"But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." (James 1:25)
The epistle of James has a lot to say about being DOERS of the Word of God and not hearers only. It is not enough simply to hear, understand, and agree with God's Word. We must be doers of the Word. The one who looks "into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein" refers to the one who gives his attention to the Word, uses it as a guide for living designed for obedience. The "perfect law of liberty" here is the gospel and its commands, its particulars and implications. It is a law because it is from God who is our supreme authority. It gives us the rules by which we are to live. If we have no rules, then everyone does what is right in his own eyes. We might note here that the very first act of acceptable obedience performed by a sinner is to believe God's gospel and repent of dead works and former idolatry (John 6:28-29). This is the work of God by His Spirit to implant His Word into our hearts in regeneration and conversion, the new birth. In this area the Word of God is like a mirror that exposes us for what we are sinners in need of righteousness we cannot produce. The light, this mirror, exposes the sin that deceives us by nature and shows us that God will only save us based on the righteousness of His Son. Many look into this mirror and walk away rather than DOING the Word in coming to faith in Christ and true repentance. They speak peace to themselves and others based on some other standard, and they are deceived. Sinners are commanded to hear and DO in this sense Rom. 10:17; Matt. 7:21-27. All who reject God's gospel are obligated to do the whole law, and this means eternal damnation for sinners Rom. 2:13.
All who believe God's gospel, who submit to Christ's righteousness as their only ground of salvation, and who repent of dead works, from then on, are to be continual doers of the Word in light of this "perfect law of liberty," the gospel of Christ. We hear from God's own testimony how we are to conduct ourselves in worship and in life. We are under obligation to hear and obey not to attain or maintain salvation, but as those who are already entitled to all of salvation based on the righteousness of Christ. This is true liberty (Gal. 5:1).