Book of James - Part 3

October 23, 2022

Pastor Patrick continued this series on the Book of James. A video of the message is here. Our Conversation Starter for this week is here.

I'd like to talk about the "royal law." What exactly is it? Is it one specific law (Lev. 19:18), the Ten Commandments, all of the old testament law, written and oral, or what?

First, James is the only New Testament author to use the phrase. Not sure what that means, but it's interesting. It also makes deciding what it means more difficult having so few references to consider.

Sometimes it becomes interesting to think about where the punctuation goes and, given if/then phrases, where does the "then" go. Most translations don't include the "then", so let's play with that...

1. "Indeed, if you keep the royal law prescribed in the Scripture, love your neighbor as yourself, THEN you are doing well."

2. "Indeed, if you keep the royal law prescribed in the Scripture, THEN (you) love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well."

In #1, the law itself ("love your neighbor") is like an added parenthetical thought further describing what the royal law is. In #2, the "love your neighbor" part becomes a consequence or result of following the royal law. It's "if you follow the royal law, then you love your neighbor."

Additionally, some translations use "fulfill" instead of "keep." It's about the same, but does carry more of an aura of a body of law rather than one law.

Interesting, yes?!

It all boils down to what "royal law" means. If it refers solely to the one "love your neighbor" law (Lev. 19:18), then #1 above makes more sense. If it refers to more than that one law, then #2 makes more sense.

I've read articles that suggest a wide range of what "royal law" might include, ranging from that one verse, to the Ten Commandments, to the Torah, to all of "scripture" (as the verse suggests) which at that time could have meant all of the Old Testamanet (Tanach) and perhaps other Jewish documents like the Talmud (rabbinic writings). James himself will go on later in his book to reference other scripture, including suggesting that "all" must be followed, to the point that breaking one breaks all.

See the image included here. It's a Torah scroll as typically seen in a synagogue. Note the crown on the cover of the scroll. This suggests all of the Torah is "royal law." It's quite possible that James saw scrolls such as this with regularity and inculcated a notion of royal law in him.

Old Testament imagery also suggests an overall royalty to both the laws of the people as well as the people themselves. The Israelites are to be a "kingdom of priests," for example. It is also made clear that everyone is holy, as if "kings" themselves. This, too, suggests "royal law" is more of a package deal than one law.

Another thought offered is that royal ("basileous" in the Greek, kingly) refers to an elevated state for the priests to include ruling as a king (a royal) would do.

One last reminder... When you quote Leviticus 19:18, always include the last phrase of that verse which is often dropped, "I am God." It's critical. Only God knows if you fulfill this commandment (and other commandments where this phrase is included). And rest assured, God cares.

Bonus

The Torah does not believe in accidents in the sense we may think. There are a number of laws that have two different pathways: if deliberate and if unintentional. However, even the unintentional branches generally include some kind of restitution or atonement process.

This makes sense once you understand the nature of accidents. Accidents usually occur through negligence or ignorance, or both; neither of which are totally excusable, therefor a "sin" has occured.

To put this in modern terms... Very few "traffic accidents" are actually accidental. Someone usually goofed up and that someone is thereby at fault and responsible. Kids believe in accidents. After the vase is in pieces on the floor, the retort is "it just fell," never "I dropped it" or "I knocked it off."