8 Mar 2012

James 4:11-12

Posted by joncooper

James 4:11: “Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?”

Despite what it may look like, this passage does not mean that we shouldn’t tell someone who is caught in sin that they’re sinning. All too often when sin is condemned someone stands up and says “Don’t judge me!” That’s not what this verse is talking about. After all, James goes on to say this in the very next chapter:

James 5:19: “Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;
20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.”

Telling someone what the Bible teaches about sin is not speaking evil – it’s love! After all, there is nothing loving about seeing someone caught up in sin and doing nothing about it. It is not loving to say “Your lifestyle is fine; just keep right on doing what you’re doing” and allowing that person to go on to their doom. The Bible itself has many examples of people confronting the sin in others. For example, Christ condemned the Pharisees for sin many times. The Apostle Paul did not hesitate to name names in his epistles when it came to people who were caught up in sin, or preaching heresy, or opposing the gospel. These verses are not a call to stop fighting sin. James is not telling the church to roll over and play dead.

So what are these verses saying? It’s right there, in verse 11: “speak not evil one of another, brethren.” James doesn’t want us to slander other people or use our words to try to destroy them. This is something James talked about earlier – how we use our tongues to bless God and to curse men. If we are cursing men and speaking evil of them then we are very much in the wrong; God hates this, as James makes clear. However, telling people that sin is sin is not speaking evil; in fact, it is actually commanded, as we see in James 5.

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