11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.[d] The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

James 4:11-12 (ESV) 中文 

Humility in speech

James has just instructed and taught us how to be humble. “Humbling ourselves and getting right with God must result in our getting right with other people. When we are right with other people, it will show in the way we talk [or don’t talk] about them.” (enduringword.com) And the kind of speech James is talking about here is based on the Greek word, καταλαλέω (katalaleō) which implies gossip. We are judging our neighbor. So his first point is: it is sin; it breaks the law.

Who’s the Judge?

But how, when we criticize and judge each other are we criticizing and judging God’s law? This took a little wrestling to work through. As we said, when we speak evil of others, we are breaking the law. When we break the law, are we not basically saying that it’s OK for me to break the law? We disregard the law. In essence, we are evaluating the law and determining, ourselves, that it is not valid. To come to this conclusion, we are judging the law.

As James earlier taught, we are called to be doers of the law, not just hearers. So in this passage he adds, not only should we be doers, we should especially not be judges of the law. “We should submit to one another (e.g., Gal. 5:13; Eph. 5:21; Phil. 2:3). Rather than taking a position of humility, the person who “speaks against … another” exalts himself to the role of judge (cf. v. 10).” (Constable commentary)

Precarious Position

We put ourselves in a precarious position when we do this. Why? For the simple reason that God is the One who gives the Law. It’s His law. So, when we judge others, we judge the Law and, by extension, we judge the Law Giver! Does this mean there is no room for any judgment? Of course not. God Himself appointed judges in the OT (2 Chronicles 19:5-7) and Paul tells us: “Every person is to be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.” (Romans 13:1)

RЯeflection

• How do we respond to James’ admonition about how we speak about others? Is this something the Spirit is convicting you of through the Word? Take the time right now to confess and repent. Don’t wait another moment. Restore your relationship with the Father to one of righteousness (1 John 1:8–9)
• But it doesn’t stop there. What about all the ways we break the law? It’s not the 10 commandments per se, for we are not under the law (Romans 6:14). Rather, it’s the law of loving God and our neighbor, the two greatest commandments (Matthew 22:37-39). Now, consider, are we trying to usurp God’s authority?