Once upon a time there was a covenant made between God and the nation of Israel. It was based upon a law of hearing it and doing it. The ultimate goal was to be a doer of that word of law as they pursued right standing with God. In spite of how many may have thought they were performing as required, nobody could actually do it.
About 1,500 years later, the fulfillment of that law arrived in the form of a Person who came to provide a new and better option to completely replace the old one. This covenant would be established between Him and God the Father, available for the entire world, based not on doing— but through faith and believing.
The difference between the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of faith is infinite and eternal. It is important we don't confuse the two or blend them together. Our boasting is in Jesus and His doing.
Hollow religion tends to focus more on our actions—good or bad—instead of the work of Jesus and the blood He shed. Even the most passionate of grace people may end up sliding down a slippery slope of diet legalism if they take their eyes off of the prize ... while contradicting themselves about the gospel and the New Covenant, established and guaranteed by God. It often occurs through a misinterpretation of a few Bible verses ... combined with not understanding their identity as a child gifted with an inheritance. You are not defined by whatever label someone else wants to put on you, especially as it relates to good or bad actions.
Under the Old Covenant, Jews pursued a specific ministry of works through a holy and righteous law, thinking it would help them to lay hold of an elusive righteousness they could never attain. It was a very specific bundle, spelled out in writing through a package of 613 commands. All they needed was to do it. But all fell short and it left them in a place of sin consciousness—wondering what else they needed to do to inherit the kingdom.
In our religious culture today, the church corporation may neglect specifics when it comes to works and deeds which they think are the deciding factor as it relates to faith being dead or alive. That is where the law-minded person will come from. Neglecting to supply a precise list of do's and don'ts is a big piece to leave out of the puzzle. Fortunately, the gospel is far better than this.
Throughout the pages of the New Testament, we see numerous examples of how there were Jewish people coming to believe in Jesus, but understandably also believed the law of Moses was still in place for them. The Apostle Paul came along a short while later with a gospel message he claimed was taught directly to him by divine revelation ... to declare the former law had been put aside and nailed to the cross. His message was that life could not be found in the law which had now come to an end, and that the Jewish people had been delivered from such a burdensome ministry of death and condemnation.
But he was in the minority and suffered much persecution because of it. Various places within the New Testament show how James and his council of leadership within the Jerusalem church were part of this persuasion who believed that the Mosaic law was a component towards attaining salvation/justification (for the Jew). They also encouraged at least portions of it for the believing Gentiles. By not ignoring this important part of the big picture within the scriptures, we can begin to see how all of these books (including the works-based letter from James) harmonize with each other to tell the story. The story of what was happening with the struggles in the early church at that time—but more importantly—the message of Jesus and how eternal life is found in Him as a gift by grace through faith ... apart from works.
Here's the playlist for our previous series, "Faith and Works, Paul and James."
Continuing with program #3 of our series on being a "doer of the word" and what this was meant to be about...
The "law of liberty" is seen twice in the New Testament, both times used by James in the first two chapters of his letter written to the twelve tribes of Israel which had been scattered to different regions. If doing an online search to find out what the law of liberty is ... like many other Bible topics ... be prepared to see no fewer than hundreds of different opinions. But as we springboard off the context from chapter 1 of his letter and move into chapter 2, we'll notice clearly how James is using this phrase as a reference to the law of Moses—something he also refers to as the royal law.
Within this context, he encourages his audience to follow all of that law and to speak "and do" as those who will be judged by that law—what he calls a law of liberty—but had just defined it as the Mosaic law. James would double-down to say faith without works is dead (useless) and that one cannot be justified by faith without works (of the law). He will declare that faith is perfected by works ... the precise opposite of what Paul said in his writing to the Galatians at the beginning of chapter 3. Even when using the example of Abraham, there is a conflict with what Paul said along the same lines, which we will cover more on the next program.
James made a statement in his letter to the twelve Jewish tribes ... believed by most historians to be the earliest writing in the pages known as The New Testament. "Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" (James 1:22). This passage, along with what follows has a consistent but curious theme of externals, doing and works—and all under the topic of righteousness, salvation and justification.
In program #2 in this brief series, we continue to take a closer look at the entire context of what James said shortly before this (and after). Have you ever stopped and asked yourself what he meant by "the word?" Modern-day believers may skim over it and think that James is telling us to be a doer of the Bible (whatever that means). But in order for these Jewish believers to be able to meet this goal of identifying as a doer, it would have to be something specific that they were already familiar with ... and something they could see, hear and do—dare we say—something being read and heard in synagogues every week on the Sabbath.
The popular phrase from the Old Testament known as, "The Ten Commandments" is more rightfully interpreted as "The Ten Words." Is it a big deal? Perhaps not, but we wanted to point out a few things about this to lay some groundwork before getting into something that James wrote to his believing Jewish brothers and sisters from the twelve tribes.
James made a statement to them about being a doer of "the word" and not a hearer only. It's easy to brush past this, but let's put on the brakes and check it out in context. Just exactly what did James mean by being a doer of the word? How we answer this becomes a bigger deal. He also said that the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. So what is it precisely that James believes will produce the righteousness of God? What did he mean when referring to the law of liberty? Is it a grace thing found within the New Covenant or something else? We'll dive into it and offer some perspectives over the next few programs.
