His name is "Jacob", not "James". The latter is an English mis-translation.
Ἰάκωβος = "Jacob", NOT "James"
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[font="SBL Greek"][font="arial][size="3"]Jacob 2:[/font]
[font="arial][size="3"]8 You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” [/size][/font]
[font="arial][size="3"]9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. [/size][/font]
[font="arial][size="3"]10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. [/size][/font]
[font="arial][size="3"]11 For the one who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. [/size][/font]
[font="arial][size="3"]12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. [/size][/font]
[font="arial][size="3"]13 For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.[/size][/font]
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[font="SBL Greek"][font="arial][size="3"]Do you know what "transgression" means? It means the Torah draws a line and you overstep it. No matter how small the commandment is, if you break it, you transgress the Torah. The other illustration is the term "path" or "track" of God. The Hebrews, as nomadic people, followed tracks to get from one place to another. The term "righteousness" in Hebrew means walking on the track of God. If you sidestep, you are off-track and need to return to the track. It doesn't mean if you sidestep a little you are all bad and the wrath of God strikes you down. There is always a return to the track, and you return by repenting and prayer.[/font]
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[color="#000000"][font="arial][size="3"]Proverbs 24:16[font="arial][size="3"]For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again, But the wicked stumble in time of calamity.[/size][/font][font="arial] [/font][/color][color="#000000"][font="arial][size="3"]The righteous sidesteps, but always returns to the track. The wicked wonders away. You need to read these passages in context.[/size][/font][font="arial] [/font]
Christians think that if the Torah is too hard to observe, it must be abrogated. Just imagine what would happen to our societies if laws against paedophilia, rape, theft, murder, etc were abrogated because certain people found them hard to keep. The problem is not with the law, the law is designed to regulate, to protect. It only condemns the law-breaker. What one needs is a change of heart so that he doesn't feel like raping, robbing, etc. Then he will not be under the condemnation of the law any more. It doesn't mean the law is abrogated, but that it has nothing to say to those people who do it right. They are no longer under its condemnation. It doesn't mean they can ignore it. But because they love others they will fulfil it.
Circumcision meant you converted to Judaism. You became a Jew, you entered into their covenant relationship with God and thus you were obliged to observe all the commandments that were relevant to you. This was an option you could take, and it was always available to Gentiles. However, Paul contends that for salvation Gentiles didn't need to convert to Judaism. There was a confusion about it in the early days that led to disagreement between Paul and his Judaiser brethren. In the end the Jerusalem council decided that Gentiles did not need to convert to Judaism, and were only required to observe the laws of Noah. The Council did not forbid conversion, their ruling only said,
Acts 15:
19 Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, 20 but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood. 21 For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”
Homosexual sin did not attract death penalty, only excommunication/exile:
Lev 18:29 For whoever does any of these abominations, those persons who do so shall be cut off from among their people.
Various sins attracted various penalties. Only a few were punished by death.
What does "all things are lawful" mean to Paul. He certainly doesn't mean he was free to break the Torah. And what sins are covered by grace? Oh, every sin as long as there is repentance from that sin. Grace doesn't apply to the unrepentant. It is a grave mistake to think that it does.
We are told by Paul that "by the Torah is the knowledge of sin". Christians, since they have access to the bible, have no excuse not to understand what sin is. Perhaps they don't want to give it up because they enjoy it so much, but then we cannot talk about repentance.
In your personal example you had a mental ascent, but did not repent because you didn't want to repent. The way out of sin is repentance - dying to the old life and walking in the new.
You do not walk with God as long as you refuse to repent.