James 2:8

μέντοι : “nevertheless” there is a duty due to all men, even the rich are to be regarded as “neighbours,” for the precept of the Law, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18), applies to all men. νόμον βασιλικόν : “There is no difficulty in the anarthrous νόμος being used (as below, James 4:11) for the law of Christ or of Moses on the same principle that βασιλεύς could be used for the King of Persia, but the addition of an anarthrous epithet should not have been passed over without comment, as it has been by the editors generally” (Mayor). The reference is to the Torah, as is obvious from the quotation from Leviticus 19:18, and therefore βασιλικόν if this was the original reading must refer to God, not (in the first instance) to Christ; the Peshiṭtâ reads: “the law of God”. τελεῖτε : in Romans 2:27 we have the phrase νόμον τελεῖτε. τὴν γραφήν : cf. 1 Corinthians 15:3 κατὰ τὰς γραφάς. On a papyrus belonging to the beginning of the Christian era, the phrase κατὰ τὴν γραφήν is used in a legal sense in reference to a contract, i.e., something that is binding (Deissmann, Neue Bibelst., p. 78). When used in reference to the Torah, as here, it was of particular significance to Jews who, as the “people of God” were bound by the Covenant. καλῶς ποιεῖτε : Cf. Acts 15:29; 2 Peter 1:19.