The Royal Law and the Power of God's Love
James 2:8-11“If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. for he who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.”
In the first seven verses of our text James told us we should not show favoritism. Here, in verses 8-11, he explains how ugly this sin really is. He associates the sin of favoritism with the sin of adultery and murder. Before we address the severity of favoritism let us first look at how God would like us to treat one another.
James calls on us to keep the “royal law found in Scripture” which he describes as loving “your neighbor as yourself”. This law, or command, is found in the teaching of Jesus (Matthew 22:34-40) where he states that loving your neighbor as yourself is the second greatest commandment a Child of God could ever fulfill...second only to the greatest commandment in all of Scripture which is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Both these commands originated in the Old Testament (Deut. 6:4-5 & Lev. 19:18) and would have been familiar to the Jewish congregation of James’ church.
It is very important to understand what Jesus said in the following verse (Matt. 22:40)... “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Jesus explains when we love God and love our neighbor we are also fulfilling all the laws and sayings of the prophets in the Old Testament...that’s a very powerful statement. He is essentially saying if you are in love with God and you are loving your neighbor, then you automatically are in obedience to the commands and teachings of the Bible. Wow.. did you get that!!
This is so important… let’s recap what we are talking about here:
1. Love God with all your heart, soul and mind. To be in love with God first tells us you are a true believer because only children of God can love him. One of the great benefits of salvation is that God gives you the ability to love him completely. Now I need you to get this next part. Jesus said in John 14:15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command”. The outward demonstration of our love for God is obedience… did you get that? Your inward love for God is demonstrated outwardly in obedience, and remember…this is the first and greatest commandment you can obey. Everything we do as a believer must flow out of our love for God.
2. Love your neighbor as yourself. The first thing that should flow from our love for God would naturally be a love for others. God himself demonstrated a love for the world (mankind) (ref. John 3:16 & Romans 5:8) by sending His one and only Son to die in our place for the remission of sins. We demonstrate a love for other people as a natural result of loving God.
3. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. Let’s go back and look at the 10 commandments to understand this verse. The 10 commandments are broken down into two sections. The first four deal with our relationship with God. So ask yourself this question: If you are in love with God...if you love him with all your heart, soul, and mind… can you 1) have another god before Him?; can you 2) make or worship false gods?; if you love God would you 3) take His name in vain?; or 4) would you ignore the Sabbath (day of worship)? Do you see how a love for God automatically fulfills the Law and the Prophets of the Old Testament? The remaining 6 commands deal with our relationship with other people. Ask yourself once again… If you are loving your neighbor as yourself. If your love for others is flowing from your love for God would you: 5) would you honor your father and mother? ..would you 6) murder someone if you loved them? … 7) or commit adultery against your wife or husband if you loved them? …8) would you steal? or 9) spread lies against someone you truly loved? 10) could you love someone and still covet their spouse or their possessions?
Do you see how love for God and love for others fulfills all the other commandments and teachings of the Bible? I wish Christians would spend more time working on their “love relationship” with God instead of practicing religious habits. I know a lot of people who go to church every Sunday that are mean spirited, critical of the pastor, and spend too much time complaining about trhings in the church. Sounds more like favoritism to me.
James says, “If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right.” You are doing right in God’s eyes and this is the person “who will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:25). This is the person whose worship God accepts as “pure and faultless” (James 1:27). How is your love? Does your love need some work… some remodeling?
