notes
Main point summary
Do not judge your neighbor with slander, gossip or complaints, for doing so puts you in the place of the Judge (which you are not).
Arc
NT
James 4:11-12
esv
mine
Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.
Do not verbally attack (slander, gossip, or complain against) one another, brothers in mercy.
The one who speaks against a brother
For , if a person does so against a brother,
or judges his brother,
that is , the person improperly judges his brother,
ideaexplanation
speaks evil against the law
then he/she is verbally attacking the law
and judges the law.
that is, he/she is judging the law.
conditional
But if you judge the law,
And therefore if you are judging the law,
you are not a doer of the law
then you have usurped a role! You are no longer under the law's authority and seeking to obey it,
but a judge.
but rather you have put yourself in the seat of the judge.
negativepositive
inference
There is only one lawgiver and judge,
And if it is still unclear that this is bad, let me explain further. There is only one with the authority to give the law and to sit as judge
he who is able to save
namely the one who is able to save from condemnation
and to destroy.
as well as destroy via condemnation.
series
But who are you to judge your neighbor?
And so you have no place to sit as judge over your neighbor!
ground
12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. James 2:12-13 ESV
9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. James 5:9 ESV
Which law? Mosaic? Law of liberty?
Why does speaking against one's brother speak against the law?
discourse