James speaks of the “law of liberty” (1:25; 2:12). Paul speaks of the “yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1). What two laws are they talking about?

James writes, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.” James cites two of the Ten Commandments, and then speaks of being judged by the “law of liberty” (James 2:10–12). This “perfect law of liberty” is something a person “looks into” and “continues in” (1:25). Obviously, it includes the Ten Commandments. James calls it the “law of liberty” because he understands that true freedom is possible only in the framework of law.

The “yoke of bondage” Paul mentions in Galatians 5:1 is not the law, but is a spiritual condition that resulted from the wrong use of the law. Paul explains, “You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace” (verse 4). To be “justified” is to have one’s sins blotted out and be given a right standing before God—a state of being that cannot be attained through any law. “For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law” (Galatians 3:21). Therefore, the Galatians who were seeking justification through law (which cannot provide it), and not through Christ (who can provide it), had “fallen from grace.”