Sheep Tend to Follow; Dogs Prefer to Do Whatever They Want

Excerpt From Newsletter

Among the many questions I received for the “Questions & Answers” column of this newsletter was one question that required a bit more explaining than the others, so I decided to respond to it with this article. The question? “Is there any sin more dangerous than another one before God?” The answer to this question is a bit difficult to explain to folks who are locked into the definition of “sin” as a legalistic “you can do this, but you can’t do that.” But I will do the best I can to point out the basics. James tells us the following regarding things folks do not normally consider “sin”:

¹(1) My brothers, do not hold your belief in God’s promise concerning the glory of our Master, Jesus, the Anointed One with partiality. ²For if

(a) a man with a gold ring comes into your synagogue in splendid apparel, and then

(b) a poor man also comes in, in filthy apparel, ³and then

(c) you look with favor on the one who is wearing the apparel that is splendid and say, “You sit here exceptionally well,” and

(d) you tell the one who is poor, “You stand over there or sit under my footstool,”

⁴have you not made a distinction among yourselves and become judges with nasty speculations?

⁵(2) Listen, my beloved brothers:

(a) Has the {living} God not chosen those who are poor in the world {to become}:

(i) wealthy through belief in God’s promise and

(ii) heirs of the kingdom that He promised to those who love Him? ⁶Yet you have dishonored the one who is poor.

(b) Do those who are wealthy not oppress you? They even drag you into lawsuits!

⁷(c) Do they not make false religious claims about the exceptionally good name that was called over you? ⁸However,

(3) if you complete {the} royal law in accordance with the Scripture—“You will love your neighbor as much as yourself,”—you are going to do exceptionally well. ⁹But

(4) if you are respecters of persons, you are committing sin—being reprimanded by the law as violators.

¹⁰(a) For whoever keeps the entire law but trips over one thing has become {one who is} held accountable for everything {in the law}.

¹¹(b) For the One Who said, “You must not commit adultery” also said, “You must not murder.” So if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a violator of law.

¹²(5) Speak this way, and act this way: like those who are going to be judged by a law of freedom. ¹³For the sentence {is} without mercy on the one who did not act in accordance with mercy. Mercy speaks derisively about sentencing.

(James 2:1–13) —Harper’s Standardized Study Bible

Did you hear what James said? He slipped the Truth in so deftly that most folks never stop to consider the implications of what he said.

“Sheep Tend to Follow; Dogs Prefer to Do Whatever They Want,” The Voice of Elijah^®, January 2023, pp. 1–2

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