Texts in Conversation
James reflects the same Jewish interpretive principle found in 4 Maccabees that violating the Torah in small or great matters is equally serious. Both view the Torah as an indivisible whole, and any single violation is the same as disobeying it all.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
4 Maccabees 5:20
Pseudepigrapha, Wisdom and Poetry
16 “Antiochus, we who have been persuaded to live by a divine law consider no compulsion more powerful than our obedience to the law. 17 So we consider it right not to break the law in any way. 18 Even if our law were not truly divine, as you suppose, and we only thought it divine, even then it would not be right for us to destroy our reputation for piety. 19 So don’t think that eating defiled food is a small sin. 20 For breaking the law in small matters is as serious as breaking it in great ones, 21 since in either case the law is treated with contempt in the same way. 22 You mock our philosophy, as if we lived by it without good reason. 23 But it teaches us self-control, so that we master all pleasures and desires, and it trains us in courage, so that we endure every hardship willingly.
Date: 19–100 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
James 2:10
New Testament
8 But if you fulfill the royal law as expressed in this scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show prejudice, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as violators. 10 For the one who obeys the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a violator of the law. 12 Speak and act as those who will be judged by a law that gives freedom. 13 For judgment is merciless for the one who has shown no mercy. But mercy triumphs over judgment.
Date: 80–90 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Circumcision alone did not constitute being a Jew and circumcision as an initiatory rite for male proselytes was the end result of a long process of conversion and study. Furthermore, in most forms of Judaism during this period, the Law was perceived to be an indivisible whole. This is indicated by the Mishnah, which stresses that one must heed the light as well as the heavy commandments (Pirkei Avot 2:1; 4:2). Closer to Paul’s own time, the author of 4 Maccabees (5:20-21) proclaims that transgressions of the Law in either small or large things is equally indictable, since both demonstrate that the transgressor despises the Law. Finally, we might quote Sirach (7:3) who suggests that any sin renders one guilty of violating the Law, not just a law. Apparently, therefore, a person or community was not at liberty to pick and choose their practices, or discriminate about which legal regulations were binding – a sentiment shared by some Christians as well. Thus, we find that the author of the letter of James (2:10) decrees that “whoever keeps the whole Law, yet stumbles at one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (compare Matthew 5:18-19) ..."
Ian J Elmer, Paul, Jerusalem, and the Judaisers: The Galatian Crisis in Its Broadest Historical Context (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2009), 159.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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