So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. (James 2:12 ESV)
Lessons from the book of James (#8)
Scripture tells us to “speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.”
Scripture also tells us that we will be blessed if we do this. “But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” (James 1:25 ESV)
What is the law of liberty?
“The law of liberty” is God’s will for our lives. It is God’s standard for our everyday living. The law is God’s Word.
Why is God’s Word called “the law of liberty”?
Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, [32] and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32 ESV)
God’s Word is called the “law of liberty” because, as the Holy Spirit implants God’s truths in our hearts and enables us to obey His teachings, we move closer to living the life that God has planned for us and we experience liberation from sin’s bondage. God’s perfect law provides true freedom. Freedom from sin is liberty.
Jesus summed up the “law of liberty” in a few short verses when he said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40 ESV)
When we love God with every fiber of our being, and when we love our neighbors as ourselves (without partiality) we are “speaking and acting as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.” (Admittedly, this is a lofty goal, which none of us have yet achieved, but we can all “press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me …: (Philippians 3:14))
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