James 2:10

τηρήσῃ : τηρεῖν is used here with a force precisely corresponding to the Hebrew שׁמר when used in reference to the Law, or a statute, the Sabbath, etc.; the idea is that of guarding something against violation. πταίσῃ δὲ ἐν ἑνί : πταίειν = the Hebrew כשׁל, “to stumble over” something; the picture is that of a παραβάτης stumbling over the border which marks the way; cf. the oft-used expression in Jewish writings of making a “hedge” or “fence” around the Torah, e.g., Pirqe Aboth., i. 1. With the verse before us cf. Sir 37:12, … ὃν ἂν ἐπιγνῷς συντηροῦντα ἐντολάς … καὶ ἐὰν πταίσῃς συναλγήσει σοι, and James 2:15 καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσι τούτοις δεήθητι Ὑψίστου ἵνα εὐθύνῃ ἐν ἀληθείᾳ τὴν ὁδόν σου. ἐν ἑνί : used in a pregnant sense, “in one matter” or “in any single point”. γέγονεν πάντων ἔνοχος : While there are a certain number of passages in Rabbinical writings which are in agreement with this teaching (e.g., Bemidbar Rabb., ix. on Numbers 5:14; Shabbath, 70 b; Pesikta, 50 a; Horaioth, 8 b; quoted by Mayor), there can be no doubt that the predominant teaching was in accordance with the passage quoted by Taylor (in Mayor, op. cit., p. 89) from Shemoth Rabb. xxv. end: “The Sabbath weighs against all the precepts”; as Taylor goes on to say: “If they kept it, they were to be reckoned as having done all; if they profaned it, as having broken all”. Rashi teaches the same principle. This is quite in accordance with the Jewish teaching regarding the accumulation of מצוות (“commandments,” i.e., observances of the Law); a man was regarded as “righteous” or “evil” according to the relative number of מצוות or evil deeds laid to his account; the good were balanced against the bad; according as to which of the two preponderated, so was the man reckoned as among the righteous or the wicked (see the writer's article in the Expositor, April, 1908, “The Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard”). πάντων is equivalent to all the precepts of the Torah. For ἔνοχος cf. Matthew 26:66; 1 Corinthians 11:27; Galatians 3:10; see also Deuteronomy 27:26, and Resch, op. cit., p. 47.