Concerning the perfect law, the law of freedom, one interpretation is that the perfect law refers to the entire New Testament. Our notes say that the perfect law, the law of freedom, is the law of life within us. Actually, these two interpretations are one. By using the Old Testament law as an illustration, we can point out how this is so. When we speak of the law of Moses, we usually have in mind the Ten Commandments. However, often the entire Old Testament is called the law and the prophets (Matt. 7:12; 22:40). In ancient times, the Jews regarded the Old Testament as consisting of two parts—the law and the prophets. The “prophets,” of course, comprised all the books of the prophets. Then the remainder of the Old Testament, including the Psalms, was considered the “law.” In a similar way, we may say that the entire New Testament is a new law to us. The Old Testament law was written on tablets of stone. It was not written within the people. But the New Testament is written on our hearts (Heb. 8:10). First, God has written the perfect law, the law of freedom, in the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. Second, when He begot us through regeneration, He wrote this law into our being. Now we have within us a law of life that corresponds to the entire New Testament. Therefore, the two interpretations of the perfect law—that it refers to the New Testament and that it refers to the law of life—are one. On the one hand, the perfect law is the entire New Testament; on the other hand, it is the law of life inscribed into our being.
The words “look into” indicate that the perfect law is something that can be read. This indicates that the perfect law refers to the New Testament and not only to the law of life in our being. The law of life can be sensed, but it is not readable. The fact that the perfect law is readable indicates that it denotes not only the law of life but also the entire New Testament.
The principle of the New Testament law has been written into our inner being and has become the law of life within us. The difference between the old law and the new law is that the old law was written only on tablets, whereas the new law was written both in ink and within our being. As we have pointed out, this new law has become the law of life within us, and this law corresponds to the entire New Testament. This is the perfect law, the law of freedom.
Although the law of the New Testament is shorter than the law of the Old Testament, the new law is perfect, whereas the old law is not perfect. Furthermore, the new law is the law of freedom, but the old law is the law of bondage. The law of the Old Testament was the law of bondage because it did not have the ability to impart life. That law could make requirements and condemn. Because it brought people into the bondage of slavery, it was the law of bondage. But the New Testament law gives life; it imparts life into our being. The life imparted into us through the New Testament law delivers us from the law sin and of death. Therefore, this law, the perfect law, is the law of freedom.
In verse 26 James goes on to say, “If anyone thinks himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this one’s religion is vain.” Here the Greek word rendered “religious” is threskos, an adjective; threskeia, the noun for religion, means ceremonial service and worship to God, implying the fear of God. The adjective is used only here in the New Testament. The noun is used here and in verse 27 in a positive sense, in Colossians 2:18 (for worship) in a negative sense, and in Acts 26:5 in a general sense.
James’ writing concerning God’s New Testament economy is not as striking as Paul’s, Peter’s, or John’s. Paul focuses on Christ living and being formed in us (Gal. 2:20; 4:19) and Christ magnified in us and lived out of us (Phil. 1:20-21), that we as the church, His Body, may become His fullness, His expression (Eph. 1:22-23). Peter stresses the fact that God has regenerated us through the resurrection of Christ (1 Pet. 1:3), making us partakers of His divine nature, that we may live a life of godliness (2 Pet. 1:3-7) and be built up a spiritual house to express His virtues (1 Pet. 2:5, 9). John emphasizes the eternal life given to us for our fellowship with the Triune God (1 John 1:2-3) and the divine birth that brings into us the divine life as the divine seed for us to live a life like God (1 John 2:29; 3:9; 4:17) and be the church, as a lampstand, bearing the testimony of Jesus (Rev. 1:9, 11-12), which will consummate in the New Jerusalem to express God for eternity (Rev. 21:2-3, 10-11). James stresses, as New Testament characteristics, only God’s begetting of us (James 1:18), the perfect law of freedom (1:25), the indwelling Spirit (4:5), and a little bit of the church (5:14), without speaking of Christ as our life and the church as the expression of Christ, the two most outstanding and dispensational characteristics of the New Testament. According to his Epistle, James must have been very religious. It might have been due to this and his practical Christian perfection that he was reputed along with Peter and John to be a pillar, even the first, in the church at Jerusalem (Gal. 2:9). However, he was not strong in the revelation of God’s New Testament economy in Christ, but was still under the influence of the background of the old Judaic religion—to worship God with ceremonies and live a life in the fear of God. This is proved by the words in Acts 21:20-24 and in this Epistle, 2:2-11.
In 1:26 James says of the one who does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, that his religion is vain. Not bridling the tongue is to speak quickly (v. 19) and loosely without restriction. This always deceives the speaking one’s own heart, deceiving his conscience, the consciousness of his heart.
In verse 27 James says, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” This word of James, for the strengthening of his view of practical Christian perfection, implies an element of the Old Testament charges (Deut. 14:29; 24:19-21, 12-13).
To keep oneself unspotted from the world is not to be worldly, not to be stained by worldliness. This word about keeping oneself unspotted from the world is also a part of James’ God-fearing view of practical Christian perfection. To visit orphans and widows is to act according to God’s loving heart, a positive characteristic of the perfection; and to keep oneself unspotted from the world is to be separated from the world according to God’s holy nature, a negative characteristic of the perfection.
In chapter one of the Epistle of James three major points are covered: the divine birth (v. 18), receiving the implanted word (v. 21), and the perfect law of freedom (v. 25). First God brought us forth, regenerated us, by the word of truth. Hence, the word of truth is the seed of life for our divine birth. After being regenerated by receiving this seed, we need to continue to receive the implanted word, which is able to save our soul in our daily life. According to verse 18, the word of truth is for regeneration in our spirit. According to verse 21, we need the implanted word for the daily salvation of our soul. Moreover, according to verses 25 through 27, we need the perfect law of freedom so that we may live a God-fearing life, a life that might be considered religious in a proper sense. Such a life corresponds to God’s heart, which is love, and to God’s nature, which is holiness.
Negatively, chapter one of James deals with enduring trials and resisting temptations. Actually, the intrinsic contents of this chapter comprise three aspects of the divine word: the word of truth for regeneration, the implanted word for the salvation of the soul, and the entire New Testament as God’s word to be the law of freedom. We have seen that the law of freedom refers to the law of life, which has been planted into our being as a principle. This inner law helps us to live a life of love and holiness, a life that is according to God’s heart and nature.
I want to emphasize the fact that each of the three major points covered in James 1 is related to the divine word: first, the word in the aspect of truth for regeneration; second, the word in the aspect of implantation for the daily salvation of the soul; and third, the word referring to the entire New Testament as the new law, the law that has been wrought into our being to become an inner principle by which we live a godly life according to God’s loving heart and holy nature.