If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
If you do your homework, then you can watch TV. I did not do my homework and I had a TV in my room so I did not do well in school. I failed in more than one point as James said in his letter. He wrote about a big “if”. If you love your neighbor as Jesus commanded, then you have truly accomplished something. One almost senses a bit of sarcasm in James tone because there has never been anyone who lived who truly loved their neighbor as themselves. No one but Jesus that is. That is the beauty of the gospel because a simple matter of showing partiality disqualifies us. James warns that failing at one out of 613 statutes means you are out. A baseball player who bats 612 for 613 has a batting average of .000.
The royal law needed a Royal Savior. Jesus Christ came to earth to bat a thousand. He kept the law for us so that we could enter into the kingdom. Even if we fail constantly, which we will, we receive a crown because Jesus passed the test. He kept the law perfectly, yet died like a criminal. He succeeded at everything in healing and teaching, yet was mocked as a failure on the cross. He who was innocent of all of the royal law justified the guilty…
That is Royal Love
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church