Let your charity, says Christ to the lawyer, and through him
would be met. Now all this was kind and generous, and as much as one could have expected from a friend or a brother. Yet here it is done by a stranger and foreigner.
3. An ALL-EMBRACING CHARITY
Let your charity, says Christ to the lawyer, and through him to us, be thus extensive before you boast of having conformed to that great commandment of loving your neighbour.
The last five of the ten commandments, as St. Paul claims (see Rom. xiii. 9, 10; Gal. v. 14), are all summed up in this royal law. St. James elaborates on this claim (fas. w. 8ff.): "If ye fulfil the royal law, according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well."
From which we learn that: (a) The rule for Christians to walk by 1s settled in the Scripture. It is not great men, nor worldly wealth, nor corrupt practices among professors themselves (such as priests and Levites), that must guide us, but the Scripture of truth.
(b) The Scripture gives us this as a law, to love our neighbours as ourselves. It is what still remains in full force, and is rather carried higher and farther by Christ than made less important to us.
(c) This law is a '"'royal law''. It comes from the King of kings. It is the law of Him whom God has set as King in His holy hill of Zion—it is the law of our King—it is the law of laws, on which "'all the law and the prophets do hang''. Its own worth and dignity deserve that it should be thus honoured. And the state in which all Christians now are, as it is a state of liberty, and not of bondage or oppression, makes this law, by which they are to regulate all their actions to one another, a royal law.
(d) That a pretence of observing this royal law, when it is interpreted with partiality, will not excuse men in any unjust proceedings.
It is implied here that some were ready to flatter rich men, and to be partial to them, because if they were in like circumstances they should expect such regards themselves. Or, they might plead, that to show a distinguished respect to those who God in His providence has distinguished by their rank and degree in the world was but doing right. Therefore the apostle James allows that, so far as they were concerned to observe the duties of the second table of the commandments, they
Neighbor 7 did well in giving honour to whom honour is due. But this fair pretence would not cover their sin in that undue respect of persons with which they could be charged.
The general law "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" is to be considered side by side with the particular law "If ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors". Notwithstanding the law of laws, to love your neighbours as yourselves, and to show that respect to them you would be apt to look for yourselves if in their circumstances, yet this will not excuse you, either distributing the favours or censures of the Church, according to men's outward condition. But here you must look to a particular law, which God, who gave the other, has given you together with it. And by this you will stand fully convicted of the sin I have charged you with. This law is in Lev. xix. 15. Yes, the very royal law itself, rightly explained, would serve to convict them, because it teaches them to put themselves as much in the places of the poor as in those of the rich; and so to carry it equitably towards one as well as the other.
Christians must fulfil the royal law in detail, having regard to one part as well as another. Otherwise it would not stand them in stead, when they pretend to urge it as a reason for any particular actions (Jas. ii. 10). 'For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, is guilty of all."
With reference to the case which St. James is considering, the argument runs, ''Do you plead for your respect to the rich because you are to 'love your neighbour as yourselves' ?'' Why then, show also an equitable and due regard to the poor, because you are to love your neighbour as yourself. Else your offending in one point will spoil your pretence of observing that law at all.
Incidentally this shows us what vanity it is to think that our good deeds will atone for our bad deeds, and plainly suggests that we should be looking for some other atonement.
The conclusion of this matter is that Love is the sum of the whole law (Gal. v. 14). As love to God comprises the first table, so love to our neighbour those of the second. Love to our neighbour is good evidence of the sincerity of our religion and also the most likely means of rooting out those dissensions and divisions which are in the Church today, as they were in the Galatian Church in the days of St. Paul.
Great Themes of the Bible
SERMON OUTLINE
NEIGHBOURLINESS
A QUESTION ABOUT NEIGHBOURLINESS (a) The Lawyer's Corrupt Notion (6) The Lord's Correction of His Idea A PIcTURE OF NEIGHBOURLINESS ii;
(a) The Man was Abused by His Enemies (b) The Man was Slighted by His Friends (c) The Man was Succoured by a Stranger
(i) The Samaritan went to him (ii) The Samaritan dressed his wounds
(iii) The Samaritan brought him to the inn (iv) The Samaritan took care of him THe Law oF NEIGHBOURLINESS (Jas. ii. 8) (a) The Law of Love is Scriptural (b) The Law of Love is the Royal Law (c) The Law of Love is to be Impartially Interpreted (d) The Law of Love is to be Universally Obeyed
III.