Today’s reading is James 4.
Sometimes it seems like everyone, whether Christian or not, knows Matthew 7:1: “Judge not, that you be not judged.” Not as many know James 4:11-12: “Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?” However, among all those who do know either of these passages, the majority pluck them out of their immediate and biblical contexts to lob as grenades against anyone who would rebuke them for sin.
Notice James brings this right back to doing the law. However, what law is James mostly concerned about? The royal law. The one that says, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” No doubt, called the royal law because the King declared this is the second greatest commandment and that all other laws hang on this and the law to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. Where did He get this law? From Leviticus 19:18. Leading up to that verse is a powerful description of loving your neighbor. It talks about leaving some of your harvest for your poor neighbor to glean. When we love our neighbors we won’t steal from them, deal falsely with them, lie to them. We won’t oppress or rob our neighbors. We’ll pay wages when we hire our neighbors (remember this one, it will come up in James 5). We don’t take advantage of our neighbors’ weaknesses like cursing the deaf or placing a stumbling block before the blind. We don’t slander or offer false testimony. We won’t take vengeance or bear a grudge against our neighbor. Make sure you notice Leviticus 19:15: “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor” (ESV).
Wait! What?
I thought James and Jesus told us we aren’t allowed to judge anyone in any way. Who am I to judge my neighbor? I’m a person who was told by God to judge my neighbor in righteousness. James has already given us insight into judging people in James 2:4. That judgment was not about accusing someone of committing a sin, but of looking down on someone because of their poverty. I’m not saying this particular illustration of judging others is all James is condemning. However, I think we can say with biblical certainty, he is not condemning rightly judging people as guilty of sin in order to lead them to repentance. After all, James himself judged some of his readers as sinners in this matter of judging their brothers and sisters with evil thoughts and motives. Further, he will end this entire book with the encouragement to bring those who wander from the truth back into the fold, saving a sinner from death (see James 5:19-20). That takes judgment.
Look again at James’s statement. We are not to speak evil against one another. He doesn’t say we are not to accurately assess someone’s sinful behavior or correctly determine if their teaching is error. This same word is translated “slander” in 1 Peter 3:16. It is used in the Septuagint (LXX) to describe false accusations made against God and Moses in passages like Numbers 21:5, 7; Psalm 78:19; Hosea &:13. Further, James says when we do this we have stopped doing the law and become a judge of the law. Why? Because the law says to love our neighbor. When we believe we are allowed to ignore the law and instead slander, speak evil, grumble against, and belittle our neighbor, we have judge the law to be invalid and unworthy of submission. Remember, we aren’t simply to hear the word, we are to do the word. How dare we judge God’s law! In fact, James told us we need to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger in relation to God’s Word.
How then do we answer James’s rhetorical question, anchored in Leviticus 19:15-18 as it is? Unless I can answer the question, “I am someone who loves my neighbor as myself,” then I have no ground in any way to judge my neighbor. When my judgment toward my neighbor is anchored in the royal law of loving my neighbor, then I’m a person who judges my neighbor in righteousness just as God commanded. That’s who.
But–and this is a really, really big “but”–this takes a great deal of self-awareness and self-honesty. Do you love your neighbor as yourself? Are you treating your neighbor the way you want to be treated? Only then will you judge with a righteous judgement.
Tomorrow’s reading is James 4.
PODCAST!!!
Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.
Discuss the Following Questions with Your Family
- What are your initial reactions to the chapter and the written devo above?
- In what ways do people speak evil of others?
- In what ways do we show love for others?
- What kinds of judgment are actually loving judgments performed in righteousness?
- What do you think we should pray for and about in light of this chapter and today’s post?
Read the Bible 