Royal Law (8-9): Welcoming people who are different from us and showing them Christian warmth is to abide by the law of King Jesus (“the royal law”),[1] which parallels the Old Testament law: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). Living in violation of this command of Christ is a serious issue. To maintain “personal favoritism” or “partiality” (2:1, 9) is to be an unrepentant transgressor against Christ. Followers of Christ do not discriminate.[2]
Genuine Faith (10-13): As he often does, James alerts us to where we truly stand before God (2:12).[3] He illustrates the seriousness of the sin of partiality with a part to whole argument from the Old Testament: a violation of one of God’s laws renders a man a transgressor of the whole law (2:10-11). Similarly, when it comes to the new covenant, the failure to abide by Christ’s law of love[4] (though it is only one command of Christ) reveals a systemic problem, namely, that our entire faith in Christ is questionable (2:1). The failure to love shows we are neither doers of Christ’s Word (1:22) nor His disciples (John 13:35). No mercy to others means no mercy from God (2:13). As Jesus said: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy” (Matt. 5:7). Continual violation of this law of Christ casts a serious doubt on one’s faith in Him.[5] Love is the touchstone of genuine faith. True believers love others and show mercy.
[1] The adjective “royal [ba-si-li-kos (βασιλικός)]” comes from the word for the “king [ba-si-leus (βασιλεύς)]” and “kingdom [ba-si-lei-a (βασιλεία)]” (2:5). “Royal” here is best understood as “belonging to the king”, i.e., to king Jesus. This is not the OT law (though parallel to it), but the law of Christ (John 13:34; Matt. 22:39).
[2] Faith in Christ and partiality must never coexist (2:1). To fail the test of love is to fail the test of faith. This is James argument here and the often repeated argument of John in 1 John 2:10-11; 3:14, 23-24; 4:7-8, 16, 20.
[3] Repeatedly, James speaks directly about his audience’s true spiritual condition: 1:7-8, 15, 21-22, 26.
[4] In this context, this is the sin of discrimination against the destitute and the needy (1:27; 2:1-4).
[5] Consistent with the rest of Scripture, James teaches salvation by faith (2:1, 14), not a works-based salvation. What he shows here is that faith is always evidenced by works, namely, in acts of love and mercy.