In verse 11 James says, “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.” According to the context, this verse indicates that telling a poor brother to sit under our footstool is equal to killing him. To treat a poor brother in this way is to commit murder, for to despise a poor brother is to kill him.
Verse 12 continues, “So speak and so do as those who are about to be judged by a law of freedom.” “So” both times does not refer to what has gone before, but to what follows. The law of freedom here and in 1:25 refers to the same law, which is the law of life. James 2:8-11, as also 4:11, speaks of keeping the law of letters. James 2:12 speaks of judgment upon the believers by the law of life. The believers should speak and do according to the law of life, which surpasses the law of letters. They should live according to the law of life. This kind of living surpasses the keeping of the law of letters. The unbelievers will be judged by the law of letters, which is the law of Moses, at the great white throne (Rev. 20:11-15). The believers will be judged by the law of life, the law of freedom, which is the law of Christ, at His judgment seat (2 Cor. 5:10).
When I was young, I could not understand 2:11 and 12. I knew that in the New Testament God does not want us to keep the Old Testament law. But here James talks about keeping the Old Testament law. His word corresponds to what is recorded in Acts 21. But then in verse 12 James tells us that we shall be judged by another law, by the perfect law. Now I understand that in the mind of James the Old Testament law and the New Testament law were mixed. James did not make a distinction between the Old Testament law and the New Testament law.
First James talks about keeping the law, and then he speaks about being judged by Christ according to the law of freedom, according to the law of the New Testament. This indicates that James mixed these laws together.
According to the clear revelation of the Bible, there will be three major judgments to come. The first will be the judgment at the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10). This judgment will be carried out in the air, and it will be executed upon all the raptured and resurrected believers. That judgment will not be related to salvation or perdition. Because that judgment will concern believers, the question of salvation will have been eternally settled. That judgment will determine whether the believers will receive a reward or suffer loss. God’s intention is first to give us salvation. Then if we live by God’s salvation, we shall receive God’s reward. We receive salvation in this age, the church age, and we receive the reward in the next age, in the age of the millennial kingdom. This judgment of the believers is the first major judgment that is coming.
The second major judgment is recorded in Matthew 25. This judgment will take place after the Lord comes back with the overcoming saints and destroys Antichrist and his army at Armageddon. Then the Lord Jesus will set up His throne of glory in Jerusalem. All the living Gentiles will be gathered before the Lord to be judged. As the Lord judges them, He will divide them into sheep and goats. The goats will go to the lake of fire, and the sheep will be transferred into the millennial kingdom to become the nations. Second Timothy 4:1 says that God has appointed the Lord Jesus to judge the living and the dead. According to Matthew 25, He will judge the living at the throne of His glory at the beginning of the thousand years.
At the end of the thousand years there will be the third major judgment. This will be the judgment of all dead unbelievers, a judgment that will take place at the great white throne. By these three judgments the Lord will clear up the situation among human beings.
When the Lord Jesus judges the believers at His judgment seat, He will not judge them according to the law of Moses or according to His gospel. Instead, He will judge them according to the law of freedom, that is, according to the perfect law. In 2:12 James refers to the judgment of the believers according to the law of freedom at the judgment seat of Christ.
On the one hand, James warns the believers that they will be judged by Christ according to the New Testament. On the other hand, he charges the recipients of this Epistle to keep the Old Testament law. This indicates again James’ lack of a clear view according to God’s economy. It indicates that he did not have a clear vision about the distinction between the Old Testament and New Testament. He mixed the two dispensations together; that is, he mixed the law of the Old Testament with the law of the New Testament.