Are you the Judge?

Do you have complete knowledge of who deserves heaven and hell?

The juxtaposition of this section, which warns against the presumption and pride of setting oneself up as a judge, and the previous section, which exhorts the believer to humility, could not be more poignant.

- Kurt A. Richardson, James, vol. 36, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1997), 197–198.

What Are You Saying About Your Brother or Sister in Christ?

James 3:8–9 NASB95

But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;

1 Peter 2:1 NASB95

Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander,

Romans 1:29–30 NASB95

being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,

This is dealing with Slander

James 1. Ill-Speaking as Law-Judging (4:11)

Behind the slander—behind the back of the person being slandered—is an act of condemnation. Instead of the divine measure of judgment in the word of God, the slanderer establishes his or her own measure and finds a brother lacking, worthy of rejection. Judging makes a presumptive statement about the destiny of persons or their works as a whole that really only God can make.

Are You a Judge of the Law?

By what standard do you judge?

Matthew 5:22 NASB95

“But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.

Matthew 7:1–2 NASB95

“Do not judge so that you will not be judged. “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.

Those who are judging are often indifferent to the abysmal condition of their own faith.

James 2:8 NASB95

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

We give mercy because we recieved mercy from God

Are You a Doer of the Law?

Matthew 22:36–40 NASB95

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment. “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.”

Will You Take the Place of the One Lawgiver and Judge?

The True Lawgiver

The One Who can destroy Body and Spirit

Isaiah 33:22 NASB95

For the Lord is our judge, The Lord is our lawgiver, The Lord is our king; He will save us—

Matthew 10:28 NASB95

“Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Indeed, as in Romans, the warning in James is probably not about seeking revenge but not judging those to whom God will grant salvation.

- Kurt A. Richardson, James, vol. 36, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1997), 197.

The False Lawgiver

The one who can destroy reputation and body

Romans 9:20 NASB95

On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it?

Romans 14:4 NASB95

Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

James 1. Ill-Speaking as Law-Judging (4:11)

Because of ignorance and their own many sins, persons are absolutely incompetent to judge.

Job 38:1–7 NASB95

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, “Who is this that darkens counsel By words without knowledge? “Now gird up your loins like a man, And I will ask you, and you instruct Me! “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? “On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for joy?