"For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it."
The common belief in secular culture is that we who are "saved by grace" Christ-followers (Eph 2:8-9) take the Bible very seriously. We are identified most notably to the public by one man (Jesus) and one book (the Bible), yet our unity and beliefs are severely questioned by skeptics. Why?
James answers this question pointedly. It is our inability to unify our theology that is plaguing our impact on society. For when we do not apply Scripture and practice what we preach, we come off as hypocritical. Similarly, when we pick and choose what we want to believe and not believe in the Bible, we diminish and discredit the faith we profess because we question its validity and authority.
James also reinforces that we who profess the name of Jesus are held accountable to the authority of Scripture cover to cover. Our personal rights are revoked because we surrendered them when we accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. Why? Because the Bible states clearly in John 1:1 that Jesus and the Word of God are one in the same, interchangeable. Therefore to reject either means we reject both, and thus we are only left with relative truth and post-modernistic thinking.
But most importantly, James debunks any theory that states we can live as we choose as Christ-followers without judgment, for the law (God's Word) is our compass between sin and righteousness. Because God has revealed His will and His law because of His love, we are without excuse when it comes to consequences of sin because we know right from wrong. It is written in the pages of Scripture, yet many struggle with this concept.
Bottom-line: We must be consistent, and that requires surrender of our fleshly opinions and justifications for things explicitly condemned in God's Word. Because like or not, the Bible is absolute truth for those who accept the gift of saving grace through Jesus. It is a package deal. Period.
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