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James 2:10 has often been misused to try to teach that one sin, any sin, in the life of the Christian automatically results in being removed from grace and being lost until the sin becomes recognized and is repented of and confessed. This is, as I will show, a misunderstanding of the passage.
James addressed "the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad." The twelve tribes refer to Jews.
James presents a contrast between the Old Testament and the New - one the Law of Moses and the other the "law of liberty" (verse 12). The New Testament must be recognized if the text under study is to be properly understood. The Jews had a tendency to want to leave the "law of liberty" and go back to the Law of Moses.
James said, "If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well" (verse 8, thus implying that such is not all that is necessary to keep saved. He continued:
"But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors." With this passage James leads into the problem. Then, in verse 10, the apostle brings to point the consequences of his readers' error. "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." That he is talking about the Law of Moses is apparent from a reading of the next verse: "For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law" (verse 11). The apostle then concludes the lesson by saying, "So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty" (verse 12). Thus, we are to speak like we are to be judged by the law of liberty rather than the Law of Moses. In verse 10, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all," the teaching is that we cannot save ourselves by keeping the Law of Moses because if we commit just one sin we have broken the law, which required perfect obedience. Only Christ was able to do this.
James was not saying that those who follow the law of Liberty (the New Testament) are lost every time they commit a sin. Such nonsense is, simply put, one of two extremes. The other is commonly known as "once saved always saved." The truth is in the middle and should be gleaned from such passages as 1 John 1:7, 8, 10; Romans 8:2-4; 2 Peter 1:5-11.
The matter of the need to confess sins was addressed by John (1 John 1:9). He didn't say that no sin can be forgiven unless it is confessed. He said we must confess our sins as opposed to denying them, which is what brethren do when they think they are saved based upon their erroneous thinking that they are living above sin or that they always know when they sin and immediately repent and confess it. This, brethren and friends, is far from the true teaching of Christ that allows the honest and true Christian to know that he is saved. "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God" (1 John 5:13).
Some brethren who teach the error noted in this article would never ordinarily ignore or reject a debate challenge. Yet I've been challenging them for more than thirty years with no success. Thus, they have no confidence they can prevail in honorable debate, yet they refuse to give up their wrong conclusion and instead keep on teaching their hopeless and Pharisaic idea regarding how and when sin is forgiven in the life of a Christian.
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