In one of the most practical, real-to-life books in the Bible, James urges his readers to be more than just passive, forgetful hearers of God’s Word. He charges us to be “doers of the word” (1:22), which requires “looking” into God’s Word (1:25). The word “looks” in verse 25 involves a close, intent examination. It’s the same Greek word used of Peter, John and Mary’s actions at the empty tomb of Jesus, when they each “stooped down and looked into the tomb” (Luke 24:12; John 20:5, 11).
For a few moments, consider what we are examining so closely. Into what are we looking so intently? It is “the perfect law of liberty” (1:25)!
God’s Word is a law. That is not a very popular concept today, as people don’t want to think of the Bible as a “law.” Some Bible students even claim that we are not under a law today but only under a grace (without law) system (by misusing passages in the book of Romans). But James 1:25 calls God’s Word a “law.” Elsewhere in the New Testament it is referred to as “the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2; 1 Cor. 9:21), “the law of faith” (Rom. 3:27) and “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:2). As a law, God’s Word is the “rule” or the “standard” by which all action and conduct is to be measured (Col. 3:17; Luke 6:46).
God’s Word is perfect. We hear the word “perfect” and think of something that is flawless and without any defects. Of course, that is true concerning the Bible, but the word here means “complete.” The emphasis of that word is upon the all-sufficiency of God’s Word to accomplish the purpose for which it was designed—namely, the salvation of souls (cf. 1:21; Psa. 19:7; Rom. 1:16).
God’s Word brings liberty. Jesus said that “the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). When we “obey the truth,” it “purifies” (1 Pet. 1:22) and “saves” (Jas. 1:21) our “souls” by liberating us from bondage and guilt of sin (Rom. 6:17-18). When the law of Christ makes us free (upon our obedience thereto), we are “free indeed” (John 8:36), enjoying “the liberty by which Christ has made us free” (Gal. 5:1).
God’s Word is THE perfect law of liberty. The definite article “the” specifies the singularity and exclusive nature of God’s law. There is only one complete law of Christ that frees us from sin—it is the gospel, the New Testament. No other law is of God! No other law saves our souls!
So, what is my responsibility? Read verse 25. “Look” intently into it regularly. “Continue” in it, abiding in it and all of its precious precepts. “Be a doer” of the work that is defined therein. And the promise is that the one who does this “will be blessed in what he does.” What a book!