The Torah, properly understood, leads to a life of freedom. So James 1:25:But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-he will be blessed in what he does.And there is a promise here, and it comes in the form of a word James learned from Jesus: "blessed."
Instead of being a "peer-er" (which is a looker and not a doer), James states that we are to "look" and "listen" and "not forget" and "do." Those who look to Jesus, those who listen to Jesus, those who do what Jesus says will be "blessed." To be blessed is to be experience the eschatological blessings from God so that such a person dwells in the favor of God in all of life.
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James also reminds me of his brother here. The sermon on the mount, especially its closing lines, are just so similar to the thoughts James expresses here.
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