“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.” (James 2:10–13)

By introducing the Royal Law (“thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”), James was demonstrating that the law was a unit. Christ in summarising the law into two great commandments had demonstrated this very fact. Loving God and loving one’s neighbour encompasses the entire duty of man.

James in this passage reinforces this lesson still further by teaching that no sin is with without consequence. There is no little sin, there is no white lie – every sin renders us guilty before God. Failure to obey one aspect of the law is to make one guilty of the whole.

The Blasphemy of Failing to Love Our Neighbours

As James was teaching the Royal Law he accused Church gatherings of showing preference to the rich who were oppressing the poor, and committing blasphemy in the process. This was a severe charge. Here was a gathering of people who looked quite respectable. People were sitting in fine clothes in places of importance. They were offering prayers and reading from the Scriptures. They were honouring the Lord’s Day and breaking bread. Yet they were committing a grave sin, in honouring the rich people who were oppressing them.

Scratching beneath the surface of the Church there were deep seated problems. Among the godliest people in this gathering of Christian were people who were poor, very poor. They could not pay into the offering as others could. Their clothes were rags in comparison to the rich people seated near the front. Yet James said that God had chosen the poor of this world to be “rich in faith” making them “heirs of the kingdom”. Meanwhile the rich were in reality the paupers, as they were committing blasphemy by their scandalous behaviour.

Therefore sin had been committed in that these Christians had misunderstood true riches. They had put the riches of the world in front of the spiritual riches that are in Christ. This kind of Spirit was only going to make them materialistic, covetous and proud.
We need to take care and not elevate material riches above spiritual riches. This will set us on the wrong track where our priorities are concerned.

Sin had also been committed in that the poor people had been humbled, forced to sit on the poor seats while the rich had the best seats. This was a snobbish mentality. Snobbery is a frightful sin. It degrades people for the least justified of reasons. The person whom you despise because they are have fewer advantages than you – may be a godlier soul than you will ever be.

Sin had been committed in that partiality was going to make it impossible for the Church to to govern and exercise discipline. The rich man fully expected to become an elder. The poor man never had a chance even though he was better qualified. When the rich man fell into sin, this was overlooked. In fact he was commended despite his sin on account of his riches. The poor man; well – they would find it easier to deal with him. He was after all of little consequence.

Sin had been committed in that this assembly of Christians were not seeking spiritual wealth. The way in which they treated people demonstrated this. They measured people by appearance, status and wealth. It was all so very wrong. They did not account for the widow’s mite. That the offering was more about the spirit in which it was given than the amount itself. These things were forgotten. These people were not growing. Rather they were a backslidden company of Christians who had lost their way.

The Depths of our Depraved Humanity

Here, were a company of Christians, the Lord’s people. Yet by their partiality and favouritism they had committed blasphemy. Praying, reading Scriptures – yet tolerating sin without realising.

This highlights the deceptiveness of our hearts. We sin more than we realise. There is no room for pride in our lives. What is true of the Church generally is true of every individual Christian. We may moan about the sins of others, how they offend us and hurt us; while at the same time we ourselves offend a holy God.

These people were most respectable yet they had taken a pen knife through the entire second table of the commandments. In so doing they had shredded the entire law of God. This one sin of partiality had destroyed their Christian testimony. They might as well have been committing adultery or stealing. or even murdering.

This highlights the extreme care we need to take with our lives. One sin is destructive, divisive and ruinous. An otherwise sound Christian character and a lifetime of service can be ruined by one wrong decision. Yet those wrong decisions arose out of a heart that was in the wrong place for years or for decades prior to this.

This is why we must stay close to God and the Word, cultivating godliness and spirituality. Even Christians can be guilty of blasphemy,

The Inescapable Nature of our Guilt

Breaking God’s law renders us guilty. The penalty for sin is spiritual death. God’s standards are absolute and His law is without flexibility. The soul that sinneth, it shall die.

One of the reasons we are so unaware of our sin and view it with so little seriousness is that we do not fear God as we should. He keeps accounts. The evidence is gathered. Judgement Day is coming.

On July 8th 1740 Jonathan Edwards, minister in Northampton Massachusetts, ministered at the neighbouring congregation at Edfield. It was a most dramatic sermon as some of the excerpts demonstrate:

“For these the wrath of God is burning; the pit is prepared, the fire is ready, the furnace is hot, the flames do rage and glow;”

“And there is no reason to be given why those sitting in the presence of the preacher have not dropped into hell since they have been sitting here, but the unobliged forbearance of an incensed God;”
“And it would be no wonder if some, in health and quiet and secure, should be there before tomorrow morning.”

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Jonathan Edwards

Rev Stephen Williams, reported on the impact of the sermon:

…before sermon was done there was a great moaning and crying through the whole House, ‘What Shall I do to be Sav’d’—’oh, I am going to Hell’—’oh, what shall I do for Christ.’, so that the minister was obliged to desist, the shrieks and cries were piercing and amazing. After some time of waiting, the congregation were still, so that a prayer was made and after that we descended from the pulpit and discoursed with the people—Some in one place and Some in another—and Amazing and Astonishing the power of God was seen—and several souls were hopefully wrought upon that night, and oh the cheerfulness and pleasantness of their countenances that received comfort—oh that God would strengthen and confirm—we sung a hymn and pray’d and dismiss’d the assembly.

Enfield Historical Society

If we were to be awakened so that we would understand what our sins deserve we would be very different people. Revival would come.

The Mercy we Desperately Need

When revival came to New England at this time the people received mercy.

James concludes this section of his letter by saying that “mercy rejoiceth against judgement”. This simply means that mercy is preferred to judgment. God is glorified when the ungodly are turned into Hell but He delights in mercy. Therefore it is God’s joy to receive sinners into heaven. But we only receive this welcome as the beneficiaries of the mercy of God.

God’s justice is inflexible in the sense that it must always be satisfied. But His wisdom found a way to reconcile his love with his holiness. Justice was satisfied perfectly at the cross when Christ took upon Himself the guilt of all of our sins. Every last one of our sins was laid upon Christ. He took the suffering, the guilt and the punishment.

Therefore because justice is satisfied we receive mercy. Because God’s love is reconciled with His holiness we ourselves are reconciled with God in Christ.

The depravity of our natures and our collision course with the great white throne of eternal justice teaches us that we must have Christ. We need Him to be our Saviour. We urgently need the continual mercy of God or we are lost forever.

The Mercy we are called to Give

In his closing remarks upon this solemn and searching section James also comments – “For he shall have judgement without mercy, that hath showed no mercy”.

As those who are sinners, who are in need of God’s continual mercy – we are called to be unto others as God is unto us. The assembly of Christians James had in mind were not a merciful people. There was no mercy, no kindness shown to the poor man with the rags. For him there was no seat available. This was not a mark of the Christian.

This also takes us back to our Lord’s teaching on the mount – “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy”.

Those who are merciful are demonstrating a characteristic of God. They are dealing with others in a divine, Christlike manner. This is a living vibrant faith. The logical outcome, however, is this – those who have no mercy for others, whatever their profession and claims may be – are not demonstrating Christ. Will they receive mercy?

The Lord’s Prayer is another case in point – “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”. Remember the parable of the man who removed a debt that his servant had owed him (Matthew 18). He was moved with compassion when that servant begged for mercy. The master, however, when he heard of this same man who had a fellow servant cast into prison because he could not pay a debt that was owed. He refused cries for compassion. The master was outraged. He reinstated the debt and delivered him to prison and torture.

Christ applied the lesson forcibly:

So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

Matthew 18:35.

Let us reflect upon this carefully. Always allow love to supersede anger. Let us be slow to judge and be hasty with our mercy. Give the benefit of the doubt. Be kind and gracious. This too is part of the law. Always remember we are all sinners. We have all offended God in more than one way. There is no such thing as one little sin. With humility, therefore, let us press forward to follow Christ, in His steps.