John Calvin Commentary James 4:11

"Speak not one against another, brethren. He that speaketh against a brother, or judgeth his brother, speaketh against the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judgest the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge." — James 4:11 (ASV)

Speak not evil, or, defame not. We see how much labor James takes in correcting the lust for slandering. For hypocrisy is always presumptuous, and we are by nature hypocrites, fondly exalting ourselves by slandering others. There is also another disease inherent in human nature: that everyone wants all others to live according to his own will or preference. James suitably condemns this presumption in this passage, specifically because we dare to impose our rule of life on our brothers.

He then takes detraction as including all the slanders and suspect actions that flow from a malignant and perverted judgment. The evil of slandering is widespread; but here he properly refers to that kind of slandering which I have mentioned, that is, when we arrogantly pass judgment on the deeds and sayings of others, as though our own ill-temper were the law, when we confidently condemn whatever does not please us.

That such presumption is reproved here is evident from the reason immediately added: He that speaks evil of, or defames his brother, speaks evil of, or defames the law. He implies that the authority one claims over his brothers is, to that same extent, taken away from the law. Detraction against the law, then, is opposed to the reverence with which we ought to regard it.

Paul handles nearly the same argument in Romans 14, though on a different occasion. For when superstition in the choice of foods affected some, they also condemned in others what they thought unlawful for themselves. He then reminded them that there is only one Lord, according to whose will all must stand or fall, and at whose judgment seat we must all appear. Hence he concludes that he who judges his brothers according to his own view of things assumes for himself what uniquely belongs to God.

But James here reproves those who, under the pretext of holiness, condemned their brothers and therefore set up their own ill-temper in the place of the divine law. He, however, employs the same reasoning as Paul: that we act presumptuously when we assume authority over our brothers, while the law of God places us all under its authority without exception. Let us then learn that we are not to judge except according to God’s law.

You are not a doer of the law, but a judge. This sentence should be explained this way: “When you claim for yourself a power to censure that is above the law of God, you exempt yourself from the duty of obeying the law.” Therefore, he who rashly judges his brother shakes off the yoke of God, for he does not submit to the common rule of life.

This is then an argument from the contrary, because keeping the law is wholly different from this arrogance, where people ascribe to their own arrogance the power and authority of the law. It therefore follows that we only keep the law when we depend entirely on its teaching alone and do not otherwise distinguish between good and evil. For all the deeds and words of people ought to be regulated by it.

If anyone were to object and say that the saints will still be the judges of the world (1 Corinthians 6:2), the answer is obvious: this honor does not belong to them by their own right, but insofar as they are members of Christ. Furthermore, they now judge according to the law, so they are not to be considered judges in their own capacity, because they only obediently assent to God as their own judge and the judge of all.

With regard to God, He is not to be considered a doer of the law, because His righteousness is prior to the law. For the law has flowed from the eternal and infinite righteousness of God as a river from its source.