Love Your Neighbor

Journey through James: 2:8-11

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. — James 2:8-11

James is bringing his argument against partiality to a close and reminds us that treating others differently based on external looks is wrong. If we show favoritism, we sin and are transgressors of the law. 

James quotes for us the 2nd of the greatest commandments, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Some twist this command to say that we need to focus on loving ourselves first before we can try and love other people. This was not what Jesus was saying when He quoted Leviticus 19:18. Jesus knows that we already love ourselves, and He quoted this verse to challenge us to love others in the way we already love ourselves. Jesus came to the earth and died on the cross because He loved and obeyed God the Father, and He loved us. Instead of focusing on the appearance or status of those around us, we need to love them the way God wants us to.

We hear a lot about “love” in the month of June in our country. Unfortunately, most of the messaging we hear is not really about love but about blind, unthinking approval. This is not love. Loving others is also not making other people get in line with our opinions. Loving other people involves serving them and sharing the truth with them. When we love other people, we desire what is best for them, and that is not always what they want. We need to honor and respect others because all humanity is created in God’s image. We need to love others and share the truth of God’s Word with them. It is not loving to pretend that breaking God’s law is not harmful…that it is not sin. 

James tells us that whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point becomes guilty of all of the law. The penalty for sin is the same regardless of how many sins you have committed. James is not sharing this to say once we have sinned we should sin as much as we want since we are already guilty. He emphasizes the point that we are all guilty before God and face the same punishment if we have not repented of our sins and placed our faith in Christ. The same God gave us all of the commands; if we break one, we have broken His standard. Another reason we should not show partiality towards others is that we all stand guilty before God. We are all equally undeserving of His grace. Praise God for His mercy and grace towards us sinners. May we love others as He loved us.