Lesson 9

KEY TEXT

“There is one lawgiver,

who is able to save and

to destroy:

who art thou that

judgest another?”

James 4:12

THE

LAW

The Lawgiver (4:12)

The transgressor

Gossiping and judging (4:11)

Planning ahead without God (4:13)

A mist (4:14)

Arrogance and accountability

(4:15-17)

“There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?” (James 4:12)

The Lawgiver is the most suitable One to judge. He may rightfully decide who shall be absolved and who shall be condemned; who shall be saved and who shall be lost (John 5:22)

Who is the only Lawgiver and Judge that may judge the whole human race?

“For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is

our King; He will save us.”(Isaiah 33:22)

“The Son of God spoke to Moses from the

mountaintop… The Divine Legislator descended

upon the rocky mountain to speak His law in the

hearing of all the people, that they might be

impressed by the grand and awful exhibition of His

power and glory, and fear to transgress His

commandments. God spoke His law amid thunders

and lightnings and the thick cloud upon the top of

the mountain, and His voice was as the voice of a

trumpet exceeding loud. The law of Jehovah was

unchangeable, and the tablets upon which He

wrote that law were solid rock, signifying the

immutability of His precepts.”

E.G.W. (Reflecting Christ, March 22)

“Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.” (James 4:11)

When we speak badly of others (gossip), we are judging them. Our ulterior motive is to hurt them.

When we gossip, we declare that others are condemned by the law, but we feel not condemned by it. That way, we lift ourselves up above the Law and replace it with our own opinion. We are judging the Law instead of fulfilling it.

“Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.” (James 4:11)

May judging be right in certain situations?

“Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren?” “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness.” (1 Corinthians 6:5; Galatians 6:1)

The Church needs people with enough spiritual maturity to judge and restore those who fail. But

that must never be done in a personal capacity, but as the body of Christ.

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit.’”(James 4:13)

James obviously disapproved the behavior of those who plan for the future. Nevertheless, is it wrong to plan our short-term, mid-term and long-term activities?

Those Church members were planning ahead like God didn’t exist. They did just like the man who planned to build more granaries in Jesus’ parable (Luke 12:16-21).

Moreover, they were making plans like their future was in their own hands. God is the only One who can decide if we’re going to live one more day.

“Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” (James 4:14)

Our life is like a vapor that dissipates. God is the only One that can make our mist to dissipate or to remain. So how could we plan ahead without keeping Him in mind?

Those who don’t keep God in mind when planning ahead are lifting themselves up above the law (just like the gossipers). They think they are their own judges, like they could control their lives.

The word James used (“vapor” or “mist”) is the same Solomon used in “all is vanity.”(Ecclesiastes 1:2)

“Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’ But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” (James 4:15-17)

Boasting and arrogance are used to describe self-sufficiency. That arrogance is evil. As Christians, we must reject evil.

James also described sin. Sin is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4). But there is also a “passive” sin; knowing good and not doing it.

“The law of God condemns not only what we

have done but what we have not done. We will,

in the day of final accounts, find a register of

the sins of omission as well as the sins of

commission.”

E.G.W. (Manuscript Releases, vol. 6, no. 369, p. 141)

“Each morning consecrate yourselves and your

children to God for that day. Make no

calculation for months or years; these are not

yours. One brief day is given you. As if it were

your last on earth, work during its hours for the

Master. Lay all your plans before God, to be

carried out or given up, as His providence shall

indicate. Accept His plans instead of your own,

even though their acceptance requires the

abandonment of cherished projects. Thus the

life will be molded more and more after the

divine example; and the peace of God, which

passeth all understanding, shall keep your

hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:7.”

E.G.W. (Counsels for the Church, cp. 26, pg. 152)

JAMES, THE BROTHER OF JESUS

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