous
standard (cf. Rom. 3:20; 5:20; 7:7; Gal. 3:19; 3:24; 1 Tim. 1:9). We are never told
that our good works will save us, just the
opposite. The only way we are saved is by
grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone
(Eph. 2:8-10). So why does James 2:18 tell
us that the only possible evidence of true
faith is works?
What does James mean
by good works?
James 2:14-18 says,
“What good is it, my brothers, if a man
claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can
such faith save him? Suppose a brother or
sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him,
“Go, I wish you
well; keep warm and well fed,” but does
nothing about his physical needs, what good
is it? In the same way, faith by itself,
if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith; I
have deeds.” Show me your faith without
deeds, and I will show you my faith by what
I do.” And James 2:26 says, “For as the body
apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith
apart from works is dead.”
When
James says that “faith without works is
dead”, he means that those who have true
faith in Jesus Christ will always produce
good works as a fruit of their salvation. It
is our good works of “loving kindness” that
prove we have genuine faith. Works like
caring for orphans and widows, and helping
those in need (James 1:22-27). He does not
mean guarding the ends of the Sabbath and
eating only clean meat.
James and
Paul were in complete agreement here as
well. What James calls “works” in James 2:18-26; Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such
things there is no law.”
Our good
works can’t save us. They are the fruit of
salvation, not the cause. They prove that we
have Christ’s love in our hearts and that we
have already been saved.
The Apostle
Paul said it well in Ephesians 2:8-10, “For
by grace you have been saved through faith.
And this is not your own doing; it is the
gift of God, not a result of works, so
that no one may boast. For we are his
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for
good works, which God prepared beforehand,
that we should walk in them.”
Christ
has set us free from the Law to be justified
by grace (Galatians 5:1-6). The perfect law
of liberty that judges us is Christ’s law of
love, loving God and loving our neighbor.
Romans 13:8-10 says, “Let no debt
remain outstanding, except the continuing
debt to love one another, for he who loves
his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The
commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do
not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,”
and whatever other commandment there may be,
are summed up in this one rule: “Love your
neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to
its neighbor. Therefore love is the
fulfillment of the law.” (NIV)
It is
Christ's love in our heart’s that makes it
possible for us to love the way God intended
and fulfill the law of Christ (Matt. 26:36-40; Eph. 3:17-19; John 8:36-38; Gal. 5:13; 1 Cor. 9:19-23).
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