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Not As Guilty?


     

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








A recent headline said that the baseball team awaiting the results of an investigation is possibly not as guilty as the other team that was already found guilty. Not as guilty; what does that even mean?  Not as guilty still implies that there is guilt. For if there was no guilt, then that would be innocence. That would mean complete exoneration. This would certainly be my preference for anyone accused falsely and never to be deemed "not as guilty."

When James wrote to the early church, some were trying to bind parts of the Old Covenant on Christians. Several Judaizers in the early church wanted to bind parts of the Law of Moses on new converts of the Gentile persuasion. Paul wrote,  “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace (Gal. 5:1-4).” Some expressions should stick out there, “profit you nothing, debtor to the whole law, fallen from grace.” Now consider what James wrote above: “guilty of all.”

The danger was real in the first century, just as it is now. We find that there are a growing number of those who have forsaken the Apostle’s doctrine and have adopted the binding parts of the Law and the doctrines of demons. Let us always hold fast to the author and perfecter of our faith. May we always be a people who will look to the Word and find what God has said, lest we endanger our souls and those of our children. For the Scripture is true. If we attempt to be justified by the old law, we will fall by the old law, for we cannot keep it all. If we try to invent our religion, we will die in our religion. Let’s simply do what the New Testament church did and we will be what they were: The church of Christ. “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him” (Col 3:17).

Grace and Peace,
Ryan

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