Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t speak against one another, brothers. He who speaks against a brother and judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.
- BSB Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. And if you judge the law, you are not a practitioner of the law, but a judge of it.
- NKJV Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
- NASB Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters. The one who speaks against a brother or sister, or judges his brother or sister, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it.
- NLT Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you.
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
Speaking against and judging a fellow believer is to set oneself above God's law. Slander usurps a role belonging to God alone.
Overview
James forbids slander and censorious judgment among believers, calling it a presumptuous setting aside of God's law, especially the command to love one's neighbor. The one who condemns a brother acts as if he stands over the law rather than under it as a doer. This guards the unity of the church and reflects Jesus' warning against hypocritical judging (Matthew 7:1-5).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- 1 Pet 2:1Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
- Jas 5:9Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.
- Rom 2:1Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.
- Luke 6:37Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:
- Matt 7:1–2Judge not, that ye be not judged.
- Ps 140:11Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth: evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him.
- Eph 4:31Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
- Rom 14:10–12But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
- 1 Cor 4:5Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
- 2 Cor 12:20For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:
- 2 Tim 3:3Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
- Rom 7:12–13Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
- 1 Tim 3:11Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.
- Rom 14:3–4Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.
- Rom 7:7What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
- Rom 2:13(For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
- Titus 2:3The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
- Jas 1:22–23But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
- Jas 1:25But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
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Original language
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