20240207

let him judge

James 4:11-12 (JDV)

James 4:11 Don’t disparage one another, brothers and sisters. Anyone who disparages or criticizes a fellow believer disparages the law and criticizes the law. If you criticize the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
James 4:12 There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to criticize your neighbor?

let him judge

Why does James say that disparaging others is disparaging the law? Often we Christians use the term law as a bad thing: legalism and hypocrisy. But to James, law and gospel are the same thing: the message of salvation through Christ. Jesus is both the lawgiver (savior) and judge (destroyer of those who resist the gospel).

What does this have to do with my attitude toward other believers? To disparage another believer is to criticize someone for whom Christ died. It is to deny that deliverance has taken place. It is to reject someone whom Jesus has chosen. We must let Christ be the judge.