If you don't know what the perfect law that give freedom (James 1:25) is, it's a faith with only a fragmentary theory that can't solve the function of faith and practice.
Because we do not know the book of Hebrews, we do not understand the movement of Christ (Hebrews 3:1), who is the apostle who came to us (we crossed from the world through the cross and are sanctified in Christ), and who is priest who leads us to God the Father, it is a faith that is not connected to the source of life and blessing.
In the case of Jacob, he did not properly grasp the meaning of the vision of the ladder he saw at Bethel. so he vow that if you give me food and clothes and let me return to my hometown in peace, this stone will become God's temple and I will give you a tenth of what I own.
However, God does not give any answer to such a vow (Genesis 28:20-22).
Jacob did not understand the true meaning of Bethel and the secret of the ladder.
Later he finds out when he crosses the Jabbok River.
He did not die after seeing God, so he said that he finally met God, that is, Peniel (Genesis 32:30).
The level of Christian faith now is like this child. If you ask where electricity comes from, it's like a child confidently saying that it comes from the wall.
Since the cord is plugged into the wall outlet, he knows that the electricity comes from there.
A child has no idea of the transformers and substations and power plants out there.
Likewise, they say only Jesus, the cross, or everything is God's grace, but they do not know that the ladder that Jacob saw is the door of heaven that was opened by the Lord Jesus Christ, and ascends and descends through Christ, who is the way, truth, and life (John 1:51,14:6)
Therefore, no one can attain to the faith of reality, except by crossing the Epistle to the Hebrews, who, having fully grasped the message (Hebrews 3:1), being united to Christ the Apostle and High Priest in the Son and in the Father by the Spirit of truth, proceeds to the throne of grace. You cannot become a being and become a substance that fulfills the actions of the body (Hebrews 4).
So, the perfect law that give freedom becomes the principle that enables us to practice.
The theory of faith is soon forgotten, like one's own face reflected in a mirror, but the memory of testing and verifying the words of Christ on oneself will never be forgotten.
Jacob realizes the secret of this ladder and sees the reality of Peniel at the moment of surrender when his thigh is broken in the Jabbok River, so after the Jabbok River, he became the life of Israel.
From the words we have also heard, we learn that our bodies are temples, and that the Lord Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, and through him we have access to the Father.
However, in order to make theory-like knowledge into reality, through the process of much tribulation, patience, and refinement, we look forward to the glorious path of bearing the cross of Christ and following the Spirit of truth and advancing before the Father, and earnestly hope.
If we do not reach such a level, the church of Corinth, which has become worldly, is on the left, and the church of Galatia, where boasters of the flesh gather, is on the right.
Just as the emotional fanaticism and the intellectual piety church are divided.
Neither this side nor the other side is a church that carries the cross of Christ and follows the Lord.
If we have become a new creation by becoming the temple of the body where Christ dwells among us, we will actually experience the power of Aaron's rod that budded, the manna, and the tables of stone in the ark of the Most Holy Place, and the glory will become real and appear in the body. We will move on to the stage of materializing the practice.
No matter how many times we say that godliness is to bridle the tongue (James 1:26) to a person who does not have such progress and achievement, it is like throwing water in the face of a frog.
When the perfect law that gives freedom is set in us, the words of Christ are in the heart and on the lips.
Such a person can tame his tongue with spiritual thoughts.
In fact, faith on the lips with only knowledge is the same as shaking off blessings.
Empty theories experience the loss of life. Because the Holy Spirit turns away.
Therefore, true godliness is by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit according to the grace of Christ's redemption, knowing the truth, grasping the path leading to the Lord, walking and walking that path.
If you become a Bethel within yourself, a ladder to heaven is laid, and you know the course of godly training to hit yourself and submit to the message of the cross, then you will bridle your tongue, take care of orphans and widows in tribulation, and protect yourself from the world, unstained piety must naturally be revealed outside. (James 1:27)
This is because we can guard our minds with the spirit through meditating on the Word (Rom. 8:6).
In the end, Chapter 1 of James deals with the question of whether we can protect ourselves through the trials of faith through tests.
That's why we view the book of James as the paradigm of Jacob's faith, the object of God's providence, and are contemplating how to fulfill the words of the new covenant we have received today.
Written by Ptr. Yohan Kim.
Translated by Nancy Chung
COME AND SEE WORLD MISSION