INTRODUCTION
The author of this Epistle was probably the Lord’s brother, mentioned with Joses, Simon and Judah, and often in the Acts of the Apostles. See Mar_6:3; Act_12:17; Act_15:13; Act_21:18. He was bishop, or president, of the church at Jerusalem, and this letter was probably written from that city. The emphasis laid on the nearness of our Lord’s advent points to a date near A.D. 70. The Epistle may have been written in Hebrew, and was addressed to the Hebrew section of the Church. It lays great emphasis on the sublime ideal of character which Christianity had raised, and to maintain which demanded the constant diligence of all professing Christians.
OUTLINE OF THE EPISTLE OF JAMES
THE MEASURE OF A CHRISTIAN
Hearing and Doing
3. How does pure religion find expression?
HEARING AND DOING THE WORD
Understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters. Let everyone be quick to hear [be a careful, thoughtful listener], slow to speak [a speaker of carefully chosen words and], slow to anger [patient, reflective, forgiving];
for the [resentful, deep-seated] anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God [that standard of behavior which He requires from us].
So get rid of all uncleanness and all that remains of wickedness, and with a humble spirit receive the word [of God] which is implanted [actually rooted in your heart], which is able to save your souls.
But prove yourselves doers of the word [actively and continually obeying God’s precepts], and not merely listeners [who hear the word but fail to internalize its meaning], deluding yourselves [by unsound reasoning contrary to the truth].
For if anyone only listens to the word without obeying it, he is like a man who looks very carefully at his natural face in a mirror;
for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he immediately forgets what he looked like.
But he who looks carefully into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and faithfully abides by it, not having become a [careless] listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he will be blessed and favored by God in what he does [in his life of obedience].
If anyone thinks himself to be religious [scrupulously observant of the rituals of his faith], and does not control his tongue but deludes his own heart, this person’s religion is worthless (futile, barren).
Pure and unblemished religion [as it is expressed in outward acts] in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit and look after the fatherless and the widows in their distress, and to keep oneself uncontaminated by the [secular] world.
Comments by
F.B.Meyer
on
James 1:19-27
DOERS, NOT HEARERS ONLY
Keep your mouth closed when you are angry; the inner fire will die out of itself, if you keep the doors and windows shut. In Jas_1:18 we are taught that God’s truth is the agent of regeneration; in Jas_1:21 it is the means of deepening our consecration. It is a blessed thing, when not only the words, but the Word of God is engrafted on the wild stock of our nature.
The one and only way of making holy impressions permanent is by translating them into Christian living. It is not enough to see ourselves reflected in the mirror of God’s Word; we must so continue, not as hearers who forget, but as doers that perform. Many appear to think that blessedness results from hearing, and are always on foot to attend new conventions. No; the true blessedness accrues from doing. The heart of our Christian faith is purity, the stainless garb of the soul, and thoughtful ministration to the widow and orphan-but these are possible only through the indwelling of Christ by the Holy Spirit.
Choose a Sermon on
James
by
Pastor Jeff Arthur.
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