Don't Judge Your Brother - James 4:11-12

Don't Judge Your Brother - James 4:11-12
Written by LaRosa Johnson
Thursday, August 21, 2008

Now that we have finished our look at the imperatives from James 4:7-10, which gave the remedy to overcoming worldly desires, we are ready to move on to our next passage of Scripture. Not deviating too much from our previous subject matter, today's passage takes a look at a reality that is common in many circles: slander and judging one another. In all actuality, this passage speaks back to the beginning of the chapter, as you will see in the study of this text. So, if we're all walking in the Spirit, let us read today's passage.

Quote :

James 4:11-12 (NASB) - 11Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. 12There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?

As you can probably see from reading the passage, the message that James is trying to convey is fairly clear: don't speak against your neighbor. That is the heart of what James is trying to get across, but, there is more to it than that. James wouldn't have used so many words if that was the only message that he was trying to get across; instead, there is a wealth of knowledge to be had from this passage, and we're going to examine it today.

The first thing that we want to look at is a phrase that James used quite a few times in verse 11 (3x total); in this verse, he uses the phrase "speak against," which is a single word in the Greek. The word that James uses here is katalaleo (Strong's #G2635) and means "to slander" or "speak evil of" as it appears in the Authorized Version (KJV). Used only five times, three of the uses are in this verse, with the others appearing in 1 Peter 2:12 & 3:16. In his first use, in the beginning of the verse, James uses it as an imperative, instructing his readers to make sure that such behavior is not a part of their conduct. Now, unlike all our imperatives from the previous verses, this is an active imperative, meaning that it is something that we need to continually do; in other words, James is telling us to make sure that we never slander our brothers and sisters. From there, the rest of the verse and passage speaks about those who have chosen not to follow through on the imperative.

The second half of verse 11 gives us the description of those who are slandering their brethren. James tells us that those who judge their brother are not only judges of a person, but are also speaking against and judging the Law of God. What does this mean? Simply put, it means that this person is so caught up in his wants and desires that he no longer is taking into account the Law of God, especially the second great commandment, which Jesus tells us is to love our neighbor just as we love ourselves (Mark 12:31). Therefore, if we are choosing to slander our brother, then we are ignoring the command of the Lord, thus judging the law. How are we judging the law? In all actuality, we do this each and every time we sin because we are, in essence, saying that the Laws of God are not good enough and we're going to do our own thing. That is what James means when he says, "if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it." You're either above the law or subject to it; and by disobeying, you're saying to yourself and God that you're above it. This is similar to what James states in 2:4 when speaking on the issue of showing partiality. In judging others, you have made yourself a judge of the law itself, when, in actuality, you should be subject to it, like everyone else.

Before we move on to verse 12, let's take a moment to talk about the idea of slander, katalaleo, and the idea of judging. First things first, James is not talking about the judging that comes as a result of confronting of sin; we are commanded to do this many times in Scripture (Matt. 18:15-17; Acts 20:31; 1 Cor. 4:14; Col. 1:28; Tit. 1:3; 2:15; 3:10), so it cannot be James' intent to speak against it. Instead, James is talking about speaking evil against our brothers and sisters, defaming them in a sense. This kind of evil speech can take many forms, such as: gossip, improper criticism, false accusations, and so on. In many respects, slander is a means of committing murder against a person, as it involves tearing down a person's character and reputation in the eyes of others; this very well could have been the "murder" that is spoken of in verse 2. In regard to the murders of verse 2, we cannot say for sure, but slander is one of those things that can lead to murder, whether it be physical or verbal. Nevertheless, this is something that Scripture speaks about quite often, including passages like: Ex. 23:1; Ps. 50:20; Rom. 1:29; 2 Cor. 12:20; Eph. 4:3; 2 Tim 3:3; and others. The bottom line here is that this is not character becoming of a Christian.

Getting back to the issue of judging the law, we now move ahead to verse 12. It is absolutely clear from this verse that there is only one Lawgiver and Judge, and that is God Himself. Again, what does that mean? It means that God is the only one that is not subject to the Law because He is the creator of it; no one else in the universe is able to make this claim, not even the angels in heaven. That means, going back to our previous point, man is at fault when he slanders his brother because: 1) he is in sin, going against God's commands, and 2) is a false judge of the law because he is to be subject to and not over the law. Continuing on, as a result of His status as Lawgiver and Judge, God is the only one who is able to determine the eternal state of the soul, whether it be heaven (salvation) or hell (damnation). When we judge others, we are again at fault because we don't have a heaven or a hell to put people in, only God does, and it's through His standards. That being said, no matter who we are, we have no place to judge or slander others because we have not been given the authority to do so; it is not our place to play God in the lives of others by slandering them with our words.

In many ways, this passage sums up quite a bit of what James has spoken of in this epistle, and will bring up once more in chapter 5. In chapter 2, we are told that we're not to judge with selfish motives, in chapter 3 we're warned about the evil nature of the tongue, and in chapter 4, we're warned about murdering and slandering our brother. The words of Jesus really have place here in closing this study for today, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Until we come back to begin wrapping up this chapter with our last portion of Scripture, meditate on these words and don't let evil speech be a part of who you are. God bless!

devotion courtesy of Trailblazin Ministries
http://www.trailblazinministries.com/devotions/james073.php