Word and Law
James 1:22-25
This was James’s first occasion to use the word “law,” and it had a special meaning with him. Law stands by itself in 2:9–11 and 4:11 but also appears as the “royal law” in 2:8 and the “law that gives freedom” in 2:12. The New Testament conveys the understanding that Christ brought a “new law,” in the sense that he fulfilled and placed the law upon a new basis in himself (1 Cor 9:21). To serve him is to serve the law; to truly serve the law is therefore to serve him. The same would go for studying the law and thus to be studying him. James made a personal connection not with the life of Christ but rather with the lives of past exemplars of faith who trusted in the Lord (cf. 2:20–26; 5:10–11, 16–18) and thus can be said to have trusted Christ. The law and keeping the law as testimony to the active Word that makes the believer free is in view here. The absence of a reference in James to any law other than that contained within the Ten Commandments or that which sums them up in acts of love and mercy supports such an understanding of law.
The blessing (cf. 1:12) follows closely the words of Jesus, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it” (Luke 11:28). In the Lord’s thinking, this obedience also can apply to his own words (cf. Matt 7:24; Luke 6:47). The blessing promised here is in the doing and as a result of the doing. These two senses need not be separated. For to know what one’s purpose is as a creature of God is itself blessedness. This is the result of the freedom brought by the law of God.
There is always a direct connection between receiving the gifts of God and doing the will of God according to his Word. Those who are blessed by God live in the union of truth and action, which is their joy. This knowledge is the joy of their union with God and those they have the duty to serve. In this way their blessedness is the fulfillment of God’s purpose and is also the well-being of those they are to visit who are in distress (v. 27). In this compliment of the perfect generosity of God and of the whole-hearted obedience of the believer, we see real blessedness attained in relationship with God through his Word.
Richardson, Kurt A. James. Vol. 36. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1997. Print. The New American Commentary.
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