JAMES 4:11-12 HUMILITY UNTO DEATH

11 Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

A proper attitude of humility precludes arrogance in the Church. If we are on our faces before the Lord, then it is impossible to look down on others, place ourselves above the law or think we are better than we are. Within the Church we are all brothers because we have the same Father. Likewise we are all equal in that we are the recipients of his unmerited grace. In the ultimate things of our existence we have no privilege or priority relative to one another and God. Although the NIV uses the word “slander” in the first sentence of verse 11, the word actually only means to speak against, which is the way it is translated in the second sentence. Such a prohibition is not predicated on the truthfulness of the statement. Whether the statement is true or false we are told that we should not utter negative things about our brothers. In the context of the rest of the letter the problem is that such speech is our preferred way of elevating ourselves above the object of our speech. One is reminded of the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Matthew 18:23-35).

Speaking against your brother is also a violation of the “Royal Law” (James 2:8) for it neither demonstrates love for God or for your neighbor. So, when we speak against our brother we are judged by the law. But our arrogance in doing so is a denial of the truth, and therefore, a negative judgment on the law, for we have determined that it is not an eternal truth because it does not apply to us.

James is not speaking against proper Church discipline, but the self-serving exposure of the faults, real or imagined, of members of the Church by members of the Church. He is also not teaching that we should not correct one another when we fall into error. What he is forbidding is third-party involvement without a direct conversation with the “object of our concern.” All we do and say as members of the Church should be for the glory of God and the propagation of his will. An arrogant servant is really no servant at all. A true servant is dead to himself and alive in the Master.

Lord Jesus, you have called me to follow you and to die to myself. As I study your word I find the way so very difficult that I can understand why you have called it a death. Only through the radical change that feels like death can I be transformed into a child of God who can love and serve his brothers. Amen.