This Weeks Audio and Transcript:

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Enduring Word

Section 1: Doers, Not Hearers

(19-20) Standing firm against unrighteous anger.

So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. James 1:19-20

"Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath" v19

We can learn to be slow to wrath by first learning to be swift to hear and slow to speak. Much of our anger and wrath comes from being self-centered and not others-centered. Swift to hear is a way to be others-centered. Slow to speak is a way to be others-centered.

1. “But hath not Nature taught us the same that the apostle here doth, by giving us two ears, and those open; and but one tongue, and that hedged in with teeth and lips?” (Trapp)

Slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God v20

In light of the nature of temptation and the goodness of God, we must take special care to be slow to wrath, because our wrath does not accomplish the righteousness of God. Our wrath almost always simply defends or promotes our own agenda.

(21) Standing firm against the lusts of the flesh.

"Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls." James 1:21

"All filthiness and overflow of wickedness" v21

This has in mind an impure manner of living. In light of the nature of temptation and the goodness of God, we are to lay aside all impurity, putting them far from us.

1. All filthiness: “The stinking filth of a pestilent ulcer. Sin is the devil’s vomit, the soul’s excrement, the superfluity or garbage of naughtiness [wickedness]… as it is here called by an allusion to the garbage of the sacrifices cast into the brook Kedron, that is, the town-ditch.” (Trapp)

2. The older King James Version translates the phrase overflow of wickedness as superfluity of naughtiness.

"Receive with meekness the implanted word" v21

In contrast to an impure manner of living, we should receive the implanted word of God (doing it with meekness, a teachable heart). This word is able to save us, both in our current situation and eternally. The purity of God’s word can preserve us even in an impure age.

1. “The first thing, then, is receive. That word ‘receive’ is a very instructive gospel word; it is the door through which God’s grace enters to us. We are not saved by working, but by receiving; not by what we give to God, but by what God gives to us, and we receive from him.” (Spurgeon)

2. Here James alluded to the spiritual power of the word of God. When it is implanted in the human heart, it is able to save your souls. The word of God carries the power of God.

(22-25) How to receive the word of God.

"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does." James 1:22-25

"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only" v22

We must receive God’s word as doers, not merely hearers. To take comfort in the fact you have heard God’s word when you haven’t done it is to deceive yourself.

1. It was common in the ancient world for people to hear a teacher. If you followed the teacher and tried to live what he said, you were called a disciple of that teacher. We may say that Jesus is looking for disciples: doers, not mere hearers.

2. Jesus used this same point to conclude His great Sermon on the Mount. He said that the one who heard the word without doing it was like a man who built his house on the sand, but the one who heard God’s word and did it was like a man whose house was built on a rock. The one who both heard and did God’s word could withstand the inevitable storms of life and the judgment of eternity (Matthew 7:24-27).

3. “A teacher or preacher may give an eloquent address on the gospel, or explain ably some O.T. prophecy about Christ, but when the sermon is done, it is not done; something remains to be done by the hearers in life, and if they content themselves with sentimental admiration or with enjoying the emotional or mental treat, they need not imagine that this is religion.” (Moffatt)

4. “I fear we have many such in all congregations; admiring hearers, affectionate hearers, attached hearers, but all the while unblest hearers, because they are not doers of the word.” (Spurgeon)

5. “You know the old story; I am half ashamed to repeat it again, but it is so pat to the point. When Donald came out of church sooner than usual, Sandy said to him, ‘What, Donald, is the sermon all done?’ ‘No,’ said Donald, ‘it is all said, but it is not begun to be done yet.’” (Spurgeon)

"He is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was" v23-24

The person who only hears God’s word without doing it has the same sense and stability as a man who looks into a mirror and immediately forgets what he saw. The information he received did not do any good in his life.

1. Observing his natural face: The ancient Greek word translated observing has the idea of a careful scrutiny. By application, James had in mind people who give a careful scrutiny of God’s word; they may be regarded as Bible experts but it still doesn’t result in doing.

2. “The glass of the Word is not like our ordinary looking-glass, which merely shows us our external features; but, according to the Greek of our text, the man sees in it ‘the face of his birth’; that is, the face of his nature. He that reads and hears the Word may see not only his actions there, but his motives, his desires, his inward condition.” (Spurgeon)

3. Understanding this power of the Word of God, the preacher is responsible for working hard to not hinder this power. “Certain preachers dream that it is their business to paint pretty pictures: but it is not so. We are not to design and sketch, but simply to give the reflection of truth. We are to hold up the mirror to nature in a moral and spiritual sense, and let men see themselves therein. We have not even to make the mirror, but only to hold it up. The thoughts of God, and not our own thoughts, are to be set before our hearers’ minds; and these discover a man to himself. The Word of the Lord is a revealer of secrets: it shows a man his life, his thoughts, his heart, his inmost self.” (Spurgeon)

4. A healthy person looks in the mirror to do something, not just to admire the image. Even so, a healthy Christian looks into God’s Word to do something about it, not just to store up facts that he will not put to use by being a doer of the word.

5. "The doctrines of God, faithfully preached, are such a mirror; he who hears cannot help discovering his own character, and being affected with his own deformity; he sorrows, and purposes amendment; but when the preaching is over, the mirror is removed… he soon forgets what manner of man he was… he reasons himself out of the necessity of repentance and amendment of life, and thus deceives his soul.” (Clarke)

6. “Get thee God’s law as a glass to toot [to study carefully] in, saith Mr. Bradford; so shalt thou see thy face foul arrayed, and so shamefully saucy, mangy, pocky, and scabbed, that thou canst not but be sorry at the contemplation thereof.” (Trapp)

"But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it… this one will be blessed in what he does" v25

If we study the Word of God intently, and do it (continue in it), then we will be blessed.

1. He who looks into the perfect law of liberty: In the ancient Greek language, the word for looks into spoke of a penetrating examination, so that a person would even bend over to get a better look. Though James stressed doing, he did not neglect studying God’s Word either. We should look into God’s Word.

2. Adam Clarke points out that the ancient Greek word translated continues is parameinas and has this sense: “Takes time to see and examine the state of his soul, the grace of his God, the extent of his duty, and the height of the promised glory. The metaphor here is taken from those females who spend much time at their glass, in order that they may decorate themselves to the greatest advantage, and not leave one hair, or the smallest ornament, out of its place.”

3. The perfect law of liberty: This is a wonderful way to describe the Word of God. In the New Covenant, God reveals to us a law, but it is a law of liberty, written on our transformed hearts by the Spirit of God.

4. "The whole doctrine of Scripture, or especially the gospel, called a law, Romans 3:27, both as it is a rule, and by reason of the power it hath over the heart; and a law of liberty, because it shows the way to the best liberty, freedom from sin, the bondage of the ceremonial law, the rigour of the moral, and from the wrath of God.” (Poole)

(26-27) Examples of what it means to be a doer of the Word of God.

"If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." James 1:26-27

"If anyone among you thinks he is religious" v26

James just explained that real religion is not shown by hearing the word, but by doing it. One way to do God’s word is to bridle the tongue.

1. Thinks he is religious: The New Testament never uses this ancient Greek word for “religious”in a positive sense (Acts 17:22, 25:19, 26:5; Colossians 2:23). James used it here of someone who is religious, but is not really right with God, and this is evident because he does not bridle his tongue.

"This one’s religion is useless" v26

Your walk with God is useless if it does not translate into the way you live and the way you treat others. Many are deceived in their own heart regarding the reality of their walk with God.

1. “This seems to reflect upon the hypocritical Jews, whose religion consisted so much in external observances, and keeping themselves from ceremonial defilements, when yet they were sullied with so many moral ones, Matthew 23:23; John 18:28; devoured widows’ houses.” (Poole)

2. “He does not deny the place of public worship (see James 2:2, 5:14) or of religious observances, but he explains that in God’s sight a pure, unsoiled religion expresses itself in acts of charity and in chastity – the two features of early Christian ethics which impressed the contemporary world.” (Moffatt)

"Pure and undefiled religion before God" v27

There is a great deal of pure and undefiled religion in the sight of man that is not pure and undefiled religion before God.

"To visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world" v27

A real walk with God shows itself in simple, practical ways. It helps the needy and keeps itself unstained by the world’s corruption.

1. “The Biblical Ritualism, the pure external worship, the true embodiment of the inward principles of religion is to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. Charity and purity are the two great garments of Christianity.” (Spurgeon)

2. “True religion does not merely give something for the relief of the distressed, but it visits them, it takes the oversight of them, it takes them under its care; so episkeptesthai means. It goes to their houses, and speaks to their hearts; it relieves their wants, sympathizes with them in their distresses, instructs them in divine things, and recommends them to God. And all this it does for the Lord’s sake. This is the religion of Christ.” (Clarke)

"Unspotted from the world" v27

The idea is not that a Christian retreats away from the world; instead they interact with orphans and widows in their trouble and others such in their need. The Christian ideal is not to retreat from the world; they are in the world, they are not of it; and remain unspotted from the world.

1. “I would like to see a Christian, not kept in a glass case away from trial and temptation, but yet covered with an invisible shield, so that, wherever he went, he would be guarded and protected from the evil influences that are in the world in almost every place.” (Spurgeon)

2. From the book of Genesis, Lot is an example of a man who was spotted by the world. He started living towards Sodom, disregarding the spiritual climate of the area because of the prosperity of the area. Eventually he moved to the wicked city and became a part of the city’s leadership. The end result was that Lot lost everything – and was saved as only by the skin of his teeth.

3. “There is no book with so lofty an ideal of what life may become when it is yielded to the grace of Christ. A cleansed heart, and an unspotted robe; no sin allowed and permitted in the soul, and no evil habit allowed to dominate and enthrall the life.” (Meyer)

Bible Project

The introductory chapter is designed to sum up the main ideas to the entire book. Chapter 1 is a flowing stream of wise teachings and one-liners that introduce us to all of the keywords and themes that we’ll see in chapters 2-5.

Jacob knows from personal experience that life is hard. After all, he was martyred not long after writing this letter. But he believes that life’s trials and hardships are paradoxical gifts that can produce endurance and shape our character. God can work on us in the midst of suffering to help us become “perfect and complete” (Jas. 1:4). Now, this word “perfect” is important for Jacob, and he repeats it seven times throughout the book (Jas. 1:4; Jas. 1:17; Jas. 1:25; 2:8, 23; 3:2). In biblical Hebrew, the word is tamim, while the Greek is teleios. This word refers to wholeness. In this context, it means living a completely integrated life in which your actions are consistent with the values and beliefs you learned from Jesus. Jacob knows that most of us live as fractured people with large inconsistencies in our character. All of us are more compromised than we’d like to admit, but God is on a mission to restore fractured people and make them whole.

This journey begins with gaining wisdom, and the ability to see hardships through a new perspective (Jas. 1:5-8). God will generously give wisdom to people who ask for it in faith without doubting God’s character. It’s when we realize our humble and frail place before God that we’re forced to choose between anxiety or trust. True wisdom is choosing to believe that God is good despite any circumstances.

In James 1:9-11, Jacob assumes that hard times are often caused by poverty. He urges his audience to try and view this circumstance as a gift that forces us to trust in God alone. Besides, wealth is fleeting and will pass away like wildflowers in the summer heat. When we do fall on hard times (Jas. 1:12-18), we must not accuse God. Rather, we should let our circumstances teach us what Jesus himself taught about God’s character, that the Father is generous, there to meet us in our pain, and trustworthy. This God has given us new birth through Jesus to become new kinds of humans who can face their suffering with total trust in the Father just as Jesus did.

This new humanity is something that we discover when we not only listen to God’s word but actually do what it says (Jas. 1:19-27). Jacob calls God’s word “the perfect Torah of freedom.” He’s referring here to the greatest command of the Torah as interpreted by Jesus (Matt. 22:34-40), in which he freed us to love God and our neighbor. Jacob then shows us practically what that looks like. It means speaking to others in a kind and loving way, serving the poor, and living with wholehearted devotion to God alone.

You can see how this one opening chapter contains all the keywords and ideas that are explored more deeply in the twelve teachings of chapters 2-5. Jacob immersed himself in the teachings of Jesus and the Proverbs, and he’s given us a great gift in this book of his own wisdom. It’s a beautifully crafted punch in the gut for those who want to follow Jesus.