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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