James
1:19 ¶ Wherefore, my beloved brethren,
let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20 For the wrath of man worketh not the
righteousness of God. 21 Wherefore lay
apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness
the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers
only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For
if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding
his natural face in a glass: 24 For he
beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of
man he was. 25 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. 26 If any man among you seem to be
religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s
religion is vain. 27 Pure
religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the
fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted
from the world.
Good
commonsense advice is given here. Engage your ears before your mouth and think
carefully before you respond, be longsuffering, and slow to loosing your
temper. Throughout Proverbs Solomon gave similar advice. Our wrath, our abiding
anger, is from our flesh and not from God. So, in this chapter we’ve noted how
sin and wrath are not “gifts from God,” but from our own flesh and do not lead
us in the way God would want us to go but away from God.
In verse
21 James refers to removing filthy sin from your life and John Gill says that
it is like a reference to being circumcised, removing that skin. Naughty and
naughtiness have changed meaning over the centuries to mean something less than
what they mean in the Bible, which is corrupt and worthless. Notice how James
refers to the saving power of God’s word.
Ephesians
5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as
Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with
the washing of water by the word, 27
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot,
or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
When the
word of God is received it becomes a part of our spiritual heart and has power
over our sin.
Psalm
119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine
heart, that I might not sin against thee.
A
recurrent theme of James is that he is telling believers to walk the walk and
not just talk the talk. This is a very important idea presented in James, to be
true to Christ in all you do, not just all you say. He says it’s like looking
in a mirror and then forgetting what you look like, the attractive and the ugly
parts.
The person
who claims to be a Christian, believes God’s word, and who obeys Christ is
blessed indeed. In spite of his focus on actions he does underscore the
importance of controlling our speech. The way Christians speak and what they
say is also an important topic to James; not boasting of yourself, not
gossiping, not backbiting, not causing harm to other Christians, etc. as John
Gill pointed out.
Then,
James defines pure religion, as he calls it, as actions you do, in
particular caring for the widows and orphans in the church and keeping oneself
from the filth of the world’s ways. This is not necessarily about a works
religion but your faith being expressed in more than just your words and
declarations. This is a very important point for James.
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