No Flaws in Perfection

An Exposition on the Book of James Part 7

If you haven’t yet, please check out part 1 of this series. The ideas of James are all centered around the idea of a perfectly forged faith that makes us perfect.

One time, I took a test and got back my grade. It was a 95%. I quickly turned through the pages and found the question I got incorrect. I was confused for a few minutes because the answer I put down was correct. I went up to my teacher and asked why that was wrong. He said that I put down a “d” and not an “a.” I showed him that what I put down was an a, my steam was a bit longer than it usually was by I make lower case d’s completely different. I showed him some examples in that very same text and even asked a few of my classmates, but he would not except my explanation. In the grand scheme of things, it didn’t really matter I still went on to pass that class but at the time, it was a big deal to me.

To me, I was completely 100% correct on that test, the only thing that was wrong was a little bit of untidy penmanship. It is a good thing that I did not need to make a 100% on that test to pass because I would have failed. When men judge other men, we usually do not require a score of 100% because we understand the difficulty of that. There are times however when 100% is very important. If you want to get a padlock to unlock without destroying it, you need 100% of the combination. Somethings require a really tight tolerance. In engineering there are parts that have to be milled to a thousandth of an inch. That is pretty accurate, but many types of measuring equipment in the medical field are manufactured to a 5–10-micron tolerances. that is 1-3 ten thousandths of an inch. the average human hair is 70 microns thick if that helps understand how close some manufacturing needs to be to work.

James tells us that God standard is even tighter than the most precise piece of equipment. The tolerance is zero. We cannot mess up even once. God standard is perfection, because he is perfect. God can see our thought life, he can see our actions, and he can even understand our motivations. James states that if we have kept the whole law but offended in one point it is as if we have broken the entire law. This is because God’s standard is perfection. If you missed it by an inch, you’ve missed it by a mile. While this is true for all people, both saved and unsaved, James is talking to people who are saved. This verse is often used to show unsaved people their completely inability to obtain salvation through their own good works. While it is possible to apply this verse to lost men, that is not James main application.

James here is warning saved men to guard against a self-righteous attitude. He is continuing the thought about how having respect to person based on financial or other type of status is a sin because we are not loving our neighbor as ourselves. He is saying that if we have become judges of people thoughts, we are guilty of putting ourselves in a place as a judge. Here he warns that God will judge us by the same rule that we judge others and that all mankind will fall short. There are no persons made righteous by their own doing. We have all missed God’s mark of perfection and therefore we should be the first to show mercy. It is not that sins do not need to be delt with, but we better watch out for a self-righteous attitude.

We should have the faith of Jesus and his faith shows mercy. We should be merciful people because God is a merciful God. We need to remember that one day our deeds will be judged by a righteous God who demands 100% perfection, but is so merciful that he gave us Jesus, the perfection of the law. We can only be perfect by him applying his righteousness to our accounts. This is the mercy of God, and this should be the heart of every believer – to display the mercy of God whenever possible.

James 2:10-13 KJV

For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.

So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.

For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

S.T.
Acts 20:24
"But none of these things move me..."

Edited 2.11.2026