LIVING THE GOSPEL.
James 1:17-27.
James has already indicated that our God is a generous Giver (James 1:5). Here he cites God as the inexhaustible source of “every good act of giving, and every perfect gift” (James 1:17a). There is not so much as a shadow cast as a result of any changeability in God, the Father of lights (James 1:17b). God is “Father of lights” not only in Creation, but also in redemption (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:6). He is the living, giving, forgiving God.
Our salvation is based in God’s will (James 1:18a; cf. John 1:13). It was His decision, not ours, that we should be ‘born of the Spirit’ (cf. John 3:8). We did not choose Christ, He chose us (John 15:16); and no-one comes to Jesus but those whom the Father who sent Him draws (John 6:44). Our faith is a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8); the ability to believe is something which is given to us (Philippians 1:29).
The instrument used to bring us to the new birth is “the word of truth” (James 1:18b; cf. 1 Peter 1:23). The written Word, the preached Word; the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The purpose of the new birth is that we might be a sort of first-fruit offering: set apart unto Him, and marked out for holiness (James 1:18c).
Having been brought to the new birth “by the word of truth” (James 1:18), we continue to be nurtured by the “implanted word” (James 1:21). We will be “swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:19-20).
It is Jesus who has fulfilled all righteousness (Matthew 3:15), and we must learn from Him. There is such a thing as righteous anger, such as Jesus displayed at the cleansing of the Temple (John 2:17). But He was ever obedient to the Father (John 8:29), and His anger was never tainted by sin. Our anger can so easily be distracted, so we are elsewhere only permitted to be angry with a double caveat: ‘Be angry and sin not, and let not the sun go down on your anger’ (Ephesians 4:26).
Not only are we to be swift to hear “the implanted word”, but we must do a little gardening ourselves (James 1:21). We have a responsibility to root out all that taints our lives, and the overflow of wickedness that still remains from our old lives. Not only are we to hear the word, but also “meekly” (in a gentle submissive way) to receive it. Turn it over in your heart, chew on it, meditate, apply.
When the word is thus applied, it “saves our souls”. Not in the sense of being born again, because that has already happened, but in the sense that Luke often uses the word “save”: the ‘healing’ of our whole being. There is a sense in which we have been saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved.
But this is not all. We must be careful that we are “doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving our own selves” (James 1:22). Having heard and received, we must then put the word into action in our lives. Good works do not make us Christians, but Christians will do good works. Practical Christianity is not a spectator sport (cf. Luke 6:46; Matthew 7:21)!
It is unfortunate that, having heard the word of God, we so easily forget what we heard. James illustrates this with his picture of a man who looks in the mirror, sees his messy hair, and who then goes away and forgets that he needs to comb his hair (James 1:23-24). By contrast, the “blessed” man looks intently into the “perfect law of liberty”, applies it in his life, and puts it into action. Not that he is “blessed” for the deed, but rather he is blessed “in” the deed (James 1:25).
Our studies of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ reveal it to be a “perfect law of liberty,” (James 1:25) setting us free from the law of bondage of sin unto death and leading us into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.
James here introduces three marks of true spirituality: bridling the tongue, our attitude to widows and orphans, and personal purity (James 1:26-27).
Our words speak forth what is in our hearts: and if our heart is full of “the word of truth” (James 1:18), we will surely allow that word to guide us in our speech. “Slow to speak” (James 1:19) and “bridling the tongue” (James 1:26) are not exhortations to silence, but a warning against hasty, unconsidered speech. When we are not doers of the word, but hearers only, we are “deceiving our own selves” (James 1:22); when we make a show of religion, and bridle not our tongues, we are “deceiving our own hearts” (James 1:26).
Widows and orphans stand for all those who are deprived of their means of support. The Fatherhood of God is here held up as our reason to “visit” them in their need. And if our “religion” is “undefiled”, and God is our Father, we will “keep ourselves unspotted from the world” (James 1:27).
