The Royal Law

Our Bible passage, introduction to Sunday 28th December service and hymns are below.

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Our principal verses are:

Jas 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

Jas 2:9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.

Jas 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

Jas 2:11 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.

Jas 2:12 So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.

Jas 2:13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

The Royal Law

The Royal Law of which James speaks is this, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’. This law derives from the Old Testament in Leviticus 19:18. It is part of the Mosaic law. The Lord Jesus emphasised this duty in His own ministry and ranked ‘the royal law’ second only to love for God, saying, in Mark 12:30, ‘thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’.

Neighbours in deed

The Apostle is continuing his rejection of bias and partiality in our dealings with those around us. He mentions the obligation to the royal law lest any interpret his words as implying prejudice against the rich. James would have us deal alike with all men, being neither rude nor impolite to rich or poor by reason of their station in life. The ‘royal law’ is another vivid phrase unique to James. It encapsulates the law of Moses. It is ‘royal’ for its high rank among laws and its kingly origin as a law of God. Christ granted it a noble role as a binding principle of life for believers. Those who do it are commended.

Scripture rule

James reminds us that the rule by which we live as Christians is holy scripture, understood and applied by spiritual wisdom. We live ‘according to the scripture’. In loving our neighbours the Lord’s people are not at liberty to be partial according to their neighbour’s wealth and influence, or lack thereof. That would be selfish and self-serving. The perfect law of liberty is neither biased nor one-sided. It is undiscriminating and generous as becomes the heirs and beneficiaries of Christ. It takes the pattern Christ left us and applies it graciously.

The sin that condemns

Furthermore, the Lord’s people cannot choose what examples from Christ to follow and what to ignore, any more than those under the ten commandments could pick and choose what laws suited them. This is a masterly application of scripture by James. The apostle reminds his readers that he who broke one of God’s laws under the old dispensation was guilty of breaking all. In this sense it mattered not which law was broken. The principal sin was scorning God and disobeying His word. Not all men and women commit the same sins but all are equally guilty before God as lawbreakers and sinners.

Adultery and murder

Using the examples of adultery and murder James shows how the adulterer and murderer were each judged as a lawbreakers and condemned without mercy. There was no credit given for obeying other laws. No allowance was granted for breaking only one. Should a man diligently labour to ‘keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all’.

Total commitment

Similarly, says James, those converted saints who serve their Saviour according to the perfect law of liberty are obliged to maintain Christ’s honour and follow His example completely. The church cannot pick and choose what laws of Christ to follow or what duties to obey. We cannot relieve ourselves of one obligation by perfecting another. The perfect law of liberty, being written in the heart and implanted by the Holy Spirit will not condone lukewarm service. It requires allegiance to Christ and commitment to His word as rigorous as ever the Mosaic law required obedience from the Old Testament Jew.

Imputed righteousness

In citing this example from the ten commandments James is not returning to the law of Moses as a source of condemnation for believers. God’s elect know that judgment has passed. They know it has been carried by another and the price of their liberty has been paid. By the death of our Saviour the captive’s redemption and conversion is secure. And yet, from the workings of our own heart the children of God know the necessity of preserving grace. They know, with Paul, that in them, that is in their flesh, ‘dwelleth no good thing’.

Free in Christ

The child of God holds these two distinct facts to be simultaneously true. By faith he understands, first, that God’s holy law is objectively satisfied and fulfilled in His Saviour’s sacrifice. He believes, ‘there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus’. Secondly, he discovers, nevertheless, that the will to follow Christ, though present, is weak through the flesh and but for the continuing grace of God could never be sustained and never prosper. In this way and by this knowledge the Lord Jesus becomes daily more precious to the saints of God for our complete justification and continuing preservation.

Amen

Hymn 1003

Breathing after Holiness. Ps. 119. 5, 29-37, 133

I. Watts                 C.M.

1
O that the Lord would guide my ways
To keep his statutes still!
O that my God would grant me grace
To know and do his will.

2
O send thy Spirit down to write
Thy law upon my heart!
Nor let my tongue indulge deceit,
Nor act the liar’s part.

3
From vanity turn off my eyes;
Let no corrupt design,
Nor covetous desires, arise
Within this soul of mine.

4
Order my footsteps by thy word,
And make my heart sincere;
Let sin have no dominion, Lord,
But keep my conscience clear.

5
Make me to walk in thy commands;
’Tis a delightful road;
Nor let my head, or heart, or hands,
Offend against my God.

Hymn 1148

Perfection alone in God

I. Watts   C.M.

1
Let all the heathen writers join
To form one perfect book,
Great God, if once compared with thine,
How mean their writings look!

2
Not the most perfect rules they gave,
Could show one sin forgiven,
Nor lead a step beyond the grave;
But thine conduct to heaven.

3
I’ve seen an end to what we call
Perfection here below;
How short the powers of nature fall,
And can no farther go.

4
Yet men would fain be just with God,
By works their hands have wrought;
But thy commands, exceeding broad,
Extend to every thought.

5
In vain we boast perfection here,
While sin defiles our frame;
And sinks our virtues down so far,
They scarce deserve the name.

6
Our faith and love, and every grace,
Fall far below thy word;
But perfect truth and righteousness
Dwell only with the Lord.

Has Jesus made you free?

Then you are free indeed;

Ye sons of liberty,

Ye chosen royal seed,

Walk worthy of your Lord, and view

Your glorious Head, in all you do.

William Gadsby