Chapter 4, Verse 11 “Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. 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.”
It makes sense that if we are destitute of changing our own state before God we are in no position to speak against someone else. This is in harmony with Jesus’ teaching about the log in our eyes preventing surgery on a speck in a brother’s eye. Earlier in the book James connects the Old Covenant with the wider teaching of the New Covenant. James is certainly aware that the Old Covenant has passed away and that Christians are no longer under its guidance. But the perfect law of liberty, the message of the Christ, is in effect and the principle of love one another is a bedrock foundation of that message.
Jesus warns about calling a brother a fool or speaking ill of a brother. The admonition to love one another precludes any attempt of speaking evil against a brother in the Lord. The Christian’s responsibility as to relationships is to love the brotherhood.
Task for Today: Surely none of us are guilty of speaking evil against a fellow Christian. If that is the case, though, we should desist immediately because it is anti-everything that Jesus taught and the Word continues to teach. The Christian must be a brotherhood encourager.
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