To Encourage You

James 2:12 “the law of liberty”

Do you know what a paradox is? One dictionary defines a paradox as “a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true.” The Bible is full of such things.  For example, in Matthew 5:6 Jesus tells us that it is a blessing to hunger and thirst after righteousness (Matthew 5:6). Yet, He also said this in John 6:35: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”  Seems contradictory, doesn’t it? But it is with these teachings that Jesus is telling us that there is a hunger that many people never seem to acknowledge, yet it is those who perceive that hunger that are the most blessed in all the earth, for it is those and only those who turn to Him as the bread of life and, as a result, find all their needs met for all eternity. 

Another paradox: in Romans 3:28 we are told that “A person is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” Yet in James 2:24 we are told “A person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” So which is it?  Are we justified by works or not?  Are our good works the means by which we will enter the kingdom of God, or not? It is as we dig deeper into this paradox that we find that the answer is “No” – but then again “Yes.”  That is, no person is saved because of their goodness.  Ephesians 2:8-9 reinforces this with the following words: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  Yet, throughout the Scriptures, such as in the words recorded in James 2, we see that if we are truly saved, works will follow.  Works are NEVER a prerequisite to salvation, but they are ALWAYS evidence of it. 

We see another paradox in the phrase from James 2, above, i.e., the phrase “the law of liberty.”  Many people think of laws as a type of bondage. For example, we don’t have the “freedom” to drive a vehicle as fast as we want anywhere we want because of traffic laws.  If we disregard these laws, we find ourselves bound by that law in the form of the fines we might have to pay.  We don’t have the “freedom” to take our neighbor’s things and use them without their permission, for the law calls that theft, and we are bound by it.  So, what’s this “law of liberty” that James is talking about? 

Well, earlier in James’ letter, he also calls it “the royal law,” and he then states explicitly that it is the law that commands: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This is the highest law, the most important law, the greatest law that God ever gave us, because if we obey this law, we will be obeying all the rest of God’s laws, for that’s what the royal law is a summary of. It’s the main point of all of it. It’s what God has called us to above all else. 

But obedience to that law isn’t possible unless one has received a transformed heart. That’s because, while a person may THINK they love their neighbor as themselves, and while they may THINK they love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, it is all the other laws that point out to us that we don’t love like that, and that we’ve all violated “the royal law” in many ways.  In fact, we are so sinful that in Romans 6 we are told that we, in our natural condition, are “slaves to sin.”  The way we know this is that we “obey” sin.  We do what sin tells us to do.  It’s so easy for us. It’s our natural inclination. We do it willingly, while at the same time we disobey God willingly.  Jesus put it this way in Matthew 6:24: “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”  And because God’s Law is universal, we are all bound by its penalty. 

It is because we are in slavery to sin that we break God’s law every time we turn around. Yet, there is a freedom, a liberty, that is possible from all this.  It’s because of Jesus’ death on the cross as a penalty for our sin that we can be freed from the just requirements and penalty of this law.  It’s because He already paid the penalty for our transgressions that we can see this law as one of liberty, not bondage.  It is when we put our faith in Christ that an incredible miracle occurs in our life, for we find that it was “For our sake he (i.e., God) made him (i.e., Jesus Christ) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).  Some have called this “the great exchange,” for that, indeed, is what it is.  And when such a miracle happens to us, we are able, for the very first time, to actually do what God’s Law has called us to do, for it is then, and only then, that we are freed from our slavery to sin and, out of gratitude, freely, with liberty, serve and obey Christ and love our neighbor as our self. 

Free from sin and bound to righteousness: that’s what the Law of Liberty means to us. The cross of our Savior has freed us from the penalty of sin and freed us to obey God with a willing heart, knowing that we’ve been forgiven.  It is those who have been freed in this way whom Jesus said have been made “free indeed” (John 8:36).

Praise His holy name!