Partiality Viotales the Law of Love

Student Read

James 2:8–13 ESV

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 guilty of 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.

Prayer

So, let’s remember back two weeks ago - what we saw from the Scripture about “judging a book by its cover” in . Remember we said that judging a book by its cover demonstrates that you have issues with your alliance with to Christ - your heart is divided and also it shows that you are attempting to take God’s role as judge which is not our place - but add to that we have evil hearts and thoughts that God does not have.

So, let’s remember back two weeks ago - what we saw from the Scripture about “judging a book by its cover” in . Remember we said that judging a book by its cover demonstrates that you have issues with your alliance with to Christ - your heart is divided and also it shows that you are attempting to take God’s role as judge which is not our place - but add to that we have evil hearts and thoughts that God does not have.

So “judging a book by its cover” uncovers issues in our heart - sin in our life. And we also saw from last week two reason why it’s evil to show favoritism or discrimination - it’s evil because God works in the opposite direction - he chooses the weak and poor of the world - not the strong like we do and they don’t really deserve it. In that culture the rich were oppressing the poor - so why would Christian’s bend backward for them when they are the actual people oppressing them and all the while trashing God’s name?

(v.8)

Transition: that was two week ago. Tonight we pick up on that same theme in (v.8-13) the theme of discrimination the idea that we are not to “judge a book by its cover.” But what we see from James here is a deeper reason or we could say the most important reason we are not to “judge a book by its cover” and a threat from God for those do.

So let’s look again at (v.8-9)

James 2:8–9 ESV

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.

What we see here is two conditional phrases. We use these all the time in English. So you guys will come to me and say something like this “If I pick up all the Bible’s after Fuel then can I have a pack of gum?” or you may say “If we do this at Dnow then so-and-so will definitely come that weekend.”

Those are called conditional statements. If the condition is met than it will turn out that way.

So the first statement goes: if you fulfill the royal law - you do well. That’s good. We want to do well.

The second statement goes: but if you show partiality (judge a book by its cover) you sin.

And what we realize when we hold these up to the light is the deepest reason “judging a book by its cover is wrong” :

1. Discrimination Violates the Law of Love

So when I was a youngster, before the dawning of my silver hair years, I played lots of soccer - 10 years of soccer. Fall and spring. 18 seasons in all. I was a soccer feen. I breathed soccer. I slept soccer. I ate soccer. I loved the game. Half-time with fruit bags. Double-header weekends. It was awesome. You can see me grow up in soccer pictures. I was a wing - that’s the offense. And I loved scoring. I had a goal to score two goals a game. Now look I wasn’t playing Ronaldo’s - he’s a great soccer player. But one thing that I hated about soccer, though I understood the why of the rule was offsides. I don’t know how many points I lost from receiving a pass offsides. I violated that rule every game. I was just faster than other kids.

So when I was a youngster, before the dawning of my silver hair years, I played lots of soccer - 10 years of soccer. Fall and spring. 18 seasons in all. I was a soccer feen. I breathed soccer. I slept soccer. I ate soccer. I loved the game. Half-time with fruit bags. Double-header weekends. It was awesome. You can see me grow up in soccer pictures. I was a wing - that’s the offense. And I loved scoring. I had a goal to score two goals a game. Now look I wasn’t playing Ronaldo’s - he’s a great soccer player. But one thing that I hated about soccer, though I understood the why of the rule was offsides. I don’t know how many points I lost from receiving a pass offsides. I violated that rule every game. I was just faster than other kids.

Application: now what we see here is that when we treat some people like second class citizens based on outward appearance - we violate that is we break the royal law - to love our neighbor as ourself. You cannot live out neighbor love in your life - which is btw the calling of every follower of Christ - to love your neighbor like you love yourself - if you discriminate. They don’t sync - they are incompatible. They are oil and water. Oranges and penguins. Android and Apple.

Let’s have real-talk for a moment about judging a book by it’s cover. Everyone in here is unique in some way. You are different. You have different personalities. You have different body types. Some of you are tall. Some are thin. Some are round. You have different passions. You have different ways of expressing yourself. Some through what they wear and others through what they do and others through old fashion words. We are all different to some degree - but we are also all made in God’s image.

Let’s have some clarity - I want everyone in this room to close their eyes. If you feel like you’ve ever been judged based solely on outside appearance - what you look like, how good you are at speaking, your financial situation, your popularity, you skill at a sport, the color of your skin, your gender, whatever - raise your hand.

Look around - each and everyone of you feel like you’ve been treated this way. Everyone in this room knows the pain of being discriminated.

Now close your eyes. Raise your hand if you’ve done this to someone else. You chose not to sit by someone because they are different and that is uncomfortable, you made fun of someone because of the clothes they were wearing or the brand or their hair or fill in the blank.

Now, look around again. We’ve all done it too. I think that we embrace this idea of not showing favoritism, but in reality it is hard to live it out and the when push comes to shove we are violating neighbor love when we judge a book by it’s cover. We cannot discriminate and love our neighbor. And we cannot be people who embrace the royal law - that is we cannot embrace the full and fulfilled law of Christ which has as its heartbeat love of God and love of neighbor and show favoritism.

So what we are doing is building a counter-culture. Everyone in this room has participated in this sin and felt the full-force brunt of this sin - but Christ calls us to His royal kingdom values- to live out neighbor love. Like an oasis of love for each other. I know that Youth Groups can be some of the most split, fragmented and fracture places on this earth - but if just a couple of you would rise up with courage to set a different tone - be what my HS track coach called a tone-setter, well things could change - a culture could shift toward one that embraces each other because of our Maker and King.

Transition: so don’t discriminate because it violates the law of love and the end of (v.9) tells us that when we do we sin and become transgressors of the law. We break to the royal law.

Have you ever said something and then said “well, let me explain”?

James 2:9 ESV

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

The New American Commentary: James (1) The Excellent Deed (2:8)

for James neighbor love along with love for God summed up and fulfilled the whole law (cf. v. 9). James said the believers must “really keep” this law.30 They understood the royal law as fulfilling or doing God’s law completely, wholly.

(v.9)

That’s called justifying a statement. And that is exactly what James does in (v.10-11) he justifies why the breaking of one commandment “judging a book by its cover” is actually a violation of the entire law.

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Letter of James 2. Discrimination Is Wrong Because It Violates the Kingdom Law of Love (2:8–13)

In obedience to their king, Jesus, Christians are to build among themselves a genuine counterculture, in which the values of the kingdom of God rather than the values of this world are lived out.

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Letter of James 2. Discrimination Is Wrong Because It Violates the Kingdom Law of Love (2:8–13)

Since favoritism violates the command of love, the heart of kingdom law, the final conclusion James draws in this verse follows as a matter of strict logic: believers who show favoritism are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.

Window Pane Not Bowling Pin

James 2:10 ESV

For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

(v.10)

So what James is trying to day here is that the law is one unit - there is unity within the law. We should understand it as whole. This was not original thinking:

The Roman moralist Seneca, for instance, claims in his treatise De beneficiis that “he who has one vice has all.”

Or:

In listen to the response of the pious Eleazar when commanded to eat forbidden food: “Do not suppose that it would be a petty sin if we were to eat defiling food; to transgress the law in matters either small or great is of equal seriousness, for in either case the law is equally despised.”

Or:

Look what Paul says in :

Galatians 5:3 ESV

I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.

But especially significant, as is usually the case for James, is Jesus’ teaching: “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven” ().

So there is unity in the law and James goes on to give an example of what really happens when one law is broken in (v.11) look there with me:

(v.11)

James 2:11 ESV

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.

28 M. O’Rourke Boyle, “The Stoic Paradox of ,” NTS 31 (1985) 611–17.

So, whether you break what would be considered a weighty matter in the law “don’t commit adultery” or you break what we would consider a light matter in the law “judging a book by its cover” you have become a transgressor of the law. You bring upon yourself the guilt of the entire law - not just one law.

Douglas J. Moo, The Letter of James, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: Eerdmans; Apollos, 2000), 113–114.(v.11)

Application: I think we view the royal law - the law of liberty () that is the law that has been fulfilled and expressed anew in Christ much like bowling pins. When I mess up it is like I’ve knocked down a certain pin - like that pin represents discrimination and when I act out and discriminate I become guilty of discrimination- but that is not how we are taught to think of the law of Christ. No rather, it is like that window pane that Conner Sargent broke a couple of years ago. When you violate one command it is in reality a violation of the entire law - it is like breaking the entire pane of glass.

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Letter of James 2. Discrimination Is Wrong Because It Violates the Kingdom Law of Love (2:8–13)

If we view the law as a series of individual commandments, we could assume that disobedience of a particular commandment incurred guilt for that commandment only. But, in fact, the individual commandments are part and parcel of one indivisible whole, because they reflect the will of the one Lawgiver. To violate a commandment is to disobey God himself and render a person guilty before him.

Why? Well because (v.11) teaches that the royal law reflects the will of the one Lawgiver. So to violate any command is actually to disobey God Himself and that renders a person guilty before him. We don’t just break the law - we are lawbreakers who are ultimately disobedient to God Himself and that makes us guilty. That is a bad place to be - so James admonishes us in (v.12).

James 2:12 ESV

So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.

Speak and act here are verbs that stress the continuing nature of the actions - now that you know this that one little sin spoils the pot, that favoritism - what we think of as not that big of a deal - breaks the entire pane of glass - breaks and violates God’s law of love - now that we know this be always speaking and always acting with knowledge of the pending judgment.

James said it his way in (1:22):

James 1:22 ESV

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Be a doer of God’s word - confirm your calling - confirm your election - confirm your relationship with Christ. Because at the judgment it will be based upon the demands of the law - and how we stack up. So think of it this way God’s gracious acceptance of you does not end your obligation to obey him; it actually sets it on new footing. God’s royal law fulfilled in Christ is no longer threatening, but a joyful law that leads us into deeper life. That is exactly why James called it the law of liberty in chapter one.

But (v.12) should really having us throw up our hands at James and say:

(v.12)

How can I so speak and so act to be good enough to God?

(v.12)

You must realize that you will never be able to do enough good deeds and sidestep enough sinful deeds to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Like it ain’t gonna happen. You haven’t knocked down a pin, rather you’ve broken the entire frame.

Which should lead you to realize your deep need of the mercy of Christ. Which takes us to (v.13):

James 2:13 ESV

For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

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The message of the gospel is that we all need mercy. We need mercy that “triumphs over judgment” (2: 13). You should praise God that He brings justice and mercy together in the cross, and you and I can be declared right before God based on the righteousness of Jesus Christ. James is saying that when you have experienced that kind of mercy, you clearly know how to show mercy to others. God’s mercy in you overflows from you.

As we have received mercy, so we extend mercy. If you realize that you have been caught - many a time, countless times with your hand in the cookie jar - you know how to be merciful to others when they put their hand in the jar. As you’ve received mercy so you know how to show mercy.

But the converse of this truth is particularly humbling and penetrating: if we do not extend mercy, we demonstrate that we have not received mercy. James says that judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful (2:13).

This is not saying we need to be merciful to others in order to earn mercy before God. You can’t earn mercy; it’s mercy because it can’t be earned. No, this text is saying you can tell who has received mercy from God by the way they show mercy to others. If mercy is evident in someone’s life, then clearly Christ by His mercy is dwelling in them. But if mercy is not evident in them, then there may be reason to wonder whether Christ by His mercy is dwelling in them.

So tying it all together - don’t think that the little sin of judging a book by its cover is actually little - it is damning. It violates the royal law in that you can’t love your neighbor and show partiality. And that is a breaking of the entire law.

So when that evil raises up in your heart and you begin to highlight someone’s differences based solely on outward appearance be warned this is disobedience to God - show mercy not judgment and be a doer thus proving your relationship status with Christ.

Spiritual Application

Platt, David. Exalting Jesus In James (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (Kindle Locations 703-705). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Platt, David. Exalting Jesus In James (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (Kindle Locations 697-701). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

(v.13) - implies at the answer

Can’t Be a Doer W/O Receiving Mercy

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Letter of James 2. Discrimination Is Wrong Because It Violates the Kingdom Law of Love (2:8–13)

Both “speak” and “act” are in a Greek tense that stresses the continuing nature of these actions: “be constantly speaking,” “always be acting.” And the Greek text puts even more emphasis on the need for Christians to regulate their conduct with an eye on the judgment to come; literally rendered, it says, “Speak in such a manner and act in such a manner as those who are about to be judged by the law of liberty.” With these commands, James returns to the dominant theme in this section of the letter: the need for believers to validate the reality of their “religion” by “doing” the word (1:22). But a new twist is added here. For the first time, James warns about eschatological judgment and suggests that conformity to the demands of the law will be the criterion of that judgment.

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The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Letter of James 2. Discrimination Is Wrong Because It Violates the Kingdom Law of Love (2:8–13)

God’s gracious acceptance of us does not end our obligation to obey him; it sets it on a new footing. No longer is God’s law a threatening, confining burden. For the will of God now confronts us as a law of liberty—an obligation we discharge in the joyful knowledge that God has both “liberated” us from the penalty of sin and given us, in his Spirit, the power to obey his will. To use James’s own description, this law is an “implanted word,” “written on the heart,” that has the power to save us (Jas. 1:21).

(v.13)

Have you received the mercy of Christ in order to be someone of mercy?

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Letter of James 2. Discrimination Is Wrong Because It Violates the Kingdom Law of Love (2:8–13)

But the “mercy” that James has been referring to in this context is human mercy, not God’s (v. 12). We therefore think it more likely that he is making a point about the way in which the mercy we show toward others shows our desire to obey the law of the kingdom and, indirectly therefore, of a heart made right by the work of God’s grace.35 The believer, in himself, will always deserve God’s judgment: conformity to the “royal law” is never perfect, as it must be (vv. 10–11). But our merciful attitude and actions will count as evidence of the presence of Christ within us. And it is on the basis of this union with the one who perfectly fulfilled the law for us that we can have confidence of vindication at the judgment.

Remember James said merciless judgment awaits those who show no mercy - in other words, if you haven’t received the mercy of Christ then merciless judgment awaits. If you haven’t go talk with a leader - let them guide you and help you understand what it means to receive the fresh mercy of Christ in salvation

If you’ve received Christ’s mercy - how are you doing in showing it to others? Are you showing neighbor love? Are you loving others the way you love yourself? How? Spend some time talking w/God asking Him how you can grow in this area?

Pray