“If you’ve broken one commandment, you’re guilty of breaking them all…”

“NO ONE CAN KEEP THE LAW PERFECTLY! And if you’ve broken one commandment, you’re guilty of breaking them all…”

How many times have you heard that from those who don’t believe in Torah obedience?  As “proof” they’ll quote James 2:10. (Perhaps these “intellects” don’t realize that the Ten Commandments originated in Torah? Shall we chuck those, too? After all, if we break one, don’t we break them all?)

People who cherry-pick Scripture instead of digging for the context, can be VERY dangerous! (It is the very reason why we have myriad “denominations” and various cults both in Christianity and Hebrew Roots. Unfortunately, there are gullible people who will follow any “ear-tickling” doctrine or “teacher,” without ever bothering to check and see what the BIBLE actually says.)

But honestly, folks - in the case of James 2:10, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the entire chapter explains itself!

Let’s examine James 2 for the context, using simple Bible hermeneutics. That way, the next time someone attempts to give you a “biblical concussion” regarding James 2:10, you can simply tell them to READ the entire chapter for context first, BEFORE making any more outrageously ignorant accusations which reveal their lack of knowledge when it comes to the Bible!

JAMES 2: 1. My Brothers, do not hold to the faith of the glory of our Master Y'shua the Mashiyach with double-minded hypocrisy. 2. For if there come into your assembly a man with rings of gold or splendid garments and there come in a poor man in ragged and stained garments; 3. and respect is shown to him who is clothed in splendid garments, and you say to him, Be honorably seated; while to the poor man, say, Stand way over there, or sit here (in low prostration) before my footstool; 4. are you not showing double mindedness among yourselves and becoming advocates of evil thoughts? (AENT)

See? Already in the first few sentences of James 2, we can see that it is a warning to guard ourselves against hypocrisy, which is an act of sinning. You’re not being a good follower of the Word if you show prejudice toward any one people group. (In this case, why would you be unkind to a poor person who enters your congregation, just because they’re poor? They may be poor, but rich in spirit, and they have just as much right to enter an assembly of God-fearing people, as anyone else. Scripture tells us to treat our brothers and sisters/fellow believers with kindness.  After all, kindness is one of the ways we show our love for God and our fellow man.)

Moving on:

JAMES 2: 5. Hear, my beloved Brothers; has not Elohim chosen the poor of the world, the rich in faith, to be heirs in the Kingdom which Elohim has promised to them that love him? 6. But you have despised the poor man. Do not rich men exalt themselves over you and drag you before the tribunals? 7. Do they not hate that worthy Name, [1] which is invoked upon you? 8. And if in this you fulfill the Torah of Elohim, as it is written, You will love your neighbor as yourself, you will do well: 9. but if you have partiality towards persons, you commit sin; and you are convicted by Torah as breakers of Torah. (AENT)

FOOTNOTE 1: The Name invoked upon you is YHWH.

Now - moving on to that pesky passage, James 2:10 that our detractors love to use against us:

JAMES 2:10. For he that will keep the whole Torah and yet fail in one aspect of it, is an enemy to the whole Torah. 11. For he who said, "You will not commit adultery," said also, "You will not kill." If then you commit no adultery, but you do murder, you have become a defiler of Torah. 12. So speak and so act as persons that are to be judged by the Torah of perfect freedom. 13. For judgment without mercy will be on him who has practiced no mercy: by mercy, you will be raised above judgment.

14. What is the use, my Brothers, if a man say, I have faith; and he has no works? Can his faith resurrect him? [2] 15. Or if a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16. and one of you say to them, "Go in peace, warm yourselves, and be full;" and you do not give them the necessities of the body, what is the use? (AENT)

FOOTNOTE 2: Literally "restore life", not "save" as often translated.

Call me crazy, but doesn’t that passage plainly explain itself? If you don’t commit adultery but murder someone, you have DEFILED Torah… So what about that passage suggests we are guilty of “breaking all commandments” and shouldn’t bother to obey ANY commands at all?

Moving on:

JAMES 2:17. So also faith alone, without works, is dead. 18. For a man may say, you have faith and I have works; show to me your faith that is without works and I will show to you my faith by my works. 19. You believe that there is one Elohim; you do well; the demons also believe and tremble. 20. Would you know, O weak man, that faith without works is dead? 21. Awraham our father, was not he justified by works[3] in offering his son Yitz'chak upon the altar? 22. Do you realize that his faith aided his works, and that by the works his faith was rendered complete? 23. And the Scripture was fulfilled which says: Awraham believed in Elohim, and it was credited to him for righteousness and he was called the Friend of Elohim. 24. You see that by works a man is justified[4] and not by faith alone. 25. So also Rahab the harlot, was she not justified by works when she entertained the spies and sent them forth by another way? 26. As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. (AENT)

FOOTNOTES:

[3] Some theologians allege this teaching to be opposite of the Pauline Epistles, such as Galatians. The reality is that Paul was grossly misquoted whereas Ya'akov was not. Rav Shaul did not accept empty ritual devoid of proper spiritual focus. He was Torah Observant; he kept the Moedim (feast days), the Shabbat, and took one or more Nazirite vows; he fasted on Yom Kippur, ate "clean" food and lived a Set Apart life in Mashiyach Y'shua. The fact is that Romans 7:12 totally harmonizes Galatians with, and complements, Galatians and Ya'akov.

[4] The Hebrew word for a righteous soul = tsadiq; righteousness = tsedeq; justified = tsadaq; notice they are the same word. A soul without righteousness can never be "justified" regardless of what theologians claim. The original root word for justified relates to righteous action. However, mainstream Christianity teaches that a person is "justified" solely on the merits of belief in Y'shua, and that observing Torah is impossible.

Even in Ya'akov's (James) day, some individuals wanted cerebral belief to "justify" themselves, which is impossible. Y'shua's person (example) and Spirit is meant to literally be imparted into us; this must be evidenced by our actions, otherwise we do not belong to him. Theological, or cerebral "belief" without works, is dead religion; but active literal Faith comes to life in Mashiyach. Torah Observance/obedience is clear evidence that we have passed from death to life. See John 5:29, Matthew 7:23.

AND SO THERE YOU HAVE IT – James 2, in a nutshell.

Brothers and sisters, remember, we are but fallible humans and, yes, of course we can’t perfectly keep what is erroneously called “the law” (referring to YHWH’s Torah)! All we can do is try our best via our limited, human understanding of ELOHIM’s Word. That’s all YHWH is asking of us, anyway – and it is what Yeshua taught!

Our amazing ELOHIM has graciously given us the privilege of repenting and receiving forgiveness for whenever we fail (see Isaiah 54:7-10; Psalm 51:1-7; Luke 3:3; 1 Peter 3:18-22, etc.). So gracious and full of love and mercy was He that He sent us the gift of His Divine Messiah, Yeshua, whose death on the cross/stake removed our past sins! What more could we possibly ask of Him?

BOTTOM LINE: Don’t allow the detractors to lead you away from Torah with their distorted view of Scripture! The least we can do for ADONAI is to do our best to BE wholehearted in our desire for a true relationship with Him – through OBEDIENCE. Even Yeshua, the Word Made Flesh who came from, and has always been a part of YHWH, OBEYED the Father!

Luke 4: 43 "But he (Yeshua/Jesus) said, "I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." (AENT)

John 6:38 “For I came down from heaven not to do my will, but to do the will of Him who sent me... (AENT) (See also Deuteronomy 18:15-18)

IN CLOSING, ASK YOUR DETRACTORS THIS ONE QUESTION: Since even Yeshua was obedient to his Father, what makes YOU think you don’t have to bother?