Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

The commentator is right, “We can learn what kind of conduct is prohibited,
and with diligence we can perhaps avoid breaking these laws. But James’
further definition sets up a standard of perfection which convicts our best endeavors
of sin” (Mitton, 173). In this James is very much of one mind with
his Lord who consistently hammers away at the same theme of omission in
parables, such as the Good Samaritan (Lk. 10:33-37), Dives and Lazarus (Lk.
16:19-31), and in the Final Judgment (Mt. 25:45) (See also Tasker, 107-108).
The Christian clearly must have a holy discontent about what remained
and remains undone. In fact, he should never lose such discontent. It must
permanently stay with him, since there is always more to be accomplished in
the area of practical godliness. After all, with a back reference to James 1:4,
God requires perfection! From this perspective believers who only concern
themselves with sins of commission may well find themselves still (mired
down?) in the Kindergarten of the Christian faith. After everything is said and
done, sins of commission can be rather quickly identified, and what may be
even more pertinent in this context, they can be numbered. But in the area of
sins of omission “the sky is the limit.” There is always more to be added
qualitatively as well as quantitatively in terms of endurance in purposeful
practical godliness en route to perfection. This will always be acknowledged
by those who are convinced of the biblical truth that “ministry is invariably
better and bigger than life.” This is, and should be experienced, as so spine
chilling that it cannot but drive us to Christ, to his blood for forgiveness, to
his Spirit for strength and to his Word, and especially the Law, for the substance
of full-orbed practical godliness!
All in all, James 4:17 is not only a fitting conclusion to this section, but
also opens up an astounding vista upon the worldwide implications for the
obedience of faith (Rom. 16:26). The combination of Bishop Usher’s heart’s
cry and Mitton’s reminder of universal perfection as the objective of James
4:17 both paves the way and lends further weight to the thesis that Section IV
of James’ Epistle, indeed, covers structurally the total range of Christian
Ethics, whatever details the rest of the NT may supply in terms of additions,
elaborations, fine-tunings, etc.
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