James also speaks of the law as a major means of Christian perfection (1:25; 2:8-12; 4:11). In chapter one he speaks of the perfect law of freedom. In chapters two and four he speaks of the royal law and of the law. No doubt, this is the law of Moses, the law of letters. When I had the life-study on James a number of years ago, I was troubled with these three laws: the law, the royal law, and the perfect law of freedom. Then I considered that in the Bible there are only two kinds of laws. The first is the law of Moses, the law of letters, the Old Testament law. Jeremiah 31 indicates that this law did not work, so God promised to give His people another law, which is not written on tablets of stone but written on our heart, on our mind (vv. 31-34; Heb. 8:10). This is the law of God's life not the law of letters. In Romans 8:2 Paul spoke of the law of the Spirit of life, which is the law of life.
At the time of James, he had not come to know the law of life. Surely he had not read Paul's writing of Romans. In the past I gave credit to James by saying that the perfect law of freedom referred to the law of life. But after studying this matter more thoroughly, I found out that actually James referred to only one law, the law of letters. In 2:8 he spoke of fulfilling the royal law in reference to the commandment to love our neighbors. James considered this as the top law, the royal law. Then in verse 12 he spoke of our being judged by the law of freedom. According to the context, the royal law and the law of freedom, also referred to in 1:25, both refer to the law of letters. Thus, the three laws referred to by James are actually one law. This is why I have put perfect and of freedom in parentheses. The (perfect) law (of freedom) is the law of letters.
I believe that James as a pious man knew the Psalms very well. No doubt, James quoted from Psalms 1, 19, and 119. Psalm 19 says that the law is perfect, so the word perfect is used in James. It also says that the law revives people, that is, gives people freedom (vv. 7-8). This probably is where James got the perfect law of freedom. Psalm 119:11 says, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." I believe this is what James considered as the law of freedom. When we keep the law in our heart, the law releases us from sinning. James also spoke of the word of truth (1:18), which is mentioned in Psalm 119:43. Psalm 1 shows how much the psalmist treasured the law of God. The Old Testament psalmists believed that if you meditated on the law of God and treasured it, you would not sin. That was the release, the freedom. This was the concept of James which he received from the Psalms. But today we do not consider the law of Moses as a means by which we can carry out Christian perfection. Rather, Paul says the law cannot do anything for our perfection.
Another means of Christian perfection stressed by James is the promised kingdom of God (2:5).
God's judgments were a means spoken of by James to carry out perfection because the judgment of God warns people (2:12-13; 3:1; 4:11-12; 5:9). If you consider the warning of God's judgments, you are helped not to sin.