The Royal Law (Love)

James 2:8

James 2:8 CSB

Indeed, if you fulfill the royal law prescribed in the Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well.

James the half-brother of Jesus is the author of this letter. It would appear in this letter he was addressing a problem that had occured in the church. The church had become partial to wealth. They had gone so far as to give special seats to those that were wealthy while telling the poor to stand off to the side (James 2:1-3). This favoritism is contrary to our faith in Jesus Christ. Through out the word of God we see that God is the defender of the poor (Psalms 34:6, 35:10, 140:12, Isaiah 41:17, 58:6-7, Ezekiel 22:29, Zechariah 7:10, Luke 4:18, 14:13-14, 1 John 3:17, Proverbs 14:31, 21:13, 29:7).

Proverbs 29:7 CSB

The righteous person knows the rights of the poor, but the wicked one does not understand these concerns.

When we do not seek justice for the poor and vulnerable then we are going against our faith; this is an unmistakable message of God’s word. In fact to not seek justice for the poor is evidence that wickedness and not righteousness is in our hearts. That is a hard saying I know. However, we cannot ignore that God holds us to account for how we treat the poor. James 2:9-11 even puts it on the same level as murder and adultery.

James calls “Love your neighbor as yourself,” the royal law. He is clearly tying this back to Jesus who is our king. It seems that James is saying there is something elevated about the command to love others. Loving others holds a special place in the kingdom of God. James is saying that if we actively fulfill Jesus’ command to love others that we are doing well. In this context he is challenging us to love those that really have nothing to offer us in return (see Luke 14:13-14). It is honorable to to love the poor.

It is this active loving of others that is the fruit our our faith. If there is no evidence of love then James concludes that our faith is dead (see James 2:15-17, 26 ). Further dead faith cannot save a person’s soul (see James 2:14). This seems to make love extraordinarily important to our faith. To see love and faith connected to each other in such dramatic language seems to make love of primary importance in our walk with God. Let us not grow weary in loving well those around us.

God Bless You,

~BJ Olson