For the Judaizers, the way to gain favor from God was a result of following God’s commands found in the law. However, Paul takes them to Abraham and shows that it was faith that was the main requirement for salvation. Faith has been and always will be the only requirement to gain salvation.

Through faith, Christians are united to the crucifixion of Christ. This means our former way of living is done away with, and the life that we now live is lived for Christ. Our outlook on life ought to be thinking about how Christ would live in this present world.

The gospel is a clearly defined thing: Jesus died the death we deserved, giving us freedom and life. The thing that is required of Christians is to follow this truth. Nothing else can save. Nothing else gives freedom.

Even those who are not trying to honor God tend to have guilt. Guilt occurs when we know that we have done something wrong. But guilt can cause us to do even more wrong. We see this in Judges 21 when the guild of Israel results in another crime.

James says to be slow to become angry. Anger is easily aroused when we do what we want to do in our lives. However, this does not always end well. In Judges 20, the anger and outrage of the Israelites resulted in an almost complete destruction of Benjamin.

Unfettered lust can result in some terrible things. The fate of the concubine was extremely unfortunate, but it resulted from men not following God’s way of living and who desired. Sins of lust are some of the most destructive sins in lives.

Greed can cause us to do things that we wouldn’t normally do. Micah steals from his mom. While he gives the money back, he still honors God in a way that was not appropriate. When the Levite came, and was asked to be a priest, he was not qualified. But the promise of money caused him to do something he shouldn’t. When we live by our way, greed can cause us to sin.