James 4: 11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.[d] The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
First mentioned is the relationship with each other. James chooses significant terms to identify the ones his readers would be judging: brother in 4:11 and then neighbor at the end of 4:12. Jesus used the term brother in his instruction against judging (Mt 7:1-5), and he used the term neighbor in the great commandment to love (Mt 22:39). In light of all that James has written so far about God's mercy toward us, these terms now come as reminders that our family bonds in God's mercy are violated when we who have received mercy turn to judge each other; and God's goodness to us is treated with contempt when we show judgment instead of mercy to our neighbors.
Second is the relationship with the law. James insists that we are to be doers under the law, which is contradicted when we try to be judges over the law. The "law" (nomos) could refer to the Old Testament command in Leviticus 19:16, which prohibits slander, and to Leviticus 19:18, "Love your neighbor as yourself," which James quoted in 2:8. Given James's reverence for the teachings of Jesus as the royal law of the kingdom, it is likely that he also has in mind Jesus' specific command against judging in Matthew 7:1 and Jesus' own quoting of Leviticus 19:18. James's point is that if we accept God's mercy through Christ, we place ourselves under Christ's law, which commands mercy. If we then judge others instead of being merciful toward their faults, we are rejecting that law and so setting ourselves up as judges over the law. This contradicts our proper stance as recipients of grace--we are to be doers under the law.
The third relationship is with God. One (heis) as the subject of the sentence emphasizes that there is only one who is Lawgiver and Judge. When we judge each other, we are contradicting that fact. This is a revealing insight into our hearts. In judging people, what we really want is to take God's place. The United States government is arranged in judicial, legislative and executive branches, with a careful separation and balance of powers. In the realm of personal relationships, however, judging and lawgiving operate together; the one who judges another person is presuming to have authority to set the law or standard by which the other person is judged. Judging is an attempt to be in control as God is in control, which has been our rebellious desire ever since the serpent told Eve she could be "like God, knowing good and evil." Our sins of judging are attempts to set ourselves not only over the law but over the Lawgiver as well.
Now we can summarize. What James has been prescribing is a life of faith that has two facets: confidence in God's grace and passion for God's righteousness. The confidence and the passion are complementary responses to God's judgment and mercy. God's mercy triumphs over judgment on our behalf; therefore we may be confident in relying on grace. However, we who have genuinely grasped grace will become all the more eager to grasp righteousness, realizing that our lack of righteousness so nearly brought us to disaster in the fearful judgment of God. Once one has humbly sought grace for escape from judgment (4:10), it becomes unthinkable to set oneself up as judge over a neighbor (4:11). It is part of a single stance before God to submit to him for his grace (4:7) and to submit to him for his law; one cannot be both a judge over the law and a doer under the law (4:11). James is showing us a well-integrated faith in Christ as both merciful Savior to be trusted and righteous Lord to be obeyed.
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