James 2:10,11 - Do not commit adultery

2:10

James then moves the argument on with the key principle that under the Law we are required to keep all of it. If we fall down on one point, we have failed. The pass mark for the Law is 100%! The human tendency is to think that we are not too bad, so if we see someone and see an area in their life where we are better than them our human nature is to condemn them, or at least look down on them, and consider ourselves better than them. If the pass mark was 40% or 50% we might have some grounds for this, for considering them a failure and ourselves a pass (though this is actually highly unlikely). However, the pass mark is 100% and we have no grounds whatsoever. We have all failed. Or as Romans 3:23 puts it, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

2:11

James then clarifies the point by quoting two of the ten commandments. If we keep one commandment but break another one we are lawbreakers, and his audience would all recognise this. The Ten Commandments were not a menu from which we can select any 5. Likewise the whole of the Law. The goal is to be like God. So the point we all need to come to terms with is that we are all guilty sinners.