James 1.25
MEAT
February 8th 2015
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Okay, we left off last week with James giving us a “wherefore.”
He has set us straight on temptations and trials and god’s relationship to them and he has clearly laid the onus of sin at our feet.
He added in that God is the Father of Lights sending down only good gifts. An then he said God has elected or chosen us (those who believe) as a kind of first-fruits of his creations.
It is at this point that we are granted with a wherefore. As a result.
The reason I keep reiterating that the wherefore James gives (which will essentially constitute all the directives he will assigns to these believers to follow) is because all the actions he suggests are the result of the great things we have received from God.
They are not things to get God to love us or be pleased with us but they are the way James suggests believers ought to act WHO HAVE BEEN THE RECIPIENTS of God’s good gifts.
Wherefore.
IT’s important to point this out here because it is here that James begins to speak of works, good behavior, and Christian love.
So here comes the wherefore (or his, “As a result of all I have said” OR “In the face of all this . . . .)
19 “Wherefore,” my beloved brethren, (proving once again He was writing to Jewish converts) “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.
So, there is the preface material to the contents and position James will take in chapter two – material that is apparently so controversial to Paul’s writings that many a Protestant has sought to rip the book from the New Testament.
Back to verse 19.
In light of all he has said, wherefore,
“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.”
Oh the lessons these two passages have taught me and continue to teach me on an almost daily basis.
We touched on swift to hear and slow to speak last week – the proverbial nature of this advice and how far it goes in our calm communications with others – especially in the discussions we have regarding the Lord.
I am personally and constantly challenged to conform to this sound advice. It’s like God took me as a braying fighting ass from Southern California and said, “I am going to expose you to a situation where you will learn first hand and through constant challenge to be
“swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to wrath.”
When we think about it wouldn’t these words perfectly describe God?
Isn’t He swift to hear our every pray, but slow to respond back (it seems) and slow to wrath (thank goodness)?
And if this is the character of the Father of Lights the implication seems to be that these are characteristics is seeks out of His children.
Apologies for the personal reference but we all have our Achilles heels and among my many slow to wrath is a McCraney family trial.
I learned the other day that of all the cultures and nations that the Scots and Scotch/Irish have the lowest levels of serotonin (while the Swedes have the most).
What’s the joke? What’s the only way you can disperse an angry Scottish mob?
(Take up a collection).
We are all of different temperments and if anger is not your issue I’m sure the Word speaks to you about yours somewhere else.
But the darn slow to wrath is more than proverbial though Proverbs 16:32 admits:
“He that is slow to anger is greater than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.”
AND
Proverbs 11:17 The merciful man doeth good to his own soul: but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh.
AND
Proverbs 13:10 Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.
AND
Proverbs 14:16-17 A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident.
17 He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly: and a man of wicked devices is hated.
AND
Proverbs 15:18 A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.
Proverbs 19:19 A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment: for if thou deliver him, yet thou must do it again.
AND
Proverbs 22:24 Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go:
25 Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.
AND
Proverbs 25:28 He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.
Solomon, the wise one, wrote in Ecclesiastes 7:9 Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.
I suppose when everything is said and done, anger has its purposes. It can be a very important and alter the course of evil. But scripture reaffirms that we don’t live by it but use it properly like any passion God has given man.
This helps Jesus clearing the temple of the money changers and Paul’s words in Ephesians 4:26 when he sasys:
“Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.”
But perhaps the great equalizer massage on our anger or wrath can be found in the very next passage where James says:
20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
Again, an obvious lesson I started learning and am still learning today.
I mean it just feels like pouring out wrath upon someone is righteous indignation at times but I’m not so sure anymore.
Old Testament stories help justify such but with Christ’s finished work before us, which was done by love, I’m starting to believe that justified wrath is more of a great rarity rather than the rule.
Part of the reason seems to be man’s reaction to wrath because the tendencies it seems to bring out in others is not obedience but rebellion – and if obedience its typically due to fear.
And since 1st John 4:18 tells us that there is no fear in love, whatever produces fear really out to be kept to a minimum, right?
Of course the law – and the wrath that it produces in us – often produces a rebellious result.
Paul was not in error when he said in Romans 4:15 “the Law worketh wrath,” OR (in non King James) “the law produces punishment.”
And so when we are inflicting wrath upon someone what we are really telling them is they are guilty of breaking our law or a law of the land or a supposed law of God.
I really think those day ought to be over – both in the church and in the lives of believers because in the end the tendency of man’s wrath does not incline us to keep the law, but to break it.
Another thing about anger not producing the righteousness of God is the fact that when we are inflamed by it its hard to known if the message we are sending is of God or not.
I mean we can’t really be certain of our direction and decisions and choice or words if were are overwhelmed with the emotion of anger.
So obviously the advice is sound for the Christian.
At this point James lays another “wherefore” on us.
21 Wherefore (he says in verse 21) lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
I think an appeal to some other translations, including literal translations from the Greek will assist in understanding this verse as sentences like:
Superfluity of naughtiness might need some clarification in our day and age.
James 1:21 (ASV) Wherefore putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
James 1:21 (BBE) For this reason, putting away all dirty behaviour and the overweight of evil, take into your souls without pride the word which, being planted there, is able to give you salvation.
James 1:21 (DBY) Wherefore, laying aside all filthiness and abounding of wickedness, accept with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
James 1:21 (RSV) Therefore put away all filthiness and rank growth of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
James 1:21 (WNT) Ridding yourselves, therefore, of all that is vile and of the evil influences which prevail around you, welcome in a humble spirit the Message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls.
Remember now, he is speaking to believers – so this is not a call for them to clean up their act in order to be saved.
And he first says:
21 Wherefore (he says in verse 21) lay apart all filthiness
The word used here for filthiness doesn’t occurs anywhere else in the New Testament.
It’s RUPARIAH and it means gross filthy sin that can be considered disgusting or offensive.
Here’s the deal – by the Holy Spirit within all believers – we are well aware of what such sins are. And as individuals some of us view some actions as reprehensible while others, which barely get a second glance from us, would cause renting of clothes and gnashing of teeth.
Certainly we call sin what the Bible calls sin. But in reality the sin that remains for believers is the sin of faithlessness and failing to love.
Let me give you some examples of where other areas of sin management get us into religious trouble.
There are certain sexual practices – even among couples – that some Christians deem abhorrent and others accept as part of their marriage.
The span is wide and varied.
Since we are told the marriage bed is undefiled we have to let the spirit guide. Sometimes believers ignore this wisdom and actually attempt to get in between the sheets of others.
I personally am repulsed when I go out to dinner and see people throw food out that could be eaten or given to another person – I personally see it as sinful in my life if I were to do it – but many don’t give it a second thought.
I have a high threshold for what is deemed “art” and see meaning and expression behind things others find offensive in painting, sculpture, film and music, and of course there are all sorts of stances on alcohol, the consumption of it, what drunkedness is, who, when, why etc., etc.
I’m not a moral relativist – I believe the Bible describes the things that are sin but I do think there is a lot of room for personal views on the matter as we are truly at liberty to live as we are so inclined by conscience and the Holy Spirit.
What is intriguing to me is when people will somehow justify what we might call “the sins of the heart (like pride, piety, arrogance, faithlessness, uncharitable hearts) while really throwing down on the outward sins of the flesh of others (like sexual sin, drunkenness, gluttony, etc).
I would like to suggest that James is speaking here of any ugly or gross sin but admittedly he does seem to be speaking of those “fleshly sins” that have a tendency to spiral a soul downward into more and more egregious activities.
Whatever they are lay them aside and . . . (he adds)
“superfluity of naughtiness . . .” (which other versions describe as)
“abounding wickedness,”
“rank growth of wickedness”
“the evil influences which surround you”
(and I like this one)
“overweight of evil”
The Greeks had a terms for this – catabasis – which describes a downward spiral toward utter debauchery.
I’ve experienced this state first hand in my life on two different occasions – but both prior to receiving the Lord’s shed blood – catabasis in both my flesh and then in spirit.
I was seventeen when I experienced it in the flesh. I had hooked up with a girl I had known since seventh grade and we dated for a few years.
I went from being simply a wild and naughty Mormon boy to a moral catabasis where I ultimately discoverd myself neck deep in the quagmire of the West Hollywood scene and all that it entailed.
It took some real moral reformation (and LDS mission) to yank me back up and put me on regular old sinful soil that other people tred.
Years later after the full time mission and a few years of marriage I experienced spiritual catabasis where I spiraled down to the bottom of an epistemological pit and wound up flat on my back as a nihilist, void of any or all beliefs or any respect for any beliefs, theories, philosophies or doctrines whatsoever.
It was at this point I discovered the gift offered to all men through the shed blood and righteousness of Christ Jesus.
James seem to be telling these believers to cut themselves out and away from such “superfluity of wickeness,” and to instead
“receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.”
I have to admit these instructions are hard to make sense of other than just taking them for face value. And I think it is instances like these that caused Luther to consider James writings “a hodge-podge collection of quips and quotes from other apostolic writers.”
In approaching this line:
“receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.”
We have to first admit that James IS writing to a scattered group of converted believers so we cannot assume he was addressing a specific problem within a specific area but what speaking to either a ubiquitous problem among them all or saw this as just a good solid piece of general advice.
Second, this last line seems to indicates (at first glance) that they were not yet saved or fully saved as the counsel appears to be,
“Listen, turn from sin and with meekness receive the already implanted word again (or more deeply) into your hearts WHICH IS ABLE TO SAVE YOUR SOULS.”
There are a number of passages that speak of salvation as a future event in scripture and then there are others that speak of it as having happened when we believed – so which is it?
(beat)
It’s both.
What. It is. I don’t know what else to say – both positions are made in scripture.
Now we can explain HOW its both in different ways, can’t we?
Some say that it is both because while we are saved by grace the faith the moment we believe we are called to abide in the vine and therefore the seal of salvation is not certain until this mortal life is over.
Some say that we are saved once and for all at belief but the actual fulfilment of the seal of salvation does not occur until we die and are resurrected as His children – fulfilling our salvation.
Let’s hear what scripture says:
Paul writes in 1st Corinthians 15:1-2:
“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.”
Speaking in a future tense Peter says:
1st Peter 1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
We remember the writer of Hebrews, in speaking about destruction:
(2:3) How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
But to round all this out lets also consider the content of the following, which speaks of the seal believers receive when the believe.
Paul wrote in Romans 8:23-25
Romans 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
And then in Ephesians 1:13-14 writes:
Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
So it seems that both views are correct – we are saved the moment we believe and we wait for the earnest of our inheritance to be granted as promised and which occurs when this life is over.
Notice also that James does not appeal to these believers to appeal to Jesus but to
but what he calls “the engrafted word,” which (he adds) “is able to save your souls.”
Are we to think that He speaks of Jesus Himself here as the engrafted Logos or Word that became flesh or is he speaking of the Gospel (Good News) or of the actual written word (which to them would have been the Old Testament?
In my estimation, SINCE he is writing to believing converts who have ALREADY received Jesus as Lord and Savior He is not speaking of the engrafted Word made flesh.
I therefore believe He speaks of them remembering the Words of truth spoken to them that ENTERED into their hearts (engrafted themselves) which were words of the Gospel.
Reading the whole passage, and then considering the content the writer has provided before it, and then the content of the information that he supplies after it, it seems that James is writing and reiterating to existing believers the importance of keeping a distance from sin, to not lay the temptation of sin on God but on themselves, and to humbly and meekly receive (again, and over and over again) the implanted (or engrafted word) that is in their hearts and is what has saved them.
That’s how I assess the context and meaning of the verse.
As we read on into chapter two (and beyond) there appears to have been an issue with the “mouths” and words and speaking” of these believers – especially relative to their actions.
We will in the next week enter in to where James begins to address the things that come out of their mouths and this will carry on into the next couple of chapters.
It is here (and now)- after all these other instructions – that James starts to lay it down and says:
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
This line is perhaps used more in the grand debate regarding faith and works than almost any other, except for:
“Faith without works is dead.”
Now it is really important that we strive to understand what James is saying here and the best way to do this is to take his actual words and describe them.
In polemics we have a tendency to attach all sorts of meaning and context to our proof-texts and in so doing arrive at the table with a whole bunch of pre-suppositional notions before one word is exchanged.
So what does James actually say here? He says:
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
If we come to church or listen to the word preached on the radio or TV or on CD’s or whatever the mode of transmission, and all we do is hear it taught but do nothing to try and apply it, live it, or do it (being doers of the word) we would be guilty of tremendous self-deception.
This has NOTHING at all to do with works, labors, or service. All it speaks of is doing (applying) what we hear spoken of or taught from the Word.
Does the word talk about faith? Of course. Then be doers of faith and not just hearers of faith!
Does the Word talk about patience? Then be a doer of patience and not just someone who hears about patience but never tries to apply it.
To take the line and suggest that it supports the notion of doing works or service is limiting the content of the Word because the word that we hear talks about ALL manner of principles and activities – some meditative, some on forgiveness and then some on serving.
They are ALL the doing of the word.
Of course we are then forced to ask:
What does the WORD tell us to do? And at this we are all subjected to all manner of interpretations that do NOT get any smaller with time.
I mean there are people who read the Gospels and Jesus words to the apostles and assign them to themselves – just because it’s in the Word.
I want to be utterly clear on my position here at least.
The engrafted word to them may have included more than what it includes for us.
The reason is they were once under the Law, they were promised the Messiah, and repenting was part and parcel of the commands on their lives. In addition to this they were also under apostolic direction as the written epistles were not available to them in total.
But for Christians today – who have the compilation of the apostolic epistles to govern us there are two commandments that are given us in the Engrafted Word.
They are summarized in 1st John 3:22-23 –
“And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.”
Even when Jesus was asked by the religious rulers how to do with will of God He replied:
John 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
And then of course the New commandment He gave was
Joh 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
Faith and love.
But be ye doers of the word (believe and love) and not hearers only.
Faith first love follows right on it – which is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets.
Don’t just listen to words spoken. Don’t just attend church. Don’t just think you can approach this faith by hearing only, do what you are taught.
And in and through it all everything stands on faith (in Him) and love (for Him and others).
He then gives and example or illustration of what a person is like who merely hears the word but does not do, saying in verses 23-25 (our last verses for the day)
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.
The comparison he gives here is pretty straightforward but it is also quite fascinating.
He compares someone who hears the word only but does not do them to the experience we have when we look in the mirror at ourselves.
Now before we discuss it, I know we think we know what we look like but close your eyes and try and really see your face. It’s not easy.
Of course we know it when we see it but to look at our reflection and then recall with photographic clarity our visage is no easy task.
Add to it that when we look in the mirror and see our hideous selves in the bright light of florescent lights and walk away we may retain some insecurities toward how we are appearing but the actual horridness of our countenance is only vividly recalled when we find ourselves staring back in the mirror.
In other words the direct, visual vanishes leaving only impressions.
My younger brother was the oddest adolescent. He used to go in the bathroom, and squeeze all of his blemishes to utter disfigurement and then walk out into public or on a date as if nothing had taken place.
So it might be for those who hear the word of God but it has no long term effect upon them.
When we hear it we are convicted or even moved to action while sitting in our chairs.
But once we walk out we forget what we heard.
Like a man beholding the face he was born with in a glass (says the King James) but when this was written there was no glass just polished metal which would serve as a mirror.
But the moment he walks away the vivid nature of what he heard begins to fade – a comparison to being a hearer but not a doer, and James says he forgets what manner of man he was (when he was looking) – like hearers but not doers forget what manner of person they were when hearing.
He adds:
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.
Applying the same observational skills to this verse we have to admit now, however, that James likens the doing to work.
And we are now ready to move into this theme – next week.
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