James 2:10

"For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all." "For whoever" -This principle applies to everyone."keeps the whole law" -James is obviously not teaching that Christians are still under the Law of Moses (James 2:12; James 1:25). Yet, Christians are clearly under the New Covenant which contains many laws."yet stumbles in one point" -'sin in one respect' (Arndt p. 727). That is violate one of the laws or commandments. "he has become guilty of all" -We recognize the same principle concerning the laws which govern this nation. One doesn't have to violate every law to be. law-breaker. There are people in prison because they violated one or just. couple of laws.

Points To Note:

1. Barclay notes, "The Jew was very apt to regard the law as. series of detached injunctions. To keep one of these injunctions was to gain credit; to break one was to incur debt. Therefore,. man could add up the ones he kept and subtract the ones he broke, and, as it were emerge with. credit or. debit balance" (p. 81). 2. "They believed that if they kept as many laws as they broke, they were righteous before the law" (Draper p. 79). And nothing really has changed. People in the world will argue, "I have never killed anyone.. am not. thief.. am not immoral" (Draper p. 80). And thus reason that they are OK. We must remember that every law which God has given is important and we can't pick and choose concerning which laws we want to keep. 3. When. violate even one command of God,. stand guilty before God,. have rebelled against Him. Kent notes, "His point is that God's law is. unity, being the expressed will of one Lawgiver. Violating God's will at any point means that the offender has disobeyed God's intention" (p. 83). 4. All of the above means that every law of God is important! "The vital lesson taught here is that all of the law of God is pertinent to us, and that we must not feel at liberty to tamper with any portion thereof" (Woods p. 124). 5. We cannot defend ourselves when we sin by pointing to all the laws that we are keeping. And neither can we justify one unscriptural practice by pointing out the other unscriptural practices that we have already accepted. 6. In addition, we tend to justify our sins by pointing to the sins of others. Note, another Christian's inconsistency doesn't cover my inconsistency in. different area. When. violate the law of God, even on one point,. sin!