And whosoever shall keep the whole law, but offend in one point, is become guilty of all.
οστις γαρ ολον τον νομον τηρησει πταισει δε εν ενι γεγονεν παντων ενοχος
9 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Whoever sins in any one thing becomes guilty of all, because he does not have perfect love. Love is the head of every good thing. When the head is absent, the rest of the body is of no account. That this is what he means is clear from the preceding instruction.
Is the one who committed theft, or, let us say, the one who said to the rich man, “Sit here,” and to the poor man, “Stand there” (cf. Jas 2:3), guilty also of murder, adultery, and sacrilege? If this is not so, how does the one who sins in one thing become guilty of all? Or does what you said about the rich and the poor not belong to all those things, from which whoever sins in any one thing becomes guilty of all?
When we put on a garment, we are clothed on every side. Therefore he is clothed with righteousness as with a garment who covers himself on every side with good labor and leaves no part of his activity naked for sin. Whoever is righteous in some actions and unrighteous in others has covered one side, as it were, and left the other bare. The works that are stained by new evil deeds are no longer good.
He who keeps the whole law, he says, that is, all the other commandments of the law, but transgresses one single commandment, becomes a transgressor of all the commandments. In other words, he lacks perfect love toward all.
For love is the head of all the commandments. He who has no head possesses the rest of the body in vain and without profit.
That the brother of God is speaking here especially about transgressing the commandment of love is clear from what has been said above. See how he gives examples from the law which support love.
For he who loves his brother cannot commit adultery with his wife or wish to kill him. These are the marks of an enemy, not of one who loves.
As has already been said, James speaks here especially about love. He says that he who transgresses it becomes a transgressor of all the commandments, because love is the all-embracing headship of all the commandments.
If one were to say that whoever transgresses any commandment becomes a transgressor of all the other commandments, then no man could be saved. Each person would have to be perfect and without any lack in all the commandments.
Yet we often see that one who firmly remains in purity and chastity is sometimes overcome by anger. One who gives alms often has envy.
From this it is clear that the brother of the Lord is not speaking here about the transgression of every commandment, but specifically about love.
One must not labor at the practice of the commandments in a defective way, that is, with partiality, loving the rich man but not the poor man. Rather, this practice must be perfect, loving rich and poor equally.
Theophylact and Oecumenius interpret this saying in the same way. Basil the Great shows still more fully that if someone happens to transgress one of the commandments, he also transgresses all the other commandments.
The reason is that all the Lord's commandments are bound to one another like a chain woven of gold. He who loosens one loosens all the rest.
"For all of them, according to the soundly understood intention of Scripture, are so connected with one another that by the violation of one the others are necessarily violated" (Longer Rules, Introduction).
He continues: If ten talents are given to someone for safekeeping, and he keeps one or two talents for himself while paying back the rest, he is not considered honest for paying back the greater part. He is called unjust and covetous for squandering the smaller part.
Someone may have honored his father for ten years, but at the end strikes him only once. He is not honored as one who has done good, but is handed over to judgment as a parricide (ibid.).
What am I saying? The divinely revealed Father adds: why do I speak of squandering? Even the man entrusted with one talent was condemned, though he later returned in full and without deceit all he had received, because he added nothing to what was given (ibid.).
That all the commandments must be kept is confirmed by the Lord's words to the disciples: "Go therefore and teach all nations." He did not say to keep one thing and neglect another, but "teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" (Mt 28:19-20).
The same Basil says, "If not everything were necessary for us to attain the goal of salvation, then not all the commandments would have been written. Nor would we have been commanded necessarily to keep them all.
"What profit is there for me in other merits, if by calling my brother a fool I shall be liable to Gehenna?" (ibid.).
Metrophanes of Smyrna holds the same opinion as Basil the Great. Interpreting this saying of the brother of the Lord, he says that all the commandments are like one body with different members.
When one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. So also, he who transgresses and rejects any one commandment rejects and transgresses all the other commandments together with it.
This is shown by the fact that if someone keeps all the other commandments well, but kills or commits adultery, he is not saved by keeping the rest. He is subjected to torment because of the transgression of one commandment.
Since he is subjected to torment, this clearly shows that he is subjected to it as a transgressor of the law.
If such a man is tormented for transgressing one commandment, how much more is one tormented who transgresses the wholly surpassing and all-embracing commandment of love?
I mean love for one's neighbor, in which love for God is contained and fulfilled. As blessed Paul said, "For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Gal 5:14).
And this is true. For he who loves his neighbor as himself does not desire to kill, commit adultery, steal, slander, swear falsely, bear false witness, or do anything else forbidden by the law. Rather, he desires to keep all the commandments.
He who keeps all the commandments undoubtedly loves God with all his heart, all his soul, and all his strength. This is the first commandment.
Do you see how he who keeps love for his neighbor keeps all the commandments? He who transgresses it transgresses them all.
By the impartial law of liberty he means the New Covenant, as was said above. Christians will be judged according to the New Covenant of the Gospel, as befits the free, not according to the Old Law, which is more fitting for slaves.
And just as the New Covenant in which Christians believe is free, as we said above on "he who looks into the perfect law" (Jas 1:25), so they too must be free and not slaves to passions and to men.
Paul says, "Do not become slaves of men" (1 Cor 7:23). And the Lord said, "Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin" (Jn 8:34).
“Whoever keeps the whole law, yet stumbles in one point, has become guilty of all.” The close bond between all particular commandments of the vast law and the commandment of love for neighbor makes it immediately clear why the violator of one commandment becomes guilty of violating the whole law. He has violated the commandment of love for neighbor. Further, because this commandment is closely bound to the commandment of love for God, the one who does not love his neighbor is also shown to violate the commandment of love for God (cf. 1 Jn 4:20).
“Whoever keeps the whole law,” and so on. The reason is explained why those who fall into the sin of partiality are transgressors of the whole law, of the entire sum of the law’s particular commandments, and not only of the particular commandment of love for neighbors.
The reason is that transgression against any one particular commandment of the law is, in general, transgression against the whole law.
If someone should happen to keep the whole law, fulfilling exactly all its many and complex particular commandments, but should sin in one thing and transgress one particular commandment, he is guilty of all.
That is, he is liable to punishment as a transgressor of the whole law, or of the law in general.
Why? Because the whole law, with all its numerous and varied particular commandments, is the expression of the one will of the one Lawgiver, God.
Thus transgression of one commandment is disobedience to the will of the one Lawgiver. Consequently, it is transgression against the law in general.
It goes without saying that the Apostle speaks here only in general, expressing a general truth in a general form. He does not unfold the particular significance of transgressing one or another particular commandment in relation to the idea of particular accountability.
Having indicated the chief foundation of Christian morality in love, the Apostle has shown that Christians become transgressors before the chief law when they treat neighbors unequally and with partiality.
He then proclaims the great truth about the one Lawgiver and the wholeness of the entire law. He speaks of the mutual bond and dependence of all the commandments.
Both the transgressor of one commandment and the transgressor of many become guilty before the whole law, though of course not in the same measure.
“Cursed is he who does not fulfill all the words of the law,” the Old Testament had already proclaimed (Deut 27:26).
“Whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven,” says the meek Lawgiver of the New Testament (Mt 5:19).
The unalterable truth of the Apostle’s saying, which expressed the spirit of the Lord’s teaching in strict form, is revealed with particular clarity in the examples that follow in verses 10-11.
According to one of our interpreters, “to violate one of the commandments is the same as tearing a piece from a whole garment” (see Soul-Profiting Reading, 1886).
See the commentary on Rom 1:7.
The commandments of God's law in general, and of love in particular, are so closely bound together that the violator of one commandment is guilty of sin against the whole law. It is like someone tearing a piece from a garment and spoiling the whole garment. Or it is like someone striking a false note in music and breaking the whole harmony.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 13 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS