James 4:11

The next two sections (James 4:11-12) and (James 4:13-17) are related to what has been previously said. What is commonly known as worldliness or being. friend of the world includes much more than what we typically place in that category. Kent notes, "In the next section (James 4:11-17), James continues to set forth instances, some of them seemingly innocent on the surface, that are nevertheless just as worldly and therefore harmful as the more popularly identified taboos. He talks about. critical spirit, which reflects itself in continually criticizing one's fellows. He writes about the making of plans that may appear to be reasonable and prudent but are actually worldly if God is ignored and unaided human wisdom is all that is employed" (p. 156).

James 4:11 "Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against. brother, or judges his brother, speaks against the law, and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not. doer of the law, but. judge of it."Do not speak against one another" -"Do not malign one another" (Ber). "The command in Greek means 'stop speaking evil, or slandering.' The habit was already there" (Roberts p. 170). Barclay notes, "The word that James uses for to speak harshly….Usually this verb means to speak evil of someone else in that person's absence, to criticize, to insult, to slander someone when he is not there to defend himself" (p. 130). "We are all especially prone to make excuses for those whom we appreciate and love; to excuse, justify and forgive them for their weaknesses; and to criticize, condemn and flay those whom we dislike" (Woods p. 237).

Points To Note:

1. Of course we know that James isn't condemning all forms of criticism. There are times when we must confront. brother (Matthew 18:15), when we must determine or judge when someone is no longer being honest (Matthew 7:6; Titus 3:10). 2. It seems clear that James is talking about judging and criticism that comes not from. love for God and others, but from earthly wisdom (James 3:14-16). Criticism that is generated by envy, jealousy, and selfish ambition. Someone has said that if you love to find fault---then you are automatically disqualified to find it. 3. "We often think that such talk is. small thing. If we were classifying sins, it would be at the bottom of the list. But there are few sins that the Bible more uniformly condemns than this one (Ephesians 4:31; 1 Peter 2:1; Psalms 101:5; Psalms 34:12; Proverbs 6:16)" (Draper p. 131). 4. Paul noted that when others do sin---we need to be on guard, lest we develop sinful attitudes in trying to correct them (Galatians 6:1). Roberts notes, "We certainly are not to condone sin or wink at it. But neither are we to act from suspicion or from mere appearance or personal dislike. Our own attitude toward those who have been in error is naturally critical" (p. 171). (2 Timothy 2:24). "or judges his brother" -Once again, the judging which is forbidden is judging which is hypocritical (Matthew 7:1 ff), proceeds from sinful attitudes, judging which loves to find fault, which tries to impute the worst possible motives to others, or which attempts to place the worst possible interpretation on their words and actions. Remember, love always attempts to assume the best, to believe the best, unless there is clear evidence to the contrary (1 Corinthians 13:4). "speaks against the law, and judges the law" -For the Christian, the law would be the perfect law of liberty (James 1:25), and specifically, the law being violated is the royal law to love your neighbor as yourself (James 2:8). The mindset which thrives on finding fault among brethren, is in essence condemning and declaring as worthless the Divine law which commands us to love our brethren as Jesus loved us (John 13:34). "Such. practice is, in effect, to say that the law of love is. bad one, or at best defective; and may, therefore, be disregarded" (Woods p. 239)."and judges the law" -In reality, every time we sin and set aside the will of God, we are in effect saying that God's law isn't fit to be obeyed, that it lacks sense and wisdom. "When someone knows what God's Word commands and violates it anyway, he is saying in effect: 'I have made. decision that this is not. good law, and therefore. will set it aside'" (Kent p. 158)."but if you judge the law, you are not. doer of the law, but. judge of it" -"you are not. practicer but. critic of the law" (Wms); "thou art setting thyself up to be its censor, instead of obeying it" (Knox). "Such action, says James, means that one has taken himself out of the class of doers and has constituted himself. judge. The person with. critical spirit acts as if he can choose what parts of God's law he will obey and what aspects he may set aside. His performance gives the impression that he is not under God's law but over it" (Kent p. 158). It is very easy to justify our sins, especially when someone else is doing wrong. It is so easy to believe that the false practice or doctrine being advocated by another brother justifies or excuses or is more dangerous and sinful than my abusive or slanderous speech. When we deal with people in error, God doesn't give us the right to verbally abuse, gossip about, lie about, lose our temper with or misrepresent them.

There is another thought here: You cannot place yourself over the Bible as. critic or judge and place yourself under its teachings at the same time. The person, even if they claim to be. religious person, cannot maintain. submission to the Word of God, at the same time of claiming that various parts of verses are not inspired.