James 2:11
For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
The same voice that forbids unfaithfulness in marriage also forbids taking life, so the law stands as one undivided authority where to break a single command is to become a breaker of the whole law. To keep it therefore means to keep all that God requires, with no partial obedience and no picking which precepts to accept or set aside. It is the only standard of right, the mirror that tests character by comparing words, spirit, and actions with God's Word. Its claims must be obeyed as sacred even at the cost of sacrifice, for willful disobedience to even one requirement — such as the Sabbath — leaves a person guilty before the judgment where no excuse of business, family, or human opinion will avail. Breaking it separates the soul from God, and restoration comes only by turning from transgression to obedience through faith in Jesus whose blood cleanses from sin, while the Holy Spirit expels sin from the heart and brings the mind under this law of liberty.
Law's Unified Standard
The prohibitions against adultery and against killing come from the same Lawgiver, so they stand joined as one authority speaking, and to violate either is to become a transgressor of the law for which the world must meet Jehovah. The law is one whole moral standard, so keeping one command does not excuse breaking another, and breaking any one command makes a person a transgressor. It cannot be treated as a collection from which to choose, for obeying one precept while rejecting another still leaves the offender guilty, those who know its claims are judged by it, and leading others to disobey brings responsibility for the harm their transgression causes. Sin is an offense against God, and obedience or disobedience to His commandments will be the great test.
Keeping the law therefore means observing every requirement God has given, with no partial obedience and no selecting which portion to accept or reject. No reliance on human judgment, no acceptance of what ignorant sinful men suggest, believe, or urge, and no plea of propriety, expediency, desire for gain, or fear of loss, dishonor, or reproach can excuse departure once His revealed will is discerned by reason and diligent prayerful study. To substitute human customs and traditions for its precepts, or to proclaim the law or any part of it no longer in force, puts men under its condemnation as transgressors who will perish, however honest they may be.
The law is the only standard of righteousness and the great standard to which character must conform. It measures life and character, acting as a moral mirror and sin detector that shows sin in its light and by which words, spirit, and actions are compared with God's Word, and its requirements must be met and its truth practiced in daily life. To break it is to become a transgressor, with sins and iniquities separating the soul from God.
The verse belongs to the royal law of liberty, which proclaims liberty to every captive. Surrender to Christ brings the mind under this law, and union with Christ frees people from sin's control and restores them to full human stature. It becomes the new law under which the mind is brought when sin is expelled from the heart, a work in which the Holy Spirit brings overcoming power, subdues Satan's government, convicts of sin, and with human consent expels sin, with Christ at infinite sacrifice providing every essential for success in the warfare. No human power may set up a different standard to suit itself and compel all to obey it because it wills it.
Obedience Judgment and Restoration
God's requirements are to be obeyed as sacred even when obedience demands sacrifice, and to treat any requirement as unimportant lowers the standard of right and can lead others to disregard the law. Keeping all His commandments as obedient children is the condition of salvation, and He is satisfied with no partial obedience. No one may rely on human judgment to select which portion to obey, nor accept what ignorant, sinful men suggest, believe, or urge, but must take God's Word and walk in strict obedience to His revealed will once it is discerned by reason and diligent prayerful study. No suggestion of propriety, motive of expediency, selfish desire for gain, or fear of loss, dishonor, or reproach can excuse departure, for God commands and His light must be walked in. To substitute human customs and traditions for God's precepts, or to proclaim that the law or any part of it is no longer in force, puts men under condemnation as transgressors who will perish, however honest they may be.
Disobedience to the fourth commandment is transgression of the law even when the other commandments are kept. Those who profess to love God must search the Scriptures diligently and cannot afford to be found in such transgression, and excuses for breaking the Sabbath because of business, family, or social relations will not avail in the day of God, for they will not stand the test of the judgment where no excuse for disobedience can be rendered. Professing to obey the law and to keep all the commandments does not excuse guilt when a person commits adultery, for breaking this one commandment makes him a transgressor guilty of iniquity. Keeping the law requires moral principle strictly carried out as the only safeguard of the soul, including control of the lower passions through the simplest diet of grains and fruits without meat or grease so that the passions are not excited and the moral powers are not deadened. The verse presents a religion of unity in which believers put away everything hindering them from coming together, make right every wrong between themselves and their brethren, and leave no sins unconfessed.
Sin is an offense against God, and obedience or disobedience to His commandments will be a great test. Those who know the law's claims are judged by it, and leading others to disobey brings responsibility for the harm their transgression causes. The world will have to meet Jehovah over His broken law. To refuse conformity to God's law and do Satan's work of persecution without mercy is transgression revealing the same spirit that crucified Christ and slew the apostles and that moved Nero against the faithful.
Breaking the law separates the soul from God, and pardon comes only by turning from transgression to obedience through practical faith in Jesus as the sin-pardoning Saviour, whose precious blood alone cleanses from every spot and stain of sin. Surrender to Christ brings the mind under this law, and union with Christ frees people from sin's control and restores them to full human stature. The Holy Spirit brings power that enables overcoming, subdues the government of Satan, convinces of sin, and with the consent of the human being expels sin from the heart, and Christ at the cost of infinite sacrifice and suffering has provided every essential to success in the Christian warfare for this work to be done.