Posted on 06/24/2016 7:00:59 PM PDT by metmom
"If you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For He who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not commit murder.' Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law" (James 2:9-11).
You sin when you fall short of God’s holy standard or go beyond the limits of His law.
Many people attempt to justify their sinfulness by categorizing sins according to their apparent severity. For example, telling a "little white lie" isn't as serious to them as committing perjury; cheating on their income tax isn't as serious as robbing a bank. Others see God's law as a series of detached injunctions, and assume they can gain credit with God by keeping one law even if they break the others. In the final analysis, if the laws they don't break outweigh the laws they do, they think everything will be OK.
Apparently some of those to whom James wrote had the same misconceptions, believing sins like prejudice, partiality, and indifference to the poor weren't as serious as sins like murder and adultery. Or perhaps they believed they could make up for their favoritism by keeping God's law in other areas.
Both of those views are erroneous and potentially damning because God's law isn't a series of detached injunctions or a way of gaining credit with God. It's a unified representation of His holy nature. Even though all sins aren't equally heinous or damaging, from God's perspective every sin violates His standard. When you break one law, you break them all and are characterized as a sinner and transgressor.
"Sin" in verse 9 speaks of missing the mark and falling short of God's holy standard. "Transgressors" refers to going beyond the accepted limits. One says you've fallen short; the other says you've gone too far. Both are equal violations of God's holiness. You must see all sin as an affront to Him and never compound your sin by attempting to hide it, justify it, or counterbalance it with good works.
Suggestions for Prayer
Memorize 1 John 1:9 and always confess your sin whenever you violate God's holy law. Praise God for pitying our plight as sinners and providing a Savior.
For Further Study
Read Galatians 3:10-29, noting the purpose of God's law.
Studying God’s Word ping
Yeah well this characterization and the hopelessness it imparts is man's doing. Kind of like how the government operates: undermine the ability and motivation for people to get on with life and to accomplish anything useful, then present a "solution". We're from the government Religious Establishment and are here to help.
"Sin" in verse 9 speaks of missing the mark and falling short of God's holy standard. "Transgressors" refers to going beyond the accepted limits. One says you've fallen short; the other says you've gone too far. Both are equal violations of God's holiness. You must see all sin as an affront to Him and never compound your sin by attempting to hide it, justify it, or counterbalance it with good works.
God is interested in the thoughts and intents of the heart. Dead works in attempt to buy forgiveness are not from the same motivation as productive deeds arising from a broken and contrite spirit. Established doctrines blur the distinction. No wonder it's a dead zone out there. Abusers are skilled at mental beatdowns. It's a power trip. Meanwhile, the real Messiah is full of love and compassion. He lifts spirits and mends all the broken stuff because he's not fixated on everyone falling short. That's what the experts in the law do. He sees who is truly paying attention - who desires to know the way and sets about to follow his directions - and responds to that. The natural result rising from the leaven of the Kingdom of Heaven is a completely different product than what is mass-marketed by and for the religious emporiums.
Matthew 21:12-14
12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.
Luke 4:23-4
23 And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.
24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
Capernaum. What's in a name? Kaphar + nacham
God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
That describes religion in a nutshell.
And sadly there are a lot of power trip people who are attracted to religion as what they consider a legitimate outlet for their craving for and abuse of power.
It goes a long way in explaining why the interactions with the 1st century Jewish religious establishment were recorded in the New Testament for *its* teachers and readers.
The lessons and examples can be taken to heart, or used instead to point fingers at Jews and others who don't measure up to the impossible standards set by man. The irony is pretty much maxed out.
Matthew 13:15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
The Redeemer can't redeem people who refuse to leave the jail (spiritual Egypt, the house of bondage). He offers genuine caring, compassion, and love, and teaches willing people how to accomplish that. He sets the proper example to follow. No cash stream there. There's a lot of money to be made in the religious marketplace.
He's going to surprise and shock a lot of religious people, the ones who claim to know the Law [of grace and salvation]. He *is* the Law. :)
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