James 2:8

Anticipated Argument

It would appear that James is answering in these next verses (James 2:8-13) an argument that these Christians have put forward. It appears that his readers are defending their actions towards the rich man by saying that they are only practicing love for their neighbor. James anticipates that some of his readers will try to justify their actions by appealing to the command that says we need to love our neighbor as ourselves.

James 2:8 "If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law, according to the Scripture, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself', you are doing well."If however, you are" -Which suggests that not everyone was guilty of the above hypocrisy. "fulfilling" -to carry out, accomplish, perform and keep."the royal law" -Which is defined in this verse as being the command to love our neighbor as ourselves. The word royal means: "of or belonging to. king, kingly, regal, hence metaph., principal, chief" (Thayer p. 98).

Points To Note:

Various views exist concerning why the above command is called "the royal law": 1. It is. law which governs or includes all other laws concerning how we treat others, it sums up every command which applies between us and others (Matthew 22:39; Matthew 7:12). 2. It is. law made by the King Himself, with whom there is no respect of persons. It is. law which the King Himself practices. 3. It is. law which is fit for royalty, Christians are. royal priesthood and children of the King (1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:6). 3. Clearly it is. principal law (Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14), which includes all other laws.

We should note that the principle to love one's neighbor as yourself is found in almost all of the world's religions. But it is usually expressed in. negative form, i.e. "whatever is hateful to yourself, do not to your fellow man". It doesn't rise to the positive form, "however you want people to treat you, so treat them" (Matthew 7:12). It is much easier to keep the negative-than it is to keep the positive. In addition, in other religions the negative form of this law is typically limited to. select group of people, i.e. people of their own race, religion or culture."according to the Scripture". Leviticus 19:18. Jesus then quoted, confirmed and made this principle. part of the New Covenant as well (Matthew 18:19; Matthew 22:34; Luke 10:26; Mark 12:28). Woods notes, "He who loves God supremely will discharge fully his duty to God; he who loves his neighbor as himself will, in similar fashion, perform every obligation owed to his neighbor" (p. 120).

Point To Note:

The above comment has some tremendous fall out. Concerning talking to others about the Bible, we often tend to excuse ourselves as being too busy or not very good as such things. The bottom line is that if we really love your neighbors, we will want to make every effort to see that they have. chance to hear the gospel message. When we start loving our neighbors as ourselves, we will have the motivation we need to evangelize."you are doing well" -Note that we can do well! Pleasing God is not an impossible task.