Thomas Manton · 28 of 60

A Practical Commentary, or an Exposition with Notes on the Epistle of James. · Chapter II. · Part 5

Obs. That voluntary and allowed neglects of any part of the law make us guilty of the violation of the whole law. Many reasons might be urged to mollify the seeming asperity and rigour of the point; as partly because the contempt of the same authority is manifested in the breach of one as well as of all: all the commands are equal in regard of God; they are all ratified by the same authority, which man contemneth when he maketh his own will the measure of obedience; and partly because the same curse is deserved, which, when neglects are voluntary, taketh place; partly because the law is but one copulation, like a chain which is dissolved by the loosening of one link; partly because all sin proceedeth from the same corruption: the least sin is contrary to love, as well as the least drop of water to fire; partly because amongst men it is counted equal: one condition not observed forfeiteth the whole lease; and partly because one sincere duty hath much promised to it, and therefore one sin hath its proportionable guilt. True love is called a `fulfilling of the whole law., Rom. xiii. 8. And, in God's account, he that sincerely repenteth of one sin, repenteth of all. And so, on the contrary, one allowed sin is virtually a violation of the whole law; and, therefore, when some went to gather manna on the Sabbath day, God said, Exod. xvi. 28, `How long will ye refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?, implying that in the breach of that one they had broken all.

There are many uses of this note: because they are of profit and concernment to you, in the right application of this place, I shall give them you in their order.

1. It showeth how tender we should be of every command: wilful violation amounteth to a total neglect; therefore, as wisdom adviseth, Prov. vii. 2, `Keep my law as the apple of thine eye., The least dust offendeth the eye; and so the law is a tender thing, and soon wronged. Lest you forfeit all your righteousness at once, it is good to be careful.

2. That partial obedience is an argument of insincerity. When we neglect duties that either thwart carnal desires or prejudice carnal concernments, we do not please God, but ourselves. We are to walk `in all God's statutes, Luke i. 6. David fulfilled πάντα τὰ θελήματα, `all the wills of God, Acts xiii. 22.

3. That it is a vain deceit to excuse defects of one duty by care of another. Sometimes men ante-date, sometimes they post-date, an indulgence. They ante-date it when they sin upon a presumption they shall make amends by repentance, or that their future good deeds shall be a sufficient expiation or satisfaction. They post-date it when, from duties already done, they take liberty or an occasion to sin the more freely: Ezek. xxxiii. 13, `If he trust to his righteousness, and commit iniquity, that is, if, upon that occasion of righteousness so done, called, or thought to be so in his apprehension, he shall adventure upon sin, the doom is, `he shall die the death., We see many men's hearts grow loose and vain after duties, and they are the more presumptuous and careless out of a vain conceit that supererogating in some things will excuse obedience in others.

4. That upon any particular failing we ought to renew our peace with God. I have done that now which will make me guilty of the whole law; therefore, soul, run to thy advocate: 1 John ii. 1, `If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous., Oh! go to Christ that he may sue out your pardon; your hearts are not right with God if you do not use this course: after daily transgressions sue out a daily pardon. The children of God are like fountains; when mud is stirred up they do not leave till they can get themselves clear again. Particular sins must have particular applications of grace, for in themselves, in their own merit, they leave you under a curse. It is good to deprecate it, as David doth, Ps. vi. 1, `O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, &c.

5. That we must not only regard the work of duty, but all the circumstances of it; and so proportionably, not only the acts of sin, but the vicious motions and inclinations of it. One point is dangerous. The Pharisees were for external duties, and the avoiding of gross sins, but securely allowed themselves in sins more hidden, which yet are of a dangerous consequence. Malice is murder; and thereupon John saith, 1 John iii. 15, `No murderer hath, eternal life., And lust is adultery, Mat. v. 28; a look, a glance, a thought, a desire, is in itself damnable, and brooketh only the exception of the divine grace.

6. That former profession will do no good in case there be a total revolt afterward. A little poison in a cup, and one leak in a ship, may ruin all. A man may ride right for a long time, but one turn in the end of the journey may bring him quite out of the way. Gideon had seventy sons, and but one bastard, and yet that bastard destroyed all the rest, Judges viii. It is said, Eccles. ix. 18, `One sinner destroyeth much good., Once a sinner, all is lost; the ancients expound it that way. So Ezek. xxxiii. 13, `All his righteousness shall be forgotten;, that is, all will be to no purpose. As the sins of one that repenteth are carried into a land of darkness, so are their duties who apostatise.

7. That the smallness of sin is a poor excuse; it is an aggravation rather than an excuse: it is the more sad, that we should stand with God for a trifle. Luke xvi. 21, he would not give a crumb, and this wonderfully displeased God; he did not receive a drop. God's judgments have been most remarkable when the occasion was least. Adam was cast out of paradise for an apple; so gathering of sticks on the Sabbath day, looking into the ark, &c. God's command bindeth in lesser things as well as greater; though the object be different, the command is still the same: `I tasted but a little honey (saith Jonathan), and I must die, 1 Sam. xiv. 43. It will be sad to you to go to hell for a small matter. One of the prophet's aggravations is, that they `sold the righteous for a pair of shoes, Amos ii. 6. Would you contest with God for a small thing and of little consequence? As it is imprudence, so it is unkindness.

Ver. 11. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit adultery, yet if thou do not kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.

Here is a proof of the intent of the former sentence, that we are not to look to the matter of the command, how it complieth with our desires and interests, but to the authority of the lawgiver. He giveth an instance in the sixth and seventh commandments. God, that hath said one, hath said both; they are precepts of the same law and law giver; and therefore, in the violation of one of these laws the authority of the law is violated.

He that said, Do not commit adultery; that is, that threatened adultery with death, Deut. xxii. 22, threatened also murder with death, Lev. xxiv. 17, and Deut. xix. 13; and the apostle useth that phrase `He that said, as alluding to the preface of the law: Exod. xx. 1, `God spake all these words, saying., He instanceth in such sins as are not only digested into the sum of the moral law, but are more directly against the light of nature, that so his argument might be the more strong and sensible; which is to be noted, lest we should think that only a uniformity of obedience is required to those precepts that forbid sins openly gross and heinous.

Out of these words observe:—

Obs. 1. That we must not so much dispute the matter of the command, as look to the will of the lawgiver. He proveth that the whole law had an equal obligation upon the conscience, because he that said the one said the other. God's will is motive enough to obedience, 1 Peter ii. 15; 1 Thes. iv. 3; v. 18. Every sin is an affront to God's sovereignty, as if his will were not reason enough; and to his wisdom, as if he did not know what were good for men; and to his justice, as if the ways of God were unequal. When your hearts stick at any duty, shame yourselves with these considerations: It is a trial of sincerity; then duty is well done when it is done intuitu voluntatis, with a bare sight of God's will. And it is a motive to universal obedience; this duty is required as well as other duties, and enjoined by the same will.

Obs. 2. Duties and sins are of several kinds, according to the several laws of God. Man hath several affections; every one must have a special law: he hath several essential parts; God giveth laws to both: he is disposed to several providences, which needeth a distinct rule; he is under several relations and obligations to God, which call for duties of a different nature and respect. Well, then, be not contented, with Herod, to `hear many things, gladly to practise somewhat. He that calleth you to pray calleth you to hear, to redeem time for meditation and other holy purposes. All commands are equally commanded, and must be equally observed. And be not secure, though you be not guilty of such sins as are reproved in others. Other diseases are mortal besides the plague: though you are not for the farm, you may be for the merchandise: though thou art not a thief or whore, yet thou mayest be covetous and worldly. There is, as Hippocrates said, δίπλη μανία, a double madness—a sober madness as well as a trying. You may be dead in sins, though not dissolute; and though the life may be gravely ordered, yet the heart may be averse from God. The Pharisee could say, I am no adulterer, but he could not say, I am not proud, I am not self-confident.

Ver. 12. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.

Out of the whole discourse he inferreth a seasonable exhortation, that they would order their speeches and actions so as to endure the test and trial of the law, especially in the matter of impartial respects, because commanded by an impartial law. The reason of it lieth thus: Those that would be judged by the law should not omit the least part of it. But you desire to be judged by the moral law, evangelised or made a `law of liberty;, in which term he hinteth the reinforcement of the duties of the law of Moses in the gospel, which doth as exactly require a care in our speeches and actions as the law; for though believers be freed from the terror of the law, yet not from the obedience of it; yea, if they continue in any known and allowed neglects, they lose their privilege, and are not judged by a law of liberty, but fall under the utmost rigour and severity of the sentence forementioned.

So speak ye, and so do.—He joineth the matter hinted in the close of the former chapter concerning speech, ver. 27, and the matter of the present chapter, concerning impartial respects, together; and saith, `so speak, as relating to those directions; `so do, as relating to the present case; and the rather, because not only actions but speeches fall under the judgment of God and the law.

As they that shall be judged.—Some read, `as those that will judge, as applying it to the direct context; and they make out the sense thus:—In the Old Testament, differences of persons were not so expressly forbidden; but now, as differences of nation, so of relation, are taken away by the law of liberty: bond and free are all one in Christ, Gal. iii. 28; and therefore you are to judge without any respect of persons. But this seemeth more argute than solid. It is better to keep our own reading, `as those that shall be judged;, that is, either in conscience here, or rather at the tribunal of God hereafter.

By the law of liberty.—The same expression is used in the 25th verse of the former chapter. But what is the force of it here? The lowest reason may be, because their observance of rich men was servile, and the law commanded nobler and freer respects, more separate from base aims and self-advantage; or else in this expression the apostle may anticipate an objection which might be framed against the rigour of the former sentence; they might pretend they had an exemption by Christ. The apostle granteth there was a liberty, but not a license; for still there is a law, though to the elect a law of liberty; but, saith he, see that your interest be good. To wicked men it is still a bondage, and a hard yoke. Therefore, walk so that you may not be judged in a legal way, for then the least failing maketh you obnoxious to the curse; which rigour, if you would not undergo, see that you walk so that you may give evidence that you are come under the banner of love and the privileges of the gospel. And then, when you come to be judged, you will be judged upon gospel terms; other wise there is no liberty or freedom for any that allow themselves in the least breach or voluntary neglect, nothing to be expected but judgment without mercy.

From this verse I observe:—

Obs. 1. That the law in the hands of Christ is a law of liberty.

1. It is a `law:, 1 Cor. ix. 21, `I am not ἄνομος, without the law, but ἔννομος, under the law to Christ., There is a yoke, though not an insupportable burden. Though there be not rigour, yet there is a rule still. It is directive: `He hath showed thee, man, what is good, Micah vi. 8. The acceptable will of God is discovered in the law of ten words, and the moral part of the scripture is but a commentary upon it. And it is also imperative. It is not arbitrary to us whether we will obey or no. Laws are obliging. The will of the creator being signified to us in the law, we are under the commanding power of it. Things moral and just are perpetually obliging: Rom. vii. 12, `The law is holy, and the commandment holy, just, and good., It is holy, it discovereth true strictness. It is just or suitable to those common notices of right and equity which are impressed upon the creature; and it is good, that is, profitable, useful for man. All which things infer a perpetual obligation; and if the law were not obliging, there could be no sin; for where there is no obligation, there is no transgression: 1 John iii. 4, `Whosoever committeth sin, transgresseth the law; for sin is the transgression of the law., Now natural conscience would soon be offended at that doctrine that should make murder, incest, or adultery no sins; and therefore it is but the vain conceit of profane men in these times to think that the gospel freeth us from the obligation of the law because it freeth us from the curse of it, for then all duty would be will-worship, and sin but a fond conceit.

2. It is a `law of liberty;, for there is a great deal of freedom purchased by Christ.

[1.] We are freed from the law, as a covenant of works. We are not absolutely bound to such rigour and exactness as that required. Life and glory is not offered upon such strict terms. We ought to aim at exactness of obedience, but not to despair if we can not reach it. We are so far to eye perfect obedience, as if it were still the matter of our justification, as to be humbled for defects. A gracious heart cannot offend a good God without grief. Sin is still damning in its own nature, still a violation of a righteous law, still an affront to God. Nay, there are new arguments of humiliation, as sinning against God's love and kindness, the forfeiting of our actual fruition of the comforts of the covenant, though not our right in it, &c. And as to be humbled for our defects, so to be as earnest in our endeavours. You have more reason to be strict, because you have more help. Lex jubet, gratia juvat—we have more advantages, and therefore we should have more care of duty: Phil. iii. 11, `I press on, that if it be possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead;, that is, the holiness of that state. A Christian's actions are much below his aims. They have no grace that can be content with a little grace. So that you see we ought to look to the law's utmost, though we be not judged by the law's rigour. Failings not allowed are pardoned, and weaknesses passed by; the obedience required of us being not that of servants, but children: Mal. iii. 17, `I will spare them, as a man spareth his only son.,

[2.] We are freed from the curse and condemnation. The law may condemn the actions, it cannot condemn the person. It judgeth actions according to their quality, but it hath no power over the person. So we are said to be `dead to the law, Gal. ii. 19, and the law to us, Gal. iv. 6, and therefore the apostle saith, οὐδὲν κατάκριμα, `There is not one condemnation to them that are in Christ., Rom. viii. 1. The curse may be proposed to a believer, but it cannot take hold of a believer. Not only colts, but horses already broken, need a bridle.

[3.] We are freed from the curse and irritation of the law: Rom. vii., `Sin took occasion from the commandment., Carnal hearts grow worse for a restraint, as waters swell and rage when the course is stopped. The very prohibition is an occasional provocation; but to a gracious heart it is motive enough to a duty, because God willeth it.

[4.] We are freed from bondage and terrors. By natural men duties are done servilely, and out of slavish principles: `We have not received the spirit of bondage again unto fear., Rom. viii. 15. The great principle in the Old Testament, when the dispensation was more legal, was fear. Therefore it is said, `The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, Prov. ix.; and `the whole duty of man is to fear God, and keep his commandments, Eccles. xii. 13. Fear is represented as the great principle of duty and worship in the Old Testament, as suitable to that dispensation. But in the New we read that `love constraineth, 2 Cor. v. 14; that love `keepeth the commandments, 1 John v. 2, &c. To the old world God more discovered his will, to us his grace; and therefore our great constraint is to arise from love and sweetness.

Use. It showeth us the happiness of those which are in Christ: the law to a believer is a law of liberty; to another it is the law of bondage and death. We may `serve him without fear, Luke i. 57, that is, without slavish fear. Beasts are urged with goads, and things without life haled with cart-ropes; but Christians are led by sanctified affections, motives of grace, and considerations of gratitude. Oh! look to yourselves, then, whether you be in Christ or no. How sweet is this, when we are `free for righteousness, and do not complain of the commandment, but of sin, and the transgression is looked upon as a bondage, rather than duty! The same apostle that groaned under the body of death, delighted in the law of the Lord in the inward man, Rom. vii. God's restraints are not a bondage, but our own corruptions. And again, how sweet is this, when the command giveth us a warrant, and love a motive, and we can come before God as children, not as hirelings!

Obs. 2. That we shall be judged by the law at the last day; see Rom. ii. 12, `As many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law., The apostle's drift is to prove that all men out of Christ are under a condemnation, whether they had a law promulged or a law inbred; a law written in tables of stone, as the Jews; or in tables of the heart, as the Gentiles. All are judged according to the declarations of his will that God hath made to them: they that have gospel by gospel, or `the law of faith, Rom. iii. 31, `The words that I have spoken, shall judge them at the last day, John xii. 48; they that have only the law of nature, by the law natural; they that had the law written, by the law of tables; believers, by the law of liberty,—Christ's obedience shall be put upon their score. However their actions are brought to be scanned by a law and rule, their faith shall be judged and approved by their works, which, though they be not the causes of glory, yet they are the evidences: as motion is not the cause of life, but the effect and token of it. That works are brought into judgment appeareth by that scheme, Mat. xxv. 35. So Rev. xx. 12, `The books were opened, and every man was judged according to his works., The judge of the world will show that he doth rightly. The works of the wicked are produced as the merit of their ruin; the works of the godly, as evidences of glory: and therefore the apostle, when he speaketh of the process of God with the godly and wicked, he noteth the reward and the recompense of the godly in a different term and phrase: Rom. vi. 23, `The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life., The works of the wicked are produced to show the equity of their wages; the works of the godly, to declare their interest in his gift. Well, then, if the law be the rule of judgment, then let it be so now. If your confidence will not stand before the word, it will not stand before Christ at his appearing. We might anticipate and prevent the sentence of that day if we would go to the law and to the testimony. This is usual in experience, that persons the more ignorant, the more presuming; and men that contemn and neglect the means of grace have highest hopes. The reason is, because they cherish a confidence which the word would soon confute; and therefore, out of a secret consciousness of their own guilt, shun that way of trial: `They come not to the light, lest their deeds should be reproved, John iii. 20. Oh! if you dare not stand before the word now, as it is opened by a minister, what will you do when it is opened by Christ? Therefore when the word reproveth, regard it with all reverence and fear: This word judgeth me now, and it will judge me at the last day. Many fret at the light; as the Ethiopians once a year solemnly curse the sun. Oh! but how will they gnash the teeth when this word shall be brought against them at the coming of Christ in the clouds!

Again, if we shall be judged according to the measure of light and knowledge that we have of the law, it presseth us to bring forth fruits answerable to the dispensation of God. It is sad to put the finger in nature's eye, much more to grow black and wanzy in the sunshine of the gospel. As God looketh to the rule, so to our proportions and measures of light: `If I had not spoken to them, they had had no sin, saith Christ; that is, no such sin, not that kind of sin, not so much sin. Gentiles shall answer for their knowledge, and we according to our proportions. In sins of knowledge there is more of sin; for according to the sense that we have of the law forbidding, so is sin increased, and there is more of malice; therefore apostates, who have most knowledge of the truth, are (as Arnobius saith) Maximi osores sui ordinis—the greatest enemies to their own order and profession; and suitable the prophet Hosea v. 2, `The revolters are profound to make slaughter., Certainly there is more unkindness to God when we sin against a direct sight and intuition of his will: and therefore David aggravateth his adultery, because it was committed after God had made him `to know wisdom in the inward part, Ps. li. 6; which certainly is the intent of the Hebrew text there, though we read somewhat otherwise in our translation. It is sad that after the law is written upon the heart, it should be transgressed; in such acts there is a kind of violence offered to the principles and suggestions of our own bosom.

Obs. 3. It is a great help to our Christian course to think of the day of judgment. They best prepare themselves to the spiritual battle that always hear the sound of that day's trump. Do not think it is against the liberty of the gospel to think of these severe accounts, or a talk only for novices; it is useful for the children of God. Though they are delivered from the rigour of that day, yet they ought still to reflect upon it with reverence. I confess there are some servile reflections which beget nothing but torment and bondage in the spirit; these will not become the children of God. But still a holy awe and reverence is necessary; you will find it of special use to quicken you to Christian care and watchfulness. There are evangelical reflections which serve to make the spirit strict, but not servile. It is a fondness in them that think this argument is wholly legal. The apostle Paul maketh the doctrine of judgment to come to be a part of the gospel, Rom. ii. 13: `God will judge the secrets of all men according to my gospel, that is, according as I have taught in the dispensation of the gospel. And, indeed, it is a branch of the most glorious part of the doctrine of the gospel; Christ's judging being the highest and most imperial act of his kingly office. The truth is, it is of excellent use to invite wicked men to repentance, and therefore Paul chose this argument at Athens, Acts xvii. 31, `He hath commanded all men to repent, because he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness., Three reasons may be given why he useth that motive to them at first. One is intimated in the text, because it is a forcible and pressing motive to repentance; and the other two may be easily conjectured, or collected out of the context. As, secondly, to prevent their plea, that if they had been in a wrong way, they had found it a happy way; no judgment or plague had lighted upon them. The apostle anticipateth this objection by telling them, `at those days of ignorance God winked, but now taketh notice; and if they did not repent now, however they escaped here, they should be sure to meet with judgment to come. And, thirdly, because the heathens themselves had some kind of dread and expectation of such a day, conscience being but the counterpart of this doctrine; and, therefore, when Paul spake of `judgment to come, Felix trembled, though an heathen, Acts xxiv. 25. The philosophers had some dreams of a severe day of accounts, as appeareth by Plato's Gorgias, many passages in Tully, &c. And possibly herein the light of nature might be much helped by tradition; so that, for the first and inviting motive, it serveth excellently. Nay, the people of God, that are already brought into Christ, find a great deal of sweet use and profit by exercising their thoughts in it. The strictness of it serveth to scare them out of their own righteousness. Nothing but Christ's righteousness will serve for Christ's judgment: `That I maybe found in him, &c., Phil. iii. 9. When wrath cometh thus solemnly to make inquisition for sinners, it is comfortable to be `hidden in the cleft of the rock, to be `found in him., So also it is useful to make them more strict and watchful; that they may keep faith and grace in a constant exercise, and so be fit to meet the Lord when he cometh, with joy and boldness. The preacher, when he had propounded the whole duty of man, he enforceth it upon this motive, `For God shall bring every work to judgment, Eccles. xii. 13, 14. And again, more faithful in their callings. Whatever things are omitted at the day of judgment, our carriage in our callings is chiefly noted and produced, it being that particular sphere to which we are limited and confined for serving the great ends of our creation. And as all callings are respected, so especially those high callings wherein there is some peculiar and special ministration to God, or some charge and employment for the public good. Paul himself, though a chosen vessel, a man of strong affections to Christ, yet thought need sometimes to use the spur; and though he professed that he chiefly acted out of the constraints of love, yet he also took the advantage of fear, `Knowing the terror of the Lord in that day, we persuade men, 2 Cor. v. 11, implying that a reflection upon the severity and strictness of the day of judgment was a great enforcement to urge him to faithfulness in the ministry; and having found the use of it in his own spirit, he presseth Timothy by the same motive: 2 Tim. iv. 1,2, `I charge thee, before Jesus Christ, who shall judge quick and dead, be instant; preach the word in season, out of season., It is a most vehement persuasive to diligence, when we consider that we must give an account of our work. So also to make them thankful. There cannot be a greater argument of praise than when we consider our deliverance from wrath, when wrath is drawn out to the height, that we can look Christ in the face with comfort, 1 John ii. 28; and we may begin our triumph when others are overwhelmed with terrors. So the apostle saith, 1 John iv. 17, `Herein is love perfect, that we may have boldness at the day of judgment;, that is, therein is the height and perfection of the divine love discovered, that when others call upon mountains to cover them, we may lift up our heads with comfort, and may call the world's judge our friend and father.