I’m having some difficulties understanding James 2:8-13. When he talks about the royal law in verses 8-11, it clearly refers to some of the ten commandments. But I get confused in verse 12 “So speak and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.<\/em>” How does this verse tie into everything James is discussing in this chapter?<\/p>\n\t Starting in chapter 2, James is discussing that faith isn’t shown in partiality. Rich people should not be treated better than poor people. Everyone should be treated alike. He then backs up his point by quoting “You shall love your neighbor as yourself<\/em>” from Leviticus 19:18. Jesus had said that this was the second most important law in Moses’ laws (Matthew 22:36-40), which is why James calls it the royal law. It is one of the two core laws from which all other laws are derived. It is also the core of why faith requires that we treat everyone equally. When you break this law, you are sinning. This particular law is not limited to just the Old Testament. It is also a part of the Law of Christ (Romans 13:8-13).<\/p>\n If you tell yourself, well, I don’t commit adultery or murder, so I’m a pretty good guy; yet, you are partial in your treatment of people, then you are breaking the law. One sin is not less important than other sins.<\/p>\n Therefore, whether you see it as important or not, realize that you will be judged by this law. The “law of liberty” is a reference to Christ’s law (James 1:25) because Christ came to make us free (John 8:36).<\/p>\n To show partiality is to act without mercy. It is acting without the love required by the royal law. Judgment will be harsher to the merciless (Proverbs 21:13). But when we act as we should, our mercy to others overcomes the judgments required against ourselves.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I’m having some difficulties understanding James 2:8-13. When he talks about the royal law in verses 8-11, it clearly refers to some of the ten commandments. But I get confused in verse 12 “So speak and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.” How does this verse…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[219,335,1260,177,1460],"class_list":["post-48923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-bible","tag-james","tag-judgment-day","tag-law","tag-partiality"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":35881,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-royal-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":48923,"position":0},"title":"What is the “royal law”?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was doing a short study on James 2:1-13 in being brief, I said: \"that the royal law is basically the law of Christ or the law of liberty which very much entails love.\" Do you think I have done justice to the passage by just stating that? Answer:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69714,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/without-respect-of-persons\/","url_meta":{"origin":48923,"position":1},"title":"Without Respect of Persons","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 8, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kyle Pope via Biblical Insights, Vol. 14, No. 9, September 2014 James 2:1 declares, \"My brethren,\u00a0do not hold the faith of our Lord\u00a0Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality\" (NKJV). The King James Version and the American Standard Version use the phrase \"with respect of persons\" rather than\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":70107,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-new-testament-a-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":48923,"position":2},"title":"Is the New Testament a Law?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jonathan Perz The Bible is undeniably divided into two key sections-the Old Testament and the New Testament. This division is described in the Bible in various ways, some literally and some figuratively. One such contrast is seen when the Bible refers to the Old Testament as the \"Law of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61540,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/notes-on-the-law-of-liberty\/","url_meta":{"origin":48923,"position":3},"title":"Notes on the Law of Liberty","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 25, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"What is the Law of Liberty? The law of liberty is something that a person can look intently at, to listen to, and to put into practice - James 1:22-25 The law of liberty is something that we are judged by and can be transgressed. It includes laws such as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Notes","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/notes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31561,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-james-mention-of-some-of-the-ten-commandments-mean-we-are-under-all-of-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":48923,"position":4},"title":"Does James’ mention of some of the Ten Commandments mean we are under all of them?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My fiance is Seventh Day Adventist, and I am trying to convince him we are no longer required to observe a weekly sabbath. However, he is trying to convince me otherwise. This is putting a huge strain on our relationship. I have read through the articles on this site\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67907,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/has-that-which-is-perfect-always-been-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":48923,"position":5},"title":"Has “that which is perfect” always been the Bible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have a question regarding whether \"that which is perfect\" has always been the New Testament. Before the question, let's consider some verses of Scripture, Jas 1:25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48923\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Answer:<\/h2>\n