If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.”Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Love and partiality are mutually exclusive. In an earlier passage in the book of James it says, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” When you take care of the widow and the orphan it demonstrates more than love for neighbor. You communicate to the widow, “I will love you as I love my mother”, and to the orphanage “I will love you as my own child.” It is the ultimate impartiality. Through Christ we become children of the living God. The father does not make a distinction between his love for us and his love for Jesus. It is impartial John 1: 12-13 read “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.“
All of the law is a tutorial in love. When we fail to keep the law we fail in our love walk. The sin itself does not matter. “If you have sinned in one point of the law you have sinned in all of the law. In the 2007 movie Kite Runner the Father, named Baba, wants to teach his son about righteousness. He says these words. “There is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft... When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness.”
In regards to sin, all are convicted guilty, in regards to righteousness all have been made holy through Christ, because the father has not been partial but has allowed mercy to triumph over judgment. We have the same opportunity in our lives. We can allow mercy to triumph over judgment, our ability to do so is clearer as we keep the law more perfectly. With each passing victory over sin we grow more and more aware of just how far we are from keeping it perfectly. The scripture from 1 Corinthians 10:13 grows in clarity within our hearts. “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” Susan Murphy one of the ministers of our organization stressed the ‘commonness” of sin. The devil doesn’t have new tricks; there is nothing new under the sun. The same old three sins trip us up. “lust of the eye, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.” Therefore even as we grow in practical holiness we are humble to the perfection of our savior.
John Mcarthur has rightly pointed out that Jesus experienced every temptation known to man to its absolute highest level yet he did not sin. He could call down a legion and murder his adversaries, he could manipulate through words of wisdom, such as the one he shared with the women at the well. He could be prideful at his command over the elements when he calmed the storm and walked on the water. Each temptation was ever present and he was never provided a way of escape as we are. As he suffered the agony of temptation he learned that the wages of sin are death. He paid that price in mercy not judgment. He did not fall even in one point of the law and therefore is free to judge rightly because he is impartial. Shall we drink of the same cup as our master, lets us resist the devil that he may flee from us, and let we who are spiritual restore those who have failed, meekly acknowledging our own imperfect keeping of the law.
so true
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