James 2:12

‘So speak you, and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of liberty.'

He then applies his words to the Christians who are hearing his letter read to them. They are to recognise this principle and speak and act accordingly, recognising that their words and their actions are to be judged by means of the perfect law, the law of liberty (James 1:25). But that law is not called the law of liberty because it frees men from the need to obey it and lowers God's standards. It is called the ‘law of liberty' because:

· It has been freed by Jesus from all the extra requirements added by man and stands out in all its purity (Mark 7:13). It has thus become a law of liberation.

· It has been amplified and expanded on in order to deal with thoughts as well as actions, freeing men from a dead letter and positively requiring purity of thought.

· It is there to be observed gladly and heartily by all who have been set free from its condemnation and its power to drive men to despair by their whole-hearted response to God and the Lord, Jesus Christ (John 8:34; Romans 8:1; compare the Psalmist's joy in the Law in Psalms 119).

· It is the law of all who have been freed from sin and are now His servants (1 Peter 2:16) and sons (Romans 8:14; Galatians 4:4).

· It lays bare the way of freedom, for if it is observed fully it makes all men free from sin, and it is the law of freedom because it works hand in hand with God's work in the heart by which He brings those who respond to Him in obedience to Him and His law so that they are free to fulfil it (Jeremiah 31:31 ff. Hebrews 8:8; Philippians 2:13).

· Obedience to it brings men into freedom and blessedness, and gives them fullness of life (Psalms 1:1; Psalms 119:1; Psalms 119:162; Leviticus 18:5).

Thus we too must come to that law and read and study it. For it will show us what it means to be free from sin, and will drive us to call on the strength and power of Christ in order to overcome. And it will convict us of anything in which we go wrong. For studying that Law is ‘coming to the light', and that will show us the sin from which we need to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus (1 John 1:7).

And the result of that cleansing is a constant new freedom. As Jesus said, If the Son shall make you free, you will be free indeed' (John 8:36) and that by freeing us from our slavery to sin (John 8:34), so that we obey ‘the law of Christ', God's perfect Law as revealed especially in the two great commandments and in the Sermon on the Mount. For His service, which brings us under full obedience to Him, is perfect freedom, because it frees us from anything else that might bind us. From then on we need to live only in accordance with the will of our Father (Matthew 7:21). And we do this not out of fear (its power to finally condemn is broken) but out of love.

To use the illustration in James 1:23, this law is like a mirror into which we can look so that it shows us the truth about ourselves. But once we have seen what we are the mirror has done its work, and we do not then scrub ourselves with the mirror (which would be of shining metal). Rather we turn from the mirror to the water and wash ourselves clean. In the same way when the Law reveals that we are ‘dirty' we do not then use the Law as a cleansing agent (although they did under the old Law by turning to offerings and sacrifices). Rather it becomes our tutor to point us to Christ (Galatians 3:24). We allow the law to point us to Jesus Christ as the Saviour from sin Who was sacrificed for us (John 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:7; 2Co 5:21; 1 Peter 1:18; Hebrews 8-10; Romans 8:3) and was put forth as the propitiation for our sins (Romans 3:24). And we come in order to be cleansed by His blood, that is, by His blood shed for us (1 John 1:7). James recognises this as well as Paul and Peter, for it is intrinsic in his argument here. Otherwise his words simply leave every man guilty before God. And he now expresses this point succintly.