James 2:8 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

If ye fulfil the royal law— The whole of the apostle's argument depends upon that sacred maxim so frequently introduced in a direct or indirect manner by the infallibly inspired writers of the New Testament, That love is the fulfilling of the law. St. James considers the whole duty of man to man as contained in one law, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: and then of course he argues rightly, James 2:10. He who offends in one point, is guilty of the whole law: for whether it be theft, or murder, or adultery, that you commit,—any of these crimes is inconsistent with the law, which contains, and is, the whole, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, &c. But read the apostle's own words. In James 2:8 he observes, If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, &c. Where first you are to observe, that he calls this the royal law, not because given by Christ the King, for all laws are, in that sense, royal; but because it is the first supreme law, from which all others proceed, as distinct branches, and by which they must all be governed. Secondly, you must take notice what stress the apostle lays upon their fulfilling this royal law: If ye fulfil the royal law,—ye do well: that is, "if you attend to it in all instances, so as not to offend against it in any case, ye then will do well." The apostle proceeds, James 2:9. But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, &c. The law mentioned in this verse, is the same law which was mentioned before; that is, the royal law. "If (says he,) you have any partial regards, you will not then fulfil the law of love, but will be found transgressors of that law; for as it follows, James 2:10 whosoever shall keep the whole law, &c." In this verse he considers the royal law, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, as the whole law; and all particular commandments, as points of that law. And what he says amounts to this: "Whatever regard you may have to the law of loving your neighbours, which all profess to walk by, yet assure yourselves you cannot keep that law, if you offend against any one rule of charity; for every such single offence is a breach of that whole law, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, &c." In James 2:11 he gives the reason of his assertion, For he that said, do not commit, &c. "For it is certain, that he disregards the authority of the Lawgiver which has established every precept; as it is evident, He that says, Thou shalt not commit adultery, hath also said, &c. Hence it appears, that it is not by a regard of the Divine authority that thou abstainest from the former crime, since that would equally have preserved thee from the latter." And if you go on to the latter part of the verse, you will find it exactly suited to the whole thread of the discourse which went before: for thus it follows, Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law; that is, of that general law of loving thy neighbour, which said as well to thee, Thou shalt not kill, as Thou shalt not commit adultery. How this royal law speaks to us in the language of all particular laws and precepts, is easily understood, and is distinctly explained by St. Paul, Romans 13:9. In short, what the apostle teaches, is plainly this: One great and fundamental law of the gospel is; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The force of this all see, and all acknowledge; and while they pretend to be Christians, all must pretend at least to obey it. But, says he, whoever in any manner offends, injures, or oppresses his brother, it matters not in what way, whether it be by undue and partial preference of one to another, by contempt or slander, by theft, adultery, or murder; whoever, I say, in any of these instances sins against his brother, will be found to be a transgressor against this great, this vital principle of religion, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, &c. For this reason he tells them, the way to do well was to fulfil the royal law, that is, to observe all points of it; because no point could be transgressed, but the transgressor must be found guilty of the law, which is a general law of love, extending to all points. There is nothing hard in this sense, nothing but what any man may see the reason of: for certainly, to injure our neighbour in any way, makes us guilty of a breach of the law, which commands us to love our neighbour; for one injurious action is as inconsistent with love as another; and, in this respect, injurious actions have no difference; for they are all equally, inconsistent with the great law of love.