Free to Do
But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. James 1:25 ESV
Looks – To look into the perfect law of liberty. Twice in his letter, James refers to the nomos eleutherias. Nomos is most commonly translated in the New Testament as Law, but is used in the LXX primarily for Torah – God’s instructions for living. James calls it the “law of liberty.” Eleutheria is used in the LXX for huphshah. This is from the root haphash (he spread loosely, he freed) and means to be set free from slavery. One of the purposes of the Torah was to explain to a people who had grown up in slavery how to live as free people.
So what is it to “look into the perfect law”? The word “look” here is parakypto – to look intently at, from para – beside, near (a preposition indicating close proximity, according to Thayer’s Lexicon) and kypto – to stoop down, bend forward, to bow the head. Literally, to stoop down to look at. To study intently. Metaphorically it means to look carefully into or to become acquainted with something.
For James, to study is to do. One learns by doing, not by hearing (and that implies making mistakes, and learning from them, too). In doing, there is blessing. That is not to say that we obey to get the blessing – that is the wrong motivation. Blessing is the natural consequence of obedience.
And what sort of blessing? The ESV renders parameinas as “perseveres”; the NASB as “abides by it.” Yet there is another aspect to this word. Yes, it means to remain near or alongside but it also carries the meaning of surviving, not perishing, enduring or remaining alive.
Think of the history of Israel. When the “Law of liberty” was given, where were they? In the wilderness, having just come out of Egypt. Obedience was truly a matter of survival – of life or death. According to James, ultimately it still is. The blessing is that of life, endurance, survival. For James, there was the threat of Rome (ultimately realised with the destruction of the Temple and the exile of Judah in 70 C.E). Today, there are other very real threats to our comfortable, western way of “life.” It may well be that obedience to the commandments of God and total reliance on His faithfulness to keep His promises will again be a matter of life and death.
It reminds me of the words of Yeshua – “I came that they might have life and have it abundantly.” Life. Blessing. Doing. What will you do today?
Topical Index: law, liberty, nomos eleutherias, look, parakypto
Today’s Edition is the work of Rodney Baker from Adelaide.
Thank you, Rodney.
Today, I will rest and study, in varying degrees. 🙂
“But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. James 1:25 ESV”
In my Bible, James 1:25 is in a section called “True Religion” and it is all about the Law
And “how to act”
True religion, according to James, “is helping the helpless and not committing sins”
James 1:27 Pure, unspoiled religion, in the eyes of God our Father is this: coming to help orphans and widows when they need it, and to keep oneself uncontaminated by the world
True religion, according to James, is about “not making distinctions between classes of people.”
For James, making distinctions between classes of people is becoming “judges” of people
And “corrupt judges at that”
James 2:1 My brothers, do not to combine faith in Jesus Christ our glorified Lord, with the making of distinctions between classes of people.”
If you do, “y are committing sin and under condemnation for breaking the Law”
In my Bible, James is in a synagogue
James 2:2 For if a man comes into your synagogue
And, in my Bible James is teaching the golden rule
James 2:8 Well the right thing to do is to keep the supreme Law of scripture “You must LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF”
“the right thing to do”
Hmmm
One of my favorite movies is Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing”
Skip,
Great commentary. And so the opposite is also appropriate. If the “royal law” is the Torah of life and liberty, then any other system of instruction is a torah of death and slavery. Prov. 8:36 “but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.”
Yes, and what does that say about our current religious and secular environment?
Or to put that another way, “What does our current religious and secular environment” tell us about the commitment that people allege to Torah?” We know what is wrong, or think we know what is wrong. But how many genuine Torah-keepers does it need to change the environment? 50%+1? Less or more?