In a way this verse is a summary of the entire epistle (cf. 1:22; 2:14;
3:1, 13; 4:11). Hence James’s “therefore” is quite in point. Moffatt
places this verse at the end of chapter 2. Spitta, however, finds no
connection in the context and takes it as a familiar quotation. This may
indeed be a reference to the words of Jesus in Luke 12:47: “That
servant, who knew his lord’s will, and made not ready, nor did according
to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.” There is an excusable
ignorance or at least a mollifying ignorance (cf. Luke 12:48; Acts 3:17;
1 Tim. 1:13). There is palliation for unconscious sins. But James is
dealing with failure to obey the will of God. It is conscious and wilful
sin, but of the negative kind.
These sins of omission (_peccata omissionis_) are treated lightly by
many people. The Talmud in general takes this easy position on the
subject. Oesterley quotes the Jerusalem Talmud (_Yoma_ viii, 6) on
Zephaniah 1:12: “I will search Jerusalem with candles, and I will punish
the men,” which adds: “not by daylight, nor with the torch, but with
candles, so as not to detect venial sins.” But he adds this also
(_Shabbath_, 54_b_): “Whosoever is in a position to prevent sins being
committed in his household, but refrains from doing so, becomes liable
for their sins.” And in 1 Samuel 12:23 we read, “God forbid that I
should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you” (AV).
Jesus made it plain that he considered sins of omission as real sins:
“These ye ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone”
(Matt. 23:23). Hear his tragic words to the deluded sinner at the
judgment bar: “I was hungry, and ye did not give me to eat; I was
thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me not
in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me
not” (Matt. 25:42 f.). The repetition of “not” here is like the tolling
of a bell. Hear then James: “To him therefore that knoweth to do good,
and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” So also Paul urged the Galatians
not to grow weary in doing the good or beautiful (Gal. 6:9).
It is so easy to shut one’s eyes and not to see the opportunities for
service. It is so easy to let prejudice blind us to the needs of the
real neighbor, as the priest and the Levite passed by on the other side
and left the poor wounded man to suffer (Luke 10:31 f.). The point that
James is anxious to make is that this blindness is sin. The man who has
learned how to do the high and noble deed and then falls short has
committed a sin. It is a heavy indictment that is here drawn against us.
We are charged with not coming up to the standard of our highest
knowledge. Plummer comments pertinently on the Roman Catholic doctrine
of probabilism, which seeks to excuse the weakness of the flesh and to
justify a person in his preference of the lower in the presence of the
higher. “So long as it is not certain that the act in question is
forbidden it may be permitted.” Plummer adds, “The moral law is not so
much explained as explained away.” Alphonse de Sarasa wrote on “The Art
of Perpetual Enjoyment” (_Ars Semper Gaudendi_), a piece of special
pleading for the indulgence of the flesh. “The good is the enemy of the
best,” and the bad is the enemy of the good. Down the steps we go to the
bottom of the ladder.