We have seen that James made the great mistake of uplifting the Old Testament law of letters, but his mistake is covered by a beautiful cloak. James treasured the law of letters through Moses, and he seemingly mentioned another law which he called the perfect law of freedom (James 1:25). In the past we thought that this perfect law of freedom was the law of life. But actually, the words perfect and freedom are the top cloak to cover James's mistake. Jeremiah prophesied concerning the law of life which would be written in our hearts (Jer. 31:31-34), and Paul spoke of the law of the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2). In our crystallization-study to get into the intrinsic significance of the Bible, we now realize that James was not speaking of the law of life but of the law of letters.
James seemingly talks about three kinds of laws: the law of letters (the Mosaic law), the royal law, and the law of freedom. James 2:8 says, "If indeed you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,' you do well." James appreciated the law so much that he called it "the royal law." Psalms 1, 19, and 119 uplift the law to the uttermost, but even the psalmist in those three psalms did not appreciate the law as highly as James did.
James 2:10 and 11 say, "For whoever keeps the whole law yet stumbles in one point has become 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 murder, you have become a transgressor of the law." No doubt, when James refers to the law in verses 10 and 11 he is speaking of the Mosaic law. He continues in verse 12 by saying, "So speak and so do as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom." According to the context, the royal law, the Mosaic law, and the law of freedom are one and the same law.
James was one hundred percent for the law. He taught people to observe, to keep, the Mosaic law. When James spoke of the royal law, he was speaking of only one commandment of the Mosaic law, that is, to love our neighbors. He was for perfection, and a perfect man should love his neighbors. This is a high point of human perfection, so James called this the royal law. By this we can see that he appreciated the law more highly than the psalmists did.