James 1:19-27, Hearing and doing the Word.

I will be honest with you; I find James to be hard-hitting. Why? Because James, no holds barred, challenges our behaviors, and we, with our brokenness, consistently fight change; that, and this foolish notion that we don’t have to respond to the law because we are under grace. If you were told that under grace you get to act out in any manner you wish, you were deceived, for the law is now written upon our hearts and administered by the Holy Spirit of God that lives within us if were are followers of Christ.

Hebrews 8:10b KJV  ...after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts:

Yep, there is that “so-called” context thing again; and yes, the context, as we read it from Jeremiah 31:33, is about Israel, but how quickly we forget, WE HAVE BEEN GRAFTED IN. Here in Hebrews, the author is associating this putting the law upon their hearts, with application to the Christian community, whether they be Jewish in origin or Heinz 57/Gentile converts.

The publishers of the NASB entitled this next section,
“Hearing and Doing the Word.”

Thanks to my “religious” upbringing, I respond to this statement by thinking, if you are doing something, then you are working in an effort to abide by the law.

Paul, in his letter to the church in Rome, a congregation of primarily Jewish believers, said,

for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified. Romans 2:13 NASB

This righteousness has nothing to do with works, and Paul makes that clear when he speaks of Abraham.

...” If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. ... Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”
(Romans 4:1-3 NLT)

Abraham demonstrated faith before there was a law, and he did nothing more than believe. Some will point out how Abraham was circumcised, and that is true, but Abraham was deemed righteous by God before Abraham chose to be circumcised as a symbol of that commitment. (Genesis 15:4-6. Genesis 17:11.) So, when we act following what the Word says, we are acting in faith, not some movement of ultra belief, but a way of life that pleases the Father.

How does James define some of these laws that are written upon our hearts?

James 1:19 NLT 

1. Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.

Why should I be quick to listen and slow to get angry? James answers that question. (Because, as James 1:20 NLT, tells us,) Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. 

There are other translations; one reads:

Anger does not help you live the way God wants. (James 1:20 ERV)

The righteousness produced in us, and living the way God wants, work in conjunction. In truth, most of us can't do this on our own, and James, it seems, understands that and tells us how to proceed to solve that problem.

James 1:21 CJB 

2. So rid yourselves of all vulgarity and obvious evil, and receive meekly the Word implanted in you that can save your lives.

The NASB uses the phrase putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness instead of the words vulgarity and obvious evil. Putting aside is such a simple phrase. A person could think, I’ve got this, it requires no further explanation, and completely miss the depth in the sentence; this is what we do when we skim over simple words. The Greek word pas means to cast aside or put away.

This act of putting is not merely setting an item aside in a cupboard for future use; this is one of those “be done with it”  moments. The Greek word was used twice, and therefore implies emphasis.

Ephesians 4:21-24 NASB if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in him, just as truth is in Jesus, (22) that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, (23) and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, (24) and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

Notice how Paul throws out the challenge,  “if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him,”  as though there is something about our lives that would cause people to doubt this relationship we claim to have. Instead of leaving room for doubt, we are told to lay aside the old self; this is an old self that is being corrupted as it follows the pattern of lust and deceit that our brokenness lays out before us. This sounds hopeless, seeing as brokenness is a part of our very being, but it isn’t hopeless because we can be renewed in the spirit of our mind through the WORD of God. Actions like putting the WORD of God in us is how we actively put on the NEW self, which is in the likeness of God and has been created in righteousness, holiness, and truth.

Another example that uses the Greek word pas that we translate into putting is,

1 Peter 2:1-3 NASB Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, (2) like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, (3) if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.

Filthiness? This is the Greek word rhuparia; and we are told that it originates from rhuparos. So let's look at that word for a moment. The Word Study Dictionary defines rhuparos as Filth, filthy, foul. Those words cover a wide range of behaviors.

“and all that remains of wickedness.” Remains is the Greek word perisseia and means superabundance. The implications are that WE have the propensity toward a superabundance.

Since I am speaking to the man-cave, what is the way to keep a young man from giving himself over to filthiness?

James says to receive the implanted Word. It is the Word that is able to save our souls. Again, this has a disparaging connotation because it implies that we might not be saved. How is that even possible when we have an assurance like this:

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. "My Father, who has given them to Me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. (John 10:27-29 NASB)

If we are followers of Christ, taught in Christ, then it is not possible that we have no hope and are not saved. However, it is quite evident that we need saving, from a variety of things, including ourselves, daily; and that is why James used the word sōzō to tell us that the Word can deliver or protect us. You should all understand that you are a soul and that your soul will live forever. The variability in that statement is that you either live in heaven with the Father or live in hell with that master if you so choose.

With that in mind, what would it mean to save your soul? Since we never die, this has to have a spiritual analogy, and it only makes sense that spending eternity with the Father is the better choice.

James 1:22 NASB But prove yourselves, doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.

Did you catch that, James said to prove yourselves doers of the word. How would you go about doing that?

There is only one answer to the question, and that is to live a life that demonstrates God is living inside you.

Notice that there is a second half of this statement, and it says that those who only hear, adding no action associated with the Word, are deluding themselves. A synonym for the word delude is victimize. Without putting associated actions to the Word of God, we are merely victimizing ourselves.

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. (James 1:23-24 NASB)

You stand at the mirror, looking at your face because you just finished shaving. You hear this voice in your head saying, did I get them all? Your answer in reply, yep, but what is that? We look, but we don't always notice things. Maybe it's because we looked before, and there is no need to do that again. I heard those words bouncing around in my head on multiple occasions. To put this in perspective, how many of you have seen someone who has had a melanoma removed and is now walking around with small butterfly strips across their nose or forehead? How did they miss that?

James 1:25 NASB But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

Intently also means to peer within. Synonyms: (to be) absorbed, engrossed, and captivated by.

“and abides by it” = stay on, continue, remains long enough to digest what is being said.

“ not having become a forgetful hearer.” I have heard the book of Romans taught multiple times, and yet I could barely remember a thing out of the book. What I do remember, because religion applies it to their “soul-winning” techniques, is, Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Sadly, we are taking this out of context when we use it for salvations, as it was meant to point out to the hearers, that God had leveled the playing field, and therefore everyone was welcome into this grace.

This ability to forget became a grievous thing to me and prompted me to recently do a very intense study of the book of Romans.

“an effectual doer will be blessed in what they do.” Another translation, James 1:25 GW puts it this way.

However, the person who continues to study God's perfect teachings that make people free and who remains committed to them will be blessed. People like that don't merely listen and forget; they actually do what God's teachings say.

Many want nothing to do with the book of Revelation, but there is a similar admonition.

Revelation 1:3 NASB Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.

Sadly, I had a pastor tell me to not study or talk about end times events. Do you think I honored his demands? Not a chance.

James 1:26 NASB If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.

So earlier, in James 1:21, we were told to put aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness. Now, here in verse 26, it tells you straight out, if you think that you are religious, but refuse to bridle your tongue, you are deceiving your own heart. James just comes out and says it, your religion is worthless.

Anyone who thinks he is religiously observant but does not control his tongue is deceiving himself, and his observance counts for nothing. (James 1:26 CJB)

And finally:

James 1:27 KJV  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.

Perhaps another version can open the window a bit more and therefore see more clearly.

The religious observance that God the Father considers pure and faultless is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being contaminated by the world. (James 1:27 CJB)

You should get the idea by now, it is not just tending to one people group, such as widows, but to care for those in need. Matthew 25 tells me that doing this is no different than helping Jesus himself. “For I was hungry, and you gave me food, I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger, and you made me your guest,  I needed clothes, and you provided them, I was sick, and you took care of me, I was in prison, and you visited me.”

Without merely disregarding God's Word, what is your take away from this?