STUDY HELPS FOR JAMES 1:19-27
ALTERNATE VERSIONS
James 1:19-27
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (New International Version)
You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing. If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. (New Revised Standard Version)
Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters! Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. For human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness. So put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls. But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves. For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone who gazes at his own face in a mirror. For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets what sort of person he was. But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out—he will be blessed in what he does. If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile. Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their misfortune and to keep oneself unstained by the world. (New English Translation)
Here is a mashed up edition of all three versions, showing where this is any notable variation between them. Do you get a more expanded sense of what James is trying to say?
My dear brothers and sisters / beloved, take note of / understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human / your anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires / God's righteouness.
Therefore, get rid of all moral filth / sordidness / filth , and the evil that is so prevalent / rank growth of wickedness / evil excess, and humbly accept / welcome with meekness / humbly welcome the word planted in you / the implanted word / the message implanted within you, which can save you / that has the power to save your souls / which is able to save your souls.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. / But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. / But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves.
Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says / are hearers of the word and not doers / merely listens to the message and does not live it out is like someone who looks at / gazes at his own face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away / on going away / then goes out and immediately forgets what he looks like / they were like / what sort of person he was.
But whoever looks intently / looks / peers into the perfect law that gives freedom / the perfect law, the law of liberty / the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it / perseveres / fixes his attention there —not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it / being not hearers who forget but doers who act / does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out —they will be blessed in what they do.
Those who consider / think themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on / bridle their tongues deceive themselves / their hearts, and their religion is worthless / futile.
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless / is pure and undefiled before God, the Father: to look after / care for orphans and widows in their distress / misfortune and to keep oneself from being polluted / unstained by the world.
RELATED VERSES
Anger
A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Proverbs 15:1
Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared. Proverbs 22:24
Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. Psalms 37:8
“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands,that they may have something to share with those in need. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:26-32
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 1 Corinthians 13:4-6
But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Colossians 3:8
The Seed of the Word
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:10-11
Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you. Hosea 10:12
Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Matthew 13:18-23
Authentic Obedience
(Jesus telling a parable) What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, "Son, go and work today in the vineyard." "I will not," he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, "I will, sir," but he did not go. Which of the two did what his father wanted? “The first,” they answered. Matthew 21:28-31
And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. 2 John 1:6
Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. John 14:23-24
But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. Romans 6:17
As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” Luke 11:27=28
And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? Deuteronomy 10:12-13
Caring for Widows
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. Psalm 68:5
Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them. Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.”She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. Acts 9:39-40
Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. 1 Timothy 5:3-4
Purity versus Pollution
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Matthew 5:8
Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 2 Timothy 2:22
Like a muddied spring or a polluted well are the righteous who give way to the wicked. Proverbs 25:26
But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. ... Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Ephesians 5:3-5, 25b-27
Commentaries
The word planted in you suggests a metaphor from horticulture. Consonant with this is the fact that the words translated “the evil that is so prevalent” may refer to tangled undergrowth. James is painting a picture of the Lord's garden which the husbandman must keep. He must clear away the tangled undergrowth and a variety of noxious plants (moral filth). The robust growth that follows will exhibit the righteous life that God desires and will issue in salvation.
The word translated “humbly” has within it a certain nuance that suggests submissive restraint, “that self-subduing gentleness which is among the fruits of the Spirit” (Adamson, 81). In applying the metaphor, James directs that restraint be used in the area of speech and anger. How strong the impulse is to react to provocations with hurting words and fiery anger. On the other hand, listening and sorting out what one hears provides ingredients for cultivating the implanted word.
Attentive hearing is not an end in itself. “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (v. 22).
The Gospel is like a mirror. It creates awareness and reveals need. As the mirror prompts the viewer to action (to remove blemishes or enhance beauty), so the Gospel prompts a persistent application of self in pursuit of gracious acts.
The hearing of the Gospel introduces a new perspective in a person's religious experience. It is the perfect law that gives freedom (v. 25). Compared with the OT law as it was practiced, the Gospel offers a feeling of fulfillment by way of release from an enslaving law. It takes the spotlight off oneself alone and draws others into the circle of interest. The older law was reduced to ceremony (the facet of religion in v. 27), but the newer one is not realized unless it issues in deeds of service, especially to the most needy.
Because it is by the Word that we are begotten: let us be swift to hear it. “Slow to speak,” because there is so much sin in us that the less we speak the better. In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin. Great talkativeness is seldom dissociated from great sinfulness. “Slow to wrath.”
James 1:20. Slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
There is a tendency to grow angry with those who do not see the truth; but is it not a foolish thing to be angry with blind men because they do not see? What if you see yourself? Who opened your eyes? Give God the promise for what you see, and never think that your anger, your indignation, your hot temper, can ever work the righteousness of God. It is contrary thereto, and cannot work towards it.
James 1:21-23. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 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:
It is a good thing for him to do that, to see himself as others see him. “Beholding his natural face,” even as men in looking into the Word of God, behold the face of their nature; they see what they are like as they look into the glass.
James 1:24-26. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 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. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.
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