So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. James 2.12

James says that we should expect to be judged by the law of liberty – the Law of God. That’s a very high standard, to be sure, and none of us can keep it perfectly. Jesus fulfilled the Law of God in two senses. First, through His active obedience, He carried out faithfully all the requirements of holiness in God’s Law. Then, in His passive obedience, He bore all the judgments of God’s Law against sinners – you and me.

Now He calls us to follow Him and to walk as He did (1 Jn. 2.1-6)

There are two senses in which God will judge the world by the law of liberty. First is in the Day of Judgment which is yet to come. In that day every person’s works will be examined, and those whose works do not measure up to the standard of God’s Law – and who have no one to advocate for them, because they have not known Him – will be cast into eternal condemnation.

Those who have embraced God’s Redeemer, on the other hand, will turn to Him as their Advocate. They will have their unseemly works burned away as in a fire, though their salvation will remain. At the Day of Judgment our works will be judged by the law of liberty; but we who follow Jesus here and now expect to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” not because of our obedience but because of His.

We are free from judgment through the works of the Law – Jesus’ works on our behalf. Thanks be to God!

The psalmist says that the righteous person meditates day and night in God’s Law (Ps. 1). Would like to get started in this discipline? Order a copy of The Ground for Christian Ethics and The Law of God. The first will explain the importance3 of God’s Law, and guide you in taking up the practice of daily reading and meditation. The second provides all the statutes, precepts, and rules of God’s Law organized under their proper number of the Ten Commandments.