Speaking Against One Another

Alrighty. So I spent two months across the hall and I felt that that was an atmosphere of delinquency to some extent. I've been following the notes of James and I miss being part of the fellowship here and the book of James. So our topic today is related to James, chapter 4, verses 11 and 12, speaking against one another. This is kind of a challenging thing to have before us, and I think we have a lot to learn from this particular segment. As usual, let's go ahead and begin by reviewing last week, and I wasn't here to participate in this, nor did I listen to the recording, but nevertheless, I looked at Andrew's handout, and this was chapter 4, verses 5 through 10, So God's desire and plan and conflicts, and I'm going to summarize this very simplistically, and Andrew did a great job as always teaching this aspect of the word. So I'm going to say the first bullet points.

By the work and power of the Holy Spirit, we're to understand and make grace God's greatest gift. And therefore, when we're humble, we're recipients of that. When we're not humble, what's the atmosphere? What's the source of lack of humility? The old man. Oh, absolutely. And he continues to exist, doesn't he?

But when we are in the atmosphere of humility, which God has created us in to be led by the Holy Spirit, then ultimately the power of the Holy Spirit works to make God's grace very effective in our lives. And Andrew, you can add to this if you want to, after I make one more point. And then there's a series of commands, which Andrew very appropriately addresses.

Aorist imperative, that means It's commanded we pay attention to what's here, but eros means it's a lifestyle. And I like that interpretation very much about the eros tense, in terms of what it is and what it's not. So, these imperatives relate to submit, resist, draw near, cleanse, purify, demystify. So these are all imperatives.

And the final kind of sub-bullet point here is that aren't these also demonstrating the work of the power of the Holy Spirit? Again, we're all new creations in Christ Jesus, but the flesh keeps showing up off the ground. These are not meritorious when, in fact, the old man is getting buffed up to do things that seem to relate to these imperatives. This is the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and that's, I think, the growth curve that we're all on, isn't it? having the Holy Spirit continue to work in our lives, to make these imperatives based on the great grace of God's Holy Spirit working in us.

So, anyway, just aside. Andrew, you want to make any other scenario comments about your teaching? No, that was a good summation. Very succinct. It seems to all generate from verse 1 through 3 or 1 through 2 about lust. So it begins... And James? Yeah. And that creates jealousies internally and with other people. And it all develops into a bunch of conflicts. Yeah, you're right.

It's the Holy Spirit that has to have So just to build on what Andrew just said, let's read verses 1 and 2. I'm going to come back to verse 1 later in today's lesson. Verse 1, where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from the desires of pleasure that warn your members? You lust and you do have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war, yet you do not have it because you do not ask. That's the beginning of this chapter. All right, let's proceed then.

In a way, I have two verses today, and I can understand always why Roger has this partition the way he does. So let's read verses 11 and 12. I'm going to read from, I think this is the New King James Version. Who are you to judge one another? Verse 12 will come to that.

All right, so with James, you've got to kind of pause a little bit. What the heck's he talking about the law for? I mean, aren't we on a platform of grace here that we live under? We're going to come back to that theme here in a second. I love what Constable said.

This is probably the best summary that I could ever come up with myself. Now, Andrew may have But Constable says, quote, having dealt with a source of interpersonal and interpersonal conflicts that believers in particular and all people generally experience, James dealt next with a different aspect of the same problem. He did so to motivate his readers further to forsake the philosophy of the world that puts itself first. Criticizing others is dangerous, not only because it is a form of selfishness, but also, and here I like this, because the critic exalts himself even over God when he criticizes. final phrase, I think, is really the meaning of this whole section.

We could just stop there and dismiss the class. Anyway, I think Constable really hits the nail on the head. Any thoughts about what Constable says here? When we criticize one another, we put ourselves above God. Now, again, the flesh is good at criticizing, but I'm going to come back to this as to who we're criticizing.

Ah, and so let's partition this first. Do not speak, Greek term, evil of one another, brethren. And ultimately, the imperative continues here. But here, the tense is present. That means right now. This is not Eris tense. Right now, quit criticizing your brethren. So ultimately, the Greek translation indicates to speak evil of one another is to speak evil or against somebody else is to incriminate, actually, or to even slander. I mean, these are pretty strong terms. So we have to think about the source of such kind of behavior.

And 1 Peter 2.12 reads, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evil doers, they may be made by your good works, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. That's the Gentile nation speaking evil against us, and that happens all the time, doesn't it? Thoughts there.

Well, I think it goes back to what Hal always talked about, that you may be the only Bible anyone ever reads, because of how you react and interact. And when they see you speaking evil of your brethren, you know, they just say, well, they're just like the world. They're like everybody else. What's different about you?

I like what McCall says here. The grammatical construction here views this as a practice So this is kind of an ongoing behavior, I think, and this part of that verse 1 kind of sets the stage for the rest of it. Yeah, this is an ongoing problem that he's addressing here. You got your mic on? I think it's on now. They're continuing to do this, and that's why James is commenting on it.

They shouldn't be doing that. There's many other verses, you'll probably cover them, about speaking against... only God is able to judge properly any believer. In judging other believers, we're taking his place, and that's where we're headed, I'm sure. Alright, good. That raises kind of the next question.

Who is one another? It's one another of the same kind. You're going to head of the class here. So it's the brethren. So my next question is, he who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, and then what about this? Do you think that this means that we can't speak evil of those in the world? I maybe should have phrased this a little bit differently. Do you think this is restricted to our behavior with a brother? I mean, evil is evil, is it not? In all things, what we should be doing is speaking the truth in love. Right. There you go. Okay. All right.

So, but we can certainly be critical of the world system and everything it represents in terms of the evil nature of the human nature of the world system for what it represents, right? We really can't expect any more of the old sin nature, can we? No, we are.

That's where the world is. Isn't what James is saying here is speaking evil of an individual? Individuals? And I think that's very broad, you know, whether it's the brethren or of the world. Like you said, you can speak evil of the world system. But not of each person, not of the person.

Well, that's why I said a moment ago, I probably should have rephrased this, rather than saying of those, those who manifest the world system, not the person. Clearly, God would have all come to know Him, would they not? I mean, so I think we have to be careful there. So that should have been reworded. All right.

One of the things that helps me here, Bob, is to remember that our Lord has died for each of us. Believers or unbelievers, He loves us that much. Paul Dearest is going home to be with the Lord forever in terms of his earthly existence. He said, I'm the greatest among all sinners. That's an atmosphere of humility for sure, isn't it? But love is there, extended to all.

Unfortunately, the world system manifests it in a very different way than the brethren do. So, I think this is directed to the brethren, but I was just thinking of expanding this to everyone we see who crosses our paths. Hard to do sometimes, is to see evil deeds and evil things, and ultimately we address that to an individual, but nevertheless. One of the things that we need to remember is it's the Holy Spirit, God Himself, living in us. If his life is in control of this physical body, then we're going to manifest that kind of... You know, Paul reflects on this a little bit, maybe a little out of context, but I think it has some meaning here.

So 5 Corinthians 5, 9-12, I wrote unto you an epistle, not the company with fornicators. Yet not all together were the fornicators of this world, or were the covetous, or exertioners, or were idolaters. For then must ye weeds go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, and if any man that is called a brother a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an exorcerer. With such a one, do not eat. For what I do, I to do to judge them also that are without. Do not judge them that are without or within."

So, anyway, so the concept here, I think, in various kind of relates to the body of Christ to some extent, but also relates to the world systems that's outside the brethren. So I think Paul kind of separates the world system and their deeds from the brethren, and there with the brethren, there's a fair amount of information about the role of the elders in dealing with people who are continually falling into this paradigm of behavior. Hey, Bob? Yes, sir.

What about as a question for maybe clarification, other believers who don't believe the same way we do, You know, they've latched on to maybe errors in doctrine or something that they've picked up from family history. One of the things that I think we do wrestle there is being kind to fellow members of Christ, right? Yes, and that behavior is often present in some of us or all of us at times. So, is that a warning to us, Lord, then?

Well, I think so. But we all seek to rightly divide the word of truth, do we not? And when, in fact, we sense that there is perhaps error in interpretation, we're not critical of the individual, we're critical of wrong doctrine. I don't know. One of the things we can count on is that the Holy Spirit is in them as well, and He is teaching each of us. So if we teach the truth, or we correct with truth in love, in gentleness, the Holy Spirit is going to take over. Or not take over. I mean, in terms of the behavior of the individual with whom we're sharing. Other thoughts? I think we can count on him taking over. I mean, he's gonna correct.

Okay, I don't know exactly. I'm just thinking of my own experience, my own family members, and we have various family members that are believers that have different doctrines than I have. We go to visit, we go to church with them, and they sometimes ask, well, Roger, what do you think about that? And I say, well, I think you missed the mark there, brother or sister. But another year passes, and they're still in the same spot they were a year before. So things don't, from my perspective, and I'm just throwing this out for discussion, we don't see necessarily a lot of brothers and sisters, even in our family, change much. It doesn't seem like that happens. They've adopted a certain doctrine or belief, and we may have some influence, and I pray that I do have an influence, but many times it doesn't seem to change much.

Well, a couple of points related to this conversation. Number one, the Greek term relates to speaking evil or against, to incriminate, or to slander. And that takes a very pejorative type of attitude. Trying to feel the joy of the Lord to share what we think is the right interpretation is not in error. I mean, that's not, we believe in spirit-led, I trust. And then, ultimately, I think, secondly, You know, I think Miles Stanford used to say, I think this comes from Miles, it may have come from someone else, it's sometimes harder to share with a believer about the truths of the identification light. And I think, you know, there's a couple of critical features to what we believe.

Number one is positional truth. There's no condemnation that those who are in Christ Jesus were positionally secure at his right hand. Secondly, is the sin nature never changes, and that's not taught well in many Bible churches. And ultimately, it's the love of God for the power of the Holy Spirit that leads us in a new life in Christ Jesus.

I mean, those are three basic principles, and often those are in error there. So we have to share and love these things. But ultimately, the Holy Spirit is His job to change behavior. And we want to avoid the egretism that sometimes I think we sense here in terms of we have a corner on the truth. We may be an error too and not really understand it at times. So remind ourselves that we're saved by grace and humility is the way we manifest that. And ultimately, we're trusting the Holy Spirit to rightly divide the Word of truth and share with others.

It's like Roy said, you need to speak the truth in love and leave the results up to God. I see no change in my own brother, but I still love him and I expect God will take him where he wants to go. But I didn't finish Myles' statement. I mean, Myles said it's often more difficult to share rightly the Word of God with other believers than it is to convert somebody who's unsaved to be still saved.

I mean, again, I'm paraphrasing, but that's the kind of opinion he's had. And I think there's some truth to that. Not that we all experientially have been on that platform, but nevertheless. We don't want to offend and bring division, right? Exactly. But we gather here for a reason, right? Don't we? Yes. Okay. Let's go ahead. All right, let me get on this slide here. All right, how should we interpret judging the crino, our brother? So the simple interpretation of crino is the subject to censure.

So that's a pretty strong term. And Romans 2, 1 uses this in an interesting way. Therefore, thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judges, for wherein thou judges another, Do you think we ultimately are being critical of others when in fact we make the same mistake or have the same flaw? Well, we see that in the world a lot. People that yell the loudest about certain things, they are guilty of what they're yelling the loudest about. It's almost remarkable.

You think, well, how can they yell that loud about it when they're doing the same thing? And what should we call that? Don't you want to call that self-righteousness? I mean, self-righteousness is something that Lord Jesus Christ hated most about the Pharisees. I mean, woe are you! scribes and Pharisees. Who is the right judge? Well, we'll come to that. You're leading ahead here, Roy. Well, we know who the right judge is, and ultimately that's going to be verse 12. So let's lead the definite answer to verse 12.

So what are the consequences of such judgment? What do you think? Well, the Lord had a discussion about that. Judge not, lest ye be judged, right? Our Savior has already spoken about that issue, about judging others, lest ye be judged. So, you're on thin ice, so to speak. Yes.

The verse says, Thou condemnest thyself. Who's doing the condemnation? Well, the verse also says, who speaks evil, the law judges the law. I mean, in a sense, that puts us in a position that is far from what the truth is about the lawgiver, I mean, God himself, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Yeah, and Roy, did you know that there's a definite article not there for this law? It's not, but we're going to come to that in just a second, but that's important here. It is. So, but if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law, but a judge, and so that opens up kind of a new door. Why does James mention the law no most, and which law is this? So, in fact, you're reading ahead again. Okay, I'm sorry. No, that's good.

Well, you know, I kind of did a fairly detailed study of this, and I turned to other sources, but in Stroms, it says, no most is a Greek term of the Mosaic law, and referring according to the context, either to the volume of the law or its contents, and can be preceded by the article or without the article.

Here in James, there's no article, but it doesn't mean it's not the Mosaic law. So in fact, this is the law that God gave the nation of Israel that James is referring to. And that's the problem with James, isn't it? We constantly see him kind of referring back to a paradigm of behavior for all of us that no longer is judgmental. We're living by grace, not by law. You can be critical of James. But ultimately, what's cited here is Leviticus 19, 15 through 18. So I'm going to read this from my handout here.

You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness, you shall judge your neighbor. Now, that's interesting, isn't it? In righteousness, you should judge your neighbor. You shall not go about as a tailbearer among your people, nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor.

I am the Lord, and you shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. And you shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

I am the Lord." So remember, what's the Lord Jesus Christ's great commandment? Well, you know, you should love your neighbors yourself. Is that his commandment? No. Thank you. What is his commandment to the church? Love one another as I have loved you. Very good. And how has he loved us? He's given his life for us. Yeah, through crucifixion and resurrection and the new life he gives us in his own person.

Well Bob, do you think, I had a note from previous times, but do you think he could be referring back, he's talked about law before, back in 212, chapter 2, verse 12, about the law of liberty, could he be talking about that, do you think? Okay, maybe I'm getting, I'm sorry Bob, I'm way ahead of you. Absolutely. Roger, you guys haven't talked about this enough Bob.

No, this is good. This is not a sermon in there. This is an interaction. And I love it when people just volunteer thoughts. Because, I mean, the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know. I mean, I say that in science. The same thing is true about the Lord. Right? But although the law is holy, are we not under the law but grace? Well, let's look at some verses that I think speak to this. I can't tell whether I should use my glasses or not, so I'm just picking this up. I can do this better. And I turned one page too many.

Okay, James 2.8. If you really fulfill the royal law according to the scriptures, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

And that's quoting again Leviticus 19.18, which I just read.

So that's in James 2.8.

Galatians 5.13, For you, brethren, have been called to liberty, only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Isn't that a beautiful verse that relates to what we're talking about here? Through love. Boy, you should like that a lot.

Philippians 2.3, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but the loveliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself.

And Romans 2.13, I'm sorry, I'm not advancing there, sorry.

So Romans 2.13, is for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified. So I think all these verses, mostly from Paul, really reflect a legal barrier that exists before us that now ultimately the love of the Lord Jesus Christ and the new creation we are in Him, I'm paraphrasing, is what we are to be living. So, don't we find interesting that this whole theme follows James addressing sins of the tongue? I mean, in effect, that's what we're talking about. You can think all you want, but what the tongue does is ultimately incredibly capable of evil.

And that this evil speaking, verse 11, stems from the flesh and serves as the basis for James 4.1 that we read at the beginning today. Hey, Bob. Yes, sir. Just an overview thought here. When we speak evil of others and become a judge, aren't we taking God's part? Aren't we becoming ourselves the judge of others, taking God's judgment upon ourselves? Just wait a couple of minutes here.

Absolutely. There's no question about that. In fact, that's what Constable said in that last phrase. When we judge others, we're replacing his ultimate judgment in ourselves, which is wrong. If you replace the word law here with legalism, and just read it that way, It makes a lot more sense, I think, to our understanding of scripture that God is the one who is the ultimate judge. Right.

Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that warn your members? I think the human nature is ultimately desires of pleasure. Having a good night's rest, having a nice home, a car that we can put gas in, a decent job, a retirement plan. These are all kind of pleasurable things in human existence. We all look for this.

How many don't have insurance here? I'm not going to go there. You know, the pleasure of this world is something this place seeks out, but that doesn't mean it's all wrong. And Jason Fossett Brown, which I kind of like, they say this is the last mention of the law in the New Testament.

Alfred rightly takes the law to be the old moral law applied in its comprehensive virtual of liberty, and that's been addressed already by James. I thought that was good. Which is, that law of liberty is grace, right? It is in James 1.25, but he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues it, and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the Lord, this one will be blessed at what he does. So, I mean, James himself addressed this law of liberty earlier on in chapter 1. All right, we're done with verse 11.

Any other profound insights here or thoughts? Andrew, your thoughts? Oh, no. I think everyone covered it. It's a lot. It is, yeah. It's great to have him here. It is. Oh, let's go into verse 12, which we've kind of in part touched base with already. There's one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge one another?

I mean, that really hits it on the head, doesn't it? There is one lawgiver, and you know, I think the inner linear Greek, and I By the way, in my Bible downloads, I have an ILG which is not accurate to the original Greek. I don't know what the problem is, but if you turn to the Blue Letter Bible, which I use routinely, the ILG is not the ILG per word. So I said, let's go to the original iteration that's in the inner letter of Greek, and it reads something like this.

One is lawgiver and judge. The practice is one, being able to save and destroy. Thou send who art the one, judging the thy neighbor. So that's what, I mean, the language is not very grammatically satisfactory to us, but that says more. than I think what's in the New King James Version. I didn't look at the New American Standard or other texts. So you have to accept that as it is. So lawgiver. It's interesting.

Nomo, which is, remember, what we identified as Mosaic law. And fietes here is the only New Testament use of this word. And it comes from the frequently used term from the Mosaic law, nomos. And so ultimately, fietes. Vietis, or feats, comes from the Greek, which means to put in place or to set up. I thought maybe this was another term for Theos or God himself, but it's not. It's the act of putting something in place or setting it up.

So, there's one lawgiver, and we'll go on to see, who is able to save and destroy. Wow, okay. Scott on the throne where he belongs. So this is a present participle, is able, and it's connected to two heiress active infinitives, both save and destroy. So, how should we interpret the heiress active infinitive, both save and destroy? Aorist test, Andrew. Well, you say it's correct. Is it not to say to save and to destroy? You put a T-O in front of each. Yeah, I think you're right. Well, that's the part of simple, right? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I went to a public school, so I'm not the expert on it.

And then the Aorist is just a kind of You could argue, I like to think of the heiress as an event, which is, you know, you think of it as an event when a man is saved, and unfortunately it's an event when he is destroyed, in a sense, I guess you could say, possibly. Kind of hard to fathom that, but in a sense, people that go to the Great White Throne Judgment, that will be an event where they're, I'm not sure if destroyed is the right word, but... Well, active, how should we interpret active?

This is God, the lawmaker, the lawgiver. It's an event to save and destroy. And it's going to happen, right? He's about as good as us doing this anyway. Infinitive means what? Judgment. What's the infinitive? So this clearly declares God who he is. He's the judge that will determine that. He's the only one that can save and destroy. And so the question comes up, who else can this be but God himself? I mean, it doesn't say God, but who else could be the ultimate lawgiver who can save and destroy at his own will? on the point you made earlier.

One of the things here about that word destroy is a pa is in front of it. which is a positional thing, separate from Roy. You think about that. Yeah, and actually, Roy, it would be safe to say that that destroys more separation than annihilation, because we know that man isn't annihilated.

Every man lives forever, either with God or without God. Well, do you think this really should be ultimate judgment then, or could this be active now? One of the things that we say over and over again is when we sin, we've broken fellowship. There you go. Yes, we were involved with it, but he is offended at that point. Well, let's reflect to Paul's, you know, wood, hay, and stubble, right? It's that God's destroying the wood, hay, and stubble that we believers are all part in, unfortunately, at times. Cycle Sun is a good example. Okay, good.

So this often turns to verse, I've seen multiple commentators turn to verse 39, chapter 32 of Deuteronomy, which says, Now see that even I am he, and there is no God besides me. I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal. Nor is there any who could deliver from my hand.

How if you were a non-believer and you were critical of Christianity, and you went to this verse in the Bible that says, God kills. See, that's what we mean by rightly dividing the Word of Truth, right? I mean, you can't simply pull this out and say God kills. So, I mean, the fires in Hawaii are terrible, but has God done that?

He hasn't killed those people. I mean, it's just, anyway. All right, and who are you to judge another, the verse says. Notice that this is not the brethren. But, neighbors? Another? Okay. Again, back to Constable. Again, a lot of wisdom here, I think.

James was speaking of judging other people without divine authorization to do so. Obviously, God has delegated the responsibilities of judging some civil acts to human government. and to the behavior of children to their parents. Judging our equals is a common sport, and it is inappropriate for mere mortals. We are all responsible to God, ultimately, and must lead the judgment of our servants up to Him.

Pretty wise. I mean, Constable, I think, has really hit the nail on the head here. I'm going to close with a verse, or several verses, that I'm really truncating by the first verse in the end of Romans 14, 1-13. for a cause to fall in our brother's way. Now, the stumbling block, of course, is covered in Romans 14 in great detail, but I think that the theme that is completely articulated by Paul in this section of Romans is not to judge one another.

Excellent. Amen. Any final thoughts or comments here? I think I'm up for next week, is that correct? Yes, that's right. You said you were concerned, what was that all about? Actually, I'm speaking next week, so it's nice to only have one thing to do. No further thoughts or comments, let's close in prayer.

Father, there's much to learn from the Word. Sometimes we get a little distracted by the world system around us, but also that old nature tends to get ripened up at times to make our position really inadequately in a judgmental fashion. We pray that the Holy Spirit would lead us to rightly abide by the word of truth and share that graciously and with love to others. So we're thankful for the teaching of James. We're not under law, but under grace, but the implementation of grace in our lives is Holy Spirit dependent and brings glory to you. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.