“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” – James 2:10
A lot of people held their heads up knowing that they almost fulfill all of the commandments of God. Some people said that they only disobeyed three commandments out of the ten commandments. Other people believe that the lesser number of disobeyed commandments means more chances to go to heaven. However, forgiveness or our salvation does not work like that. In the first place, if our salvation depends on perfecting the law of God, then it is impossible. Even if we only disobey one commandment, we are already guilty of breaking all of it.
Our verse today is proof that breaking one of the commandments means breaking all of it. So, we can then ask, how come? This is quite unfair. How come God established a rule like this? It’s like He’s not giving us a chance to redeem ourselves and to save ourselves. Yet, that’s the point! We cannot redeem ourselves. God is not being unfair nor being unreasonable. He is a holy God and He does not like sins. No matter how much we try to fulfill the law but break at least one, it does not change the fact that we sinned. So, we must understand that we can’t really save ourselves. First, we are sinful by nature and we cannot stop sinning and desiring to sin. Second, we cannot fulfill the law or perfect it. Lastly, we are not strong enough to resist temptation.
Now, because of this, we have to understand that looking at our salvation through the law will really be impossible. Again, whoever keeps the whole law and is guilty of breaking one of it, is also guilty of breaking all of it. So, God is omniscient, He knows that we have no chance of redeeming ourselves. That is why He sent Christ, poured His grace into us by making Christ our sacrifice, and through Him we will be saved, redeemed, and forgiven. Our salvation cannot be found by fulfilling the law because it is impossible, but our salvation can only be found in Christ. He is our only way, our truth, and our life. Apart from Him, there’s no other way.
Therefore, let us be reminded of our verse today that breaking at least one of the laws will be guilty of breaking all of it. So, we must not base our salvation on the law, but our salvation should be based only on Christ. After all, Christ came here to save us all. We are personally saved by Christ through His suffering, death, and resurrection. Because of His work, we can now have peace with God and have eternal life. Thus, let us always remember this by heart. May we continue to strengthen our faith in Christ and not be confused. Again, our salvation comes from Christ and nothing elsewhere. We are guilty of breaking the law, so we need the grace of God to be saved.
