8If you truly KEEP THE ROYAL LAW FOUND in Scripture, “LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOURSELF,”  you are doing the right thing. 9But if you show favouritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. 12Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. MERCY TRIUMPHS OVER JUDGMENT (Jam2:8-13).

βασιλικός = royal/preeminent

The law in question; “love your neighbour as yourself” is βασιλικός^G937 in at least two senses. It is royal in that it is behaviour that befits people who are royal or one day shall be. For those whom the King of kings regards as His own brothers and sisters (Heb2:11), and also as His corporate wife who shall share His throne (Rev3:21 & 19:7), are destined for royalty and divinity. Indeed, His chosen people already serve as what Peter described as God’s royal priesthood (1Pet2:9).

“Love your neighbour as yourself” is also βασιλικός in the sense of being preeminent amongst all of God’s laws. According to Paul, the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command “Love your neighbour as yourself. It is therefore a summation of God’s laws: for, says Paul, “You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,” and IF THERE IS ANY OTHER COMMANDMENT, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself” (Rom13:9).

Duty to God?

 It may astonish many that duty to God is not directly mentioned in Paul’s summary of the Law – it all expressed in terms of our relations with other human beings. Likewise in Jesus’ definitive passage on final judgement, there is no mention of religion or any knowledge of Jesus Christ as Saviour, only one’s response to one’s fellows. Hence, “When did we help You Lord when you were so in need?” “Truly I tell you in as much as you helped the least of these whom I regard as My own kindred, you did it to Me” (cf. Mt25:40). This pertains to what I have described earlier as the Cosmic Christ – a key element to the vastly broader benign providence I have been outlining.

 According to Jesus (who should know), loving God is in fact the first commandment, but He who told certain Pharisees that “if you were blind (i.e. ignorant) you would have no sin” (Jn9:41) well knows one can only love or delight in what is known and understood concerning the Object of one’s love.  And unless the matter has been faithfully and accurately presented through a hearing of the gospel, that will certainly not be the case. Regretfully and for all sorts of reasons,  the vast majority of people will either be ignorant or misinformed concerning God’s nature and providential intentions, which is ultimately what my writing is intended to address.

Duty to mankind – No excuses

However, we all know ourselves and how we would wish to be treated by others. Failure to comply with the first commandment is excusable  – you cannot possibly “love with all your heart and mind and soul” what you do not know or barely understand. No such proviso can be made with the second – Paul’s summation of the Law and James’ royal law – love for neighbour. As Mt25 indicates, those who by their acts of compassion have fulfilled the spirit of Law#2 are effectively treated as if they had also fulfilled Law#1, being finally received into God’s kingdom. For effectively they have served “Christ” as representative Son of Man – v40), albeit unless they have known Him as their personal Saviour they cannot receive the same inheritance as those who have  been sanctified (Heb2:11; Acts20:32). That is why I have been outlining three soteriological categories, for there is a further grouping who couldn’t give a toss about God or man, only themselves – narcissistic psychopaths (criminal or otherwise), devoid of compassion, conscience or truth, depicted in the New Testament’s definitive passage on final judgement as “goats” and elsewhere as “children of the devil”.

Paul vs James – different approach, same principles

 James approaches the matter of law keeping from a different angle to Paul, albeit still affirming love for neighbour to be preeminent. Let those, writes James (v10), who imagine themselves to be keeping God’s law remember that if they fail in even one respect, they are lawbreakers. And as the context indicates, that is most likely to be in the more subtle area of favouritism. Whilst being careful to observe their religious duties, never so much as contemplating theft, murder, adultery and the like, God’s law can breached by a derisory or condescending attitude to people less materially or intellectually gifted than oneself.

As James concludes this section, the most serious breach of all  is to lack both compassion and mercy, “because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful” (v13). And as the previous verse (12) indicates, that “anyone” includes the Christian, who in view of the divine mercy and kindness he/she has already received has less excuse than anyone. Jesus makes this clear in a parable (Mt18:21-35). The unforgiving servant was shown mercy by the king who forgave all his debts, yet that servant was unwilling to show any mercy towards others who had much smaller debts owed to him. This greatly angered the king as a result of which the unmerciful servant ended up (albeit temporarily) in a place he would rather not be “until he had paid back all he owed” (v34).

Blessed are the merciful

And with broader providential implications in mind, Christ’s rendering of the beatitudes affirms that all who are merciful shall be shown mercy. Anyone who imagines that non-Christians are incapable of genuinely exercising mercy and compassion towards others and/or that God does not pay regard to such matters is profoundly in error, as once was I. Jesus’ extended teaching in Mt25, devoid of any reference to religion, surely affirms as much, as does James’ brief conclusion: mercy triumphs over judgement.

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