If you really fulfill the royal law stated in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.
Parallel translations
- WEB However, if you fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well.
- KJV If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
- ESV If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.
- NKJV If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well;
- NASB If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.
- NLT Yes indeed, it is good when you obey the royal law as found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Fulfilling the royal law, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," is doing well. Impartial love is the law's true fulfillment.
Overview
James appeals to the supreme command of neighbor-love (Leviticus 19:18), which Jesus identified as central. He calls it the "royal law"—fitting for the King's people and sovereign over all conduct. Genuine obedience to this law leaves no room for the partiality James has condemned, for true love treats every neighbor with equal regard.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Lev 19:18Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
- Gal 5:14The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
- Matt 22:39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
- Jas 2:12Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom.
- Rom 13:8–9Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
- Mark 12:31–33The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
- Gal 6:2Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
- Lev 19:34You must treat the foreigner living among you as native-born and love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
- Jas 1:25But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom, and continues to do so—not being a forgetful hearer, but an effective doer—he will be blessed in what he does.
- 1 Pet 2:9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
- Luke 10:27–37He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
- 2 Kgs 7:9Finally, they said to one another, “We are not doing what is right. Today is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until morning light, our sin will overtake us. Now, therefore, let us go and tell the king’s household.”
- Jonah 4:4But the LORD replied, “Have you any right to be angry?”
- Matt 25:23His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master!’
- 1 Kgs 8:18But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Since it was in your heart to build a house for My Name, you have done well to have this in your heart.
- Phil 4:14Nevertheless, you have done well to share in my affliction.
- 1 Th 4:9Now about brotherly love, you do not need anyone to write to you, because you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.
- Jonah 4:9Then God asked Jonah, “Have you any right to be angry about the plant?” “I do,” he replied. “I am angry enough to die!”
- Jas 2:19You believe that God is one. Good for you! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
- Matt 25:21His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master!’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The wisdom from above and the royal law of love are the life of those who belong to 'our glorious Lord Jesus Christ' — faith in him made visible in works.
How James 2:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.