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NASB | James 4:11 ¶ Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | James 4:11 ¶ Believers, do not speak against or slander one another. He who speaks [self-righteously] against a brother or judges his brother [hypocritically], speaks against the Law and judges the Law. If you judge the Law, you are not a doer of the Law but a judge of it. |
Subject: "THE LAW" AS WHOLE O.T. TEACHING |
Bible Note: I understand James to be speaking of "the Law," that is, the Teaching of God found in what we call the Old Testament. Remember, James is a leader of the Jerusalem congregation whose members are primarily Jewish, so his listeners/readers understood the phrase to be referring to the Torah. As for a specific verse or passage, consider Leviticus 19:18. In context, chapter 19 has several admonitions how to behave toward other people. The teaching in verse 18 is to love your neighbor as youself, and not to hold a grudge against those who wrong you, nor to take revenge against them. Jesus quoted this verse in Matthew 22:39 as a key teaching in the OT that His followers should practice. James writes his exhortation in 4:11 in the broad context of Lev. 19 and the teaching of Jesus in Mt. 22. Earlier in his epistle, James referred to "law" differently but in a related way. In 2:8, he calls the teaching about loving others the "royal law of love," and then quotes Lev. 19.18. Similarly, Paul writes in Romans 13:10 that love is the fulfillment of "the Law" -- that is, the whole body of Law (Teaching) that God transmitted through Moses. It is this "law of love," according to Paul, that does no wrong toward one's neighbor. And we understood from Jesus that our "neighbor" is anyone else (Luke 10) -- especially someone of a different Ethnos (People-group). In summary, then, James in 4:11 first speaks of "the Law" in the sense of the whole body of teaching in the Pentateuch. But he is also thinking of the "royal law of love" as explained by Jesus and Paul. The application for us is not to judge or slander other people -- both "neighbor" and "brother" -- but rather, to practice showing God's love toward them. Then, as James teaches, we would be "doers of the law." This is the main point of James' epistle -- and a key teaching of Jesus, Paul and John (as repeated in the latter's epistles). |
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Searcher56 | ||
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tortoise | ||
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catrw2 | ||
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catrw2 | ||
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Robertus Minimus |