Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of James 1:22

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

22 25. Doers and Hearers

22. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only ] The thought is the same, though illustrated by a different similitude, as that of the closing verses of the Sermon on the Mount (Mat 7:24-28). The reference to the “hearers of the word” confirms the explanation given above of the Word of the Truth. It is not primarily the written word, for then we should have the “reader,” not the “hearer,” nor Christ as the Incarnate Word, but the spoken message from God to the soul of man “ Be ye doers;” literally, “ become,” as though life were a continued process of such “becoming,” the condition not being that in which men find themselves by nature.

deceiving your own selves ] The word is etymologically more definite than that commonly used for deceiving, and implies strictly the self-deception, if one may so speak, of bad logic. The hypocrite knew the major premiss; “The doers, not the hearers, are blessed,” but though conscience supplied the minor, “I am a hearer, not a doer,” he shut his eyes to it and failed to draw the conclusion. The use of the word in the LXX., as e. g. in Gen 31:7; Gen 31:41; Exo 8:29, shews, however, that it had come to be used in the general sense of “cheating” or “defrauding,” and it may be questioned, therefore, how far the special sense is to be pressed here.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only – Obey the gospel, and do not merely listen to it. Compare Mat 7:21.

Deceiving your own selves – It is implied here, that by merely hearing the word but not doing it, they would deceive their own souls. The nature of this deception was this, that they would imagine that that was all which was required, whereas the main thing was that they should be obedient. If a man supposes that by a mere punctual attendance on preaching, or a respectful attention to it, he has done all that is required of him, he is laboring under a most gross self-deception. And yet there are multitudes who seem to imagine that they have done all that is demanded of them when they have heard attentively the word preached. Of its influence on their lives, and its claims to obedience, they are utterly regardless.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Jam 1:22-25

Doers of the Word, and not hearers only

Doers, not hearers only

I.

THE EXHORTATION. The doers of the Word are those who are ruled by it, who practically comply with its requirements, who not only read, understand, and believe it, but submit to its authority, regulate their tempers and lives by its precepts. The term, too, is expressive of continuance, permanence. We must live and move in this element, we must find our occupation here the chief delight of our existence. It is only such doing that constitutes a doer of the Word. And not hearers only. This is what the apostle is anxious to guard against. Mark what it really is which he condemns. It is not being hearers–very far from that. It is the slopping short here, resting in it which he condemns. He finds no fault with those who are hearers, it is with those who are hearers simply and not doers. He adds, Deceiving your own selves. Whatever the foundation on which they build, whatever the process by which they reach the conclusion in their own favour–all who think well of themselves, who believe that they are Gods people, and on the way to heaven, while they are hearers only and not doers–all such must, and do delude themselves. They are helped to this result. The father of lies tries to persuade them that they are all right as to their spiritual character. He labours to hide from us the truth, and to draw us into the meshes of soul-ruining error.

II. THE ILLUSTRATION.

1. A picture of the mere hearer. He is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass–literally, the face of his birth, the countenance with which he was born–marking out the external, material sphere within which the figure lies, and suggesting all the more vividly the spiritual counterpart, the moral visage which belongs to us as the posterity of Adam, the sin-marred lineaments of the soul. He sees it with all its peculiarities, more or less pleasing, reflected in the glass before which he stands, there confronting him so that he cannot but note its features. The hearer of the gospel does something remarkably similar. In his case the glass, that into which he looks, is the Divine Word. It unfolds the corruption which has put its foul impress on every part of our being, the dark lusts and passions that hold sway within us, the features and workings of our carnal, enmity-possessed minds. It is the great business of the preacher to raise aloft the glass of Divine truth, to set forth faithfully alike the law and the gospel. The hearer does not thrust it away from him, and he turns not aside from it as do many. He does not withdraw to a distance, or push the mirror toward his neighbour. He looks into it more or less closely. The likeness varies greatly as to distinctness of outline and depth of impression. Self is in some measure presented to view and is recognised. The apostle proceeds with the comparison. The man having beheld himself, goeth his way, is off to his business or his pleasure, to meet his friends, or pursue his journey. He is soon engaged with other matters. In a few moments the appearance he presented is forgotten. The beholding in this ease corresponds to the hearing and its effects in the other. As the looker turns away from the glass, so does the mere hearer from the Word. The latter leaves the sanctuary, and the bodily departure is connected with a mental one far greater. The attention is relaxed, or rather drawn off, and directed toward an entirely different class of subjects. The mind goes back to its pursuit of lying vanities; and thus comes the deep and sad forgetfulness. Convictions fade away, feelings cool down, and the old security returns.

2. A picture of the real doer (verse 25). Here the comparison begins to be dropped. The figure and the thing represented, symbol and substance, blend together; no longer kept separate, they pass into each other. Observe what this man looks into. It is the perfect law of liberty. He calls it perfect. It is so in itself as the transcript of Gods perfect character, and as leading all who apprehend and use it aright forward to mans perfect stature. It is this alike in its nature and its effect. And it is the perfect law of liberty. It is a law of bondage to those who leek into it in its covenant form, and strive to earn heaven by their own merits. But in regeneration it is written on the heart, and the new creature is in harmony with it, delights in it, so that conformity to it is no longer a forced but a spontaneous thing. Thus he is free, not by being released from law, but by having it wrought into his being, made the moving, regulating power of his new existence. Notice, now, how this man deals with the mirror thus described. Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty. We have here a different word from that which expresses the beholding in the former instance. It signifies to stoop down and come close to an object so as to see it clearly and fully. It points to a near, minute, searching inspection. And, in this ease, it is not a temporary exercise. The eyes are not soon averted and directed to other objects. For it is added, and continueth therein–continueth still looking into the perfect law, meditating on its requirements, seeking to understand their nature and feel their power. He is arrested, and cannot turn his steps or his eyes towards other objects. This is characteristic of every one truly subdued by the inspired Word. He continues and the effect appears. Such a man is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work. He remembers the truth apprehended, and strives to reduce it to practice. It sets all his powers of mind and body in motion. He is a doer of the work, or literally of work, pointing not to this or that act of obedience, but to a constant, thorough, loving, free course of service. In all things he aims at doing the will of God, and he so far succeeds. This man–emphatically, not the other, not any other–this man, he, he alone–shall be blessed in his deed or his doing. He shall be blessed, not only after or through his doing, not merely on account of it or by means of it, but in his doing. Obedience is its own reward. It yields an exquisite satisfaction, and, while it leads on in a heavenward progress, draws down large foretastes of the fulness of joy, the rivers of pleasure, which are at Gods right hand for evermore. (John Adam.)

Two sorts of hearers

James has no speculations. He is not satisfied with the buds of hearing, he wants the fruits of obedience. We need more of his practical spirit in this age. Preachers must preach as for eternity, and look for fruit; and hearers must carry out what they hear, or otherwise the sacred ordinance of preaching will cease to be the channel of blessing.

I. THE UNBLEST CLASS.

1. They are hearers, but they are described as hearers who are not doers. They have heard a sermon on repentance, but they have not repented. They have heard the gospel cry, Believe! but they have not believed. They know that he who believes purges himself from his old sins, yet they have had no purging, but abide as they were, Now, if I address such let me say to them–it is clear that you are and must be unblest. Hearing of a feast will not fill you; hearing of a brook will not quench your thirst. The knowledge that there is a shelter from the storm will not save the ship from the tempest. The information that there is a cure for a disease will not make the sick man whole. No: boons must be grasped and made use of if they are to be of any value to us.

2. Next, these hearers are described as deceiving themselves. You would very soon quit my door, and call me inhospitable, if I gave you music instead of meat; and yet you deceive yourselves with the notion that merely hearing about Jesus and His great salvation has made you better men. Or, perhaps, the deceit runs in another line: you foster the idea that the stern truths which your hear do not apply to you.

3. And then, again, according to our text, these people are superficial hearers. They are said to be like to a man who sees his natural face in a glass. When a g]ass is first exhibited to some fresh discovered negro tribe, the chieftain as he sees himself is perfectly astonished. He looks, and looks again, and cannot make it out. So is it in the preaching of the Word; the man says, Why, those are my words; that is my way of feeling. To see yourself as God would have you see yourself in the glass of Scripture is something, but you must afterwards go to Christ for washing or your looking is very superficial work.

4. The text accuses these persons of being hasty hearers–he beholdeth himself and goeth his way. They never give the Word time to operate, they are back to business, back to idle chit-chat, the moment the service ends.

5. One other thing is said about them, namely, that they are very forgetful hearers–they forget what manner of men they are. They have heard the discourse, and there is an end of it. That travelling dealer did well who, while listening to Mr. William Dawson, when he was speaking about dishonesty, stood up in the midst of the congregation and broke a certain yard measure with which he had been in the habit of cheating his customers. That woman did well who said that she forgot what the preacher talked about, but she remembered to burn her bushel when she got home, for that too had been short in measure. You may forget the words in which the truth was couched, if you will, but let it purify your life. It reminds me of the gracious woman who used to earn her living by washing wool. When her minister called upon her and asked her about his sermon, and she confessed she had forgotten the text, he said, What good could it have done you? She took him into her back place where she was carrying on her trade. She put the wool into a sieve, and then pumped on it. There, sir, she said, your sermon is like that water. It runs through my mind, sir, just as the water runs through the sieve; but then the water washes the wool, sir, and so the good word washes my soul. Thus I have described certain hearers, and I fear we have many such in all congregations; admiring hearers, but all the while unblest hearers, because they are Hot doers of the work. One thing they lack–they have no faith in Christ. It does surprise me how some of you can be so favourable to everything that has to do with Divine things, and yet have no personal share in the good treasure. What would you say of a cook who prepared dinners for other people and yet died of starvation? Foolish cook, say you. Foolish hearer, say

I. Are you going to be like. Solomons friends the Tyrians, who helped to build the temple and yet went on worshipping their idols?

II. BLESSED HEARERS–those who get the blessing.

1. Now, notice that this hearer who is blest is, first of all, an earnest, eager, humble hearer. He does not look upon the law of liberty and go his way, but he looketh into it. He hears of the gospel, and he says, I will look into this. There is a something here worth attention. He stoops and becomes a little child that he may learn. He searches as men do who are looking after diamonds or gold. That is the right kind of hearer–an earnest listener whose senses are all aroused to receive all that can be learned.

2. It is implied, too, that he is a thoughtful, studious, searching hearer–he looks into the perfect law. He is sacredly curious. He inquires; he pries. He asks all those who should know. He likes to get with old Christians to hear their experience. He loves to compare spiritual things with spiritual, to dissect a text and see how it stands in relation to another, and to its own parts, for he is in earnest when he hears the Word.

3. Looking so steadily he discovers that the gospel is a law of liberty: and indeed it is so. There is no joy like the joy of pardon, there is no release like release from the slavery of sin, there is no freedom like the liberty of holiness, the liberty to draw near to God.

4. But it is added that he continues therein. If you hear the gospel and it does not bless you, hear it again. If you have read the Word of God and it has not saved you, read it again. It is able to save your soul.

5. Lastly, it is added that this man is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the Word, and he shall be blessed in his deed. Is he bidden to pray? He prays as best he can. Is he bidden to repent? He asks God to enable him to repent. He turns everything that he hears into practice. I remember reading of a certain person who heard of giving a tenth of our substance to God. Well, said he, that is right, and I will do it: and he kept his promise. He heard that Daniel drew near to God three times a day in prayer. He said, That is right; I will do it; and he practised a threefold approach to the throne of grace each day. He made it a rule every time he heard of something that was excellent to practise it at once. Thus he formed holy habits and a noble character, and became a blessed hearer of the Word. (C. H.Spurgeon.)

The Word of words

I. The Word As MERELY HEARD.

1. It is only superficially known.

2. It leaves men in self-ignorance.

II. THE WORD RIGHTLY PRACTISED.

1. It is thoroughly investigated.

2. It confers the highest blessing.

(1) Imparts complete liberty.

(2) Ensures constant happiness. (U. R. Thomas.)

Hearing and doing

I. THE IMPORTANCE OF HEARING THE WORD.

1. The Word tells us whence we are.

2. The Word tells us what we are.

3. The Word tells us how to get rid of sin.

4. The Word helps us to form character for heaven.

II. THE GREATER IMPORTANCE OF DOING THE WORD.

1. Hearing is but the preliminary of doing.

2. Hearing can never shake off the load of sin; while doing lays the burden upon Christ.

3. In the all-important work of cultivating character, mere hearing hardens and distorts; while doing the will of God is the way to become like Him.

4. Doing the will of God is the only adequate test of love, which is the essence both of religion and salvation. (J. T. Whitley.)

The danger of mistaking knowledge for obedience

1. Knowledge without obedience ends in nothing. This is the folly which our Lord rebukes in the parable of the man that built his house upon the sand.

2. It inflicts a deep and lasting injury upon the powers of our spiritual nature. In childhood, boyhood, manhood, the same sounds of warning, and promise, and persuasion, the same hopes and fears, have fallen on a heedless ear, and a still more heedless heart: they have lost their power over the man; he has acquired a settled habit of hearing without doing. The whole force of habit–that strange mockery of nature–has reinforced his original reluctance to obey.

3. It is an arch-deceiver of mankind. It deceives the man into the belief that he really is what he so clearly knows he ought to be. Again, there are men who can never speak of religious truth without emotion; and yet, though their knowledge has so much of fervour as to make them weep, it has not power enough to make them deny a lust.

4. This knowing and disobeying, it is that makes so awful the responsibilities of Christians. Knowledge is a great and awful gift: it makes a man partaker of the mind of God; it communes with him of the eternal will, and reveals to him the royal law of Gods kingdom. To hold this knowledge in unrighteousness, to imprison it in the stifling hold of an impure, a proud, or a rebellious heart, is a most appalling insult against the majesty of the God of truth. (Archdeacon Manning.)

Profitless hearing

The necessity of good preaching is well understood among men. The importance of good hearing is not so well understood. To render the message effective, it is not enough that the former be furnished. Be it as faultless as was the preaching of the Son of God, a man may sit under it and go from it totally unbenefited. It leaves on his heart the impression, not of the seal upon the plastic wax, but such an impression as the face makes upon the mirror which for a moment reflects its features–transient as the glancing sunbeam. It therefore becomes an imperative duty to keep clearly before the minds of our hearers their liability to the danger of rendering the gospel ministry wholly ineffectual for good to themselves.

I. THE VACANT HEARER. Gods Word is weighty truth. Its topics are Gods nature, acts, the human soul, its condition, responsibilities, destiny. The subjects of its principal concern lie not on the surface of things, to be grasped without an effort. But whether simple or recondite, its teachings will teach him nothing who will not meet that demand of intellectual attention which instruction on any theme necessarily imposes on the learner. There are many such vacant listeners in Gods house. With some it is a constitutional mental sluggishness, a mind untaught to reflect. But with many more it is an aversion of heart to religious thought, which arms the will against it. Add also the many who bring the world with them into Jehovahs temple, and there worship Mammon instead of God.

II. THE CURIOUS HEARER. This spirit brings the attention to bear upon a subject, but merely to dissect, to criticise. It is an active spirit far removed from the unconcernedness of the vacant hearer, and the sanctuary affords a favourite scene for its exercise. It may employ itself upon the subject of discourse, and enjoy the pleasure of remarking the beauties, the well-timed proprieties of its presentation; or, more commonly, it may busy itself with taking exceptions at the taste, or the judgment, which has guided the selection or treatment of the theme. Or the attention fastens itself upon the manner of the preacher, forgetful from whose court the speaker holds his commission, and what words of life and death hang on his lips.

III. THE CAPTIOUS HEARER. Here the attention is excited, only to be turned against the teachings of religion. There are those who occasionally attend upon Gods worship, as they sometimes read His Word, for no other end but to cavil, to deny, to oppose. Their business is just what was that of some in former days, in whose hearts Satan reigned; who followed Christs ministrations for the–shall I say, magnanimous or pitiful–purpose to catch Him in His words! But sometimes, where the mind likes not to confess itself sceptical upon the subject of Christian doctrine, it covers its hostility to this by a very ingenious, not ingenuous transfer of its dislikes to the announcer of this doctrine.

IV. THE FASHIONABLE HEARER. The Sabbath is welcomed, as it helps them to show off an equipage more elegant than some rivals; or to display to advantage their personal attractions. Their own proud selves are the centres round which every thought revolves.

V. THE SPECULATING HEARER. I use this phrase in its mercantile sense, to indicate those whose selfishness leads them to make a pecuniary gain of godliness. These visit the sanctuary to further their business facilities. It is respectable to attend Divine worship. The influential, the wealthy, the intelligent, are found there, at least once on the Sabbath. And he submits to the irksomeness of a weekly visit to this uncomgenial spot as a cheap price for the custom, the patronage of the community. On the whole, it is to him a fair business transaction. A similar conduct is theirs who sustain the gospel because of the pecuniary value of churches and ministers to any community. These have their secular advantages. Truth and piety should be prized for more spiritual reasons than these. They refuse their choicest blessings to such sordid calculators.

VI. THE SELF-FORGETFUL HEARER. Many never listen to a sermon which reproves, rebukes, exhorts, for their own benefit. They may indeed listen; but it is with a keen sense of their neighbours defects, not their own.

VII. THE PRAYERLESS HEARER. Without prayer, earnest, habitual, personal, Gods Spirit will not visit your bosom with life-imparting grace. A prayerless hearer of truth must, therefore, be an unblessed hearer. He turns the ministry of mercy into a ministry of condemnation.

VIII. THE UNRESOLVED HEARER. The communications of God to man all relate to action. They direct to duty. They aim not to amuse, to surprise, or to instruct, but to produce a voluntary movement of mans moral powers in the path by them indicated. They bring their unseen influences to bear upon his rational faculties to secure compliance with their demands, and in effecting, by Gods grace, this object they secure the salvation of his soul. But this they never do effect except through his deliberate purpose of willing obedience. (J. T. Tucker.)

Necessity of adding doing to hearing

I. THE CHARACTER OF THOSE WHO MAY BE SAID TO BE HEARERS ONLY.

1. The inattentive hearer (Heb 2:1; Deu 32:46). He who never intends being a doer of what he hears will probably little regard what he hears.

2. The inconsiderate hearer, that never ponders what he hears, nor compares one thing with another.

3. The injudicious shearer, that never makes any judgment upon what he hears, whether it be true or false; all things come alike to him.

4. The unapprehensive hearer, who hears all his days, but is never the wiser 2Ti 3:7). No light comes into him.

5. The stupid, unaffected hearer that is as a rock and a stone under the Word. Nothing enters or gets within.

6. The prejudiced, disaffected hearers, who hear with dislike, especially those things which relate to practice; they cannot endure such things as relate to the heart.

7. The fantastical, voluptuous hearers, that hear only to please their fancy; flashes of wit are what they come to hear.

8. The notional hearers, who only aim merely to please their fancy; they come to learn some kind of novelty.

9. Those talkative persons, who only come to hear that they may furnish themselves with notions for the sake of discourse.

10. The censorious and critical hearers; who come not as doers of the law, but as judges.

11. The malicious hearers that come on purpose to seek an advantage against those they come to hear.

12. The raging, exasperated hearers; such were Stephens at his last sermon.

II. WHAT IT IS TO BE A DOER OF THE WORD.

1. It doth suppose a fixed design that this shall be my course (Psa 119:106; Psa 119:112).

2. It carries with it a serious applying of our minds to understand what is the mind and will of God which is held forth to us in His Word.

3. It implies the use of our judgment in hearing the Word, in order to distinguish what is human and what is Divine.

4. It requires reverence to be used in hearing: so to hear as that we may be doers requires a revere, dial attendance upon it. Considering it as a revelation come from heaven.

5. To be a doer of the Word supposes that we believe it; or that our hearing of it is mingled with faith. The Word of God worketh effectually in thrum that believe (1Th 2:13; Heb 4:2; Heb 11:1; Rom 1:16).

6. It requires love. It is said of some that they received not the love of the 2Th 2:10; Psa 119:97; Psa 119:105; Jer 15:16).

7. It requires subjection: a compliance of the heart with it. Receive with meekness (verse. 21). The gracious soul is always ready to say, Good is the Word of the Lord.

8. It requires a previous transformation of the heart by it. The Word can never be done by the hearer, but from a vital principle.

9. It requires also a faithful remembrance of it (verses 23, 24).

10. There must be an actual application of all such rules in the Word to present cases as they occur (Psa 119:11).

III. THE SELF-DECEPTION OF THOSE WHO ARE HEARERS OF THE WORD, AND NOT DOERS OF IT.

1. Wherein they are deceived.

(1) They are deceived in their work. They commonly think they have done well; find no fault with themselves that they have been hearers only.

(2) As to their reward they are also deceived; their labour is lost.

2. The grossness of this deception.

(1) They are deceived in a plain case. It is the plainest thing in the world that the gospel is sent for a practical end.

(2) It is a self-deception. They are said to deceive themselves: they impose on themselves. It is soul-deception: Deceiving your own souls.

APPLICATION:

1. In the very hearing of the Word there is danger of self-deception.

2. The whole business of the gospel hath a reference to practice.

3. If ye would be doers of the Word, Be swift to hear: faith cometh by hearing.

4. It is of the greatest consequence to add doing to hearing (Mat 7:24-27). (T. Hannam.)

Hearing and doing

You have heard, let me suppose, an eloquent sermon on alms-giving, or on loving ones neighbour as ones self. You have been so moved that you resolve to commence a new habit of life. Well, you begin to give to the poor, and you soon find that it is very hard so to give as not to encourage indolence, vice, dishonesty, very hard to do a little good without doing a great deal of harm. You are brought to a stand, and compelled to reflect. But if the word you heard really laid hold upon you, if you are persuaded that it is the will of God that you should give to the poor and needy, you do not straightway leave off giving to them. You consider how you may give without injuring them, without encouraging either them or their neighbours in habits of laziness and dependence. Again and again you make mistakes. Again and again you have to reconsider your course, and probably to the end of your days you discover no way of giving that is quite satisfactory to you. But while you are thus doing the word, is it possible for you to forget it? It is constantly in your thoughts. You are for ever studying how you may best act on it. So far from forgetting the word, you are always learning more clearly what it means, and how it may be applied beneficially and with discretion. Or suppose you have heard the other sermon on loving ones neighbour, and set yourself to do that word of God. In the home, we may hope, you have no great trouble in doing it, though even there it is not always easy. But when you go to business, and try, in that, to act on the Divine commandment, do you find no difficulty there? Now that is not easy. In many eases it is not easy even to see how the Christian law applies, much less to obey it. If, for instance, you are rich enough, or generous enough, to give your work-people higher wages than other masters give or can afford to give, you may at once show a great love for one class of your neighbours, and a great want of love for another class. Thus, in many different ways, the very moment you honestly try to love your neighbours all round as you love yourself, you find yourself involved in many perplexities, through which you have carefully to pick your way. You have to consider how the Christian law bears on the complex and manifold relations of social life, how you may do the word wisely and to good effect. But can you forget the commandment while you are thus assiduously seeking both to keep it and how to keep it? It is impossible. The more steadfastly you are the doer of it, the more constantly is it in your mind, the mine clearly do you know what it means and how it may be obeyed. (S. Cox, D. D.)

Hearing and doing

Here we reach the main thought of the Epistle–the all-importance of Christian activity and service. The essential thing, without which other things, however good in themselves, become insignificant, or even mischievous, is conduct. Suffering injuries, poverty, and temptations, hearing the Word, teaching the Word, faith, wisdom Jam 1:2; Jam 1:9; Jam 1:12; Jam 1:19; Jam 2:14-26; Jam 3:13-17), are all of them excellent; but if they are not accompanied by a holy life, a life of prayer and gentle words and good deeds, they are valueless. Be ye doers of the Word. Both verb and tense are remarkable (): Become doers of the Word. True Christian practice is a thing of growth; it is a process, and a process which has already begun, and is continually going on. We may compare, Become ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves (Mat 10:16); Therefore become ye also ready (Mat 24:44); and Become not faithless, but believing (Joh 20:27). Become doers of the Word ismore expressive than Be doers of the Word, and a good deal more expressive than Do the Word. A doer of the Word ( ) is such by profession and practice; the phrase expresses a habit. But one who merely incidentally performs what is prescribed may be said to do the Word. By the Word is meant what just before has been called the implanted Word and the Word of truth (Jam 1:18; Jam 1:21), and what in this passage is also called the perfect law, the law of liberty (verse 25), i.e., the gospel. The parable of the sower illustrates in detail the meaning of becoming an habitual doer of the implanted Word. And not hearers only. St. James, in the address which he made to the Council of Jerusalem, says, Moses from generations of old hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath (chap. 15:21). The Jews came with great punctiliousness to these weekly gatherings, and listened with much attention to the public reading and exposition of the law; and too many of them thought that with that the chief part of their duty was performed. This, St. James tells them, is miserably insufficient, whether what they hear be the law or the gospel, the law with or without the illumination of the life of Christ. Being swift to hear (verse 19) and to understand is well, but apart from works it is barren. It is the habitual practice in striving to do what is heard and understood that is of value. Not a hearer that forgetteth, but a doer that worketh is blessed, and blessed in his doing. To suppose that mere hearing brings a blessing is deluding your own selves. The word here used for deluding ( ) does not necessarily imply that the fallacious reasoning is known to be fallacious by those who employ it. To express that we should rather have the word which is used in 2Pe 1:16 to characterise cunningly devise fables (). Here we are to understand that the victims of the delusion do not, although they might, see the worthlessness of the reasons upon which their self-contentment is based. It is precisely in this that the danger of their position lies. Self-deceit is the most subtle and fatal deceit. The Jews have a saying that the man who hears without practising is like a husbandman who ploughs and sows, but never reaps. Such an illustration, being taken from natural phenomena, would be quite in harmony with the manner of St. James; but he enforces his meaning by employing a far more striking illustration. He who is a hearer and not a doer is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror. The spoken or written Word of God is the mirror. When we hear it preached, or study it for ourselves, we can find the reflection of ourselves in it, our temptations and weaknesses, our failings and sins, the influences of Gods Spirit upon us, and the impress of His grace. It is here that we notice one marked difference between the inspiration of the sacred writers and the inspiration of the poet and the dramatist. The latter show us other people to the life; Scripture shows us ourselves. Through hearing or reading Gods Word our knowledge of our characters is quickened. But does this quickened knowledge last? does it lead to action, or influence our conduct? Too often we leave the church or our study, and the impression produced by the recognition of the features of our own case is obliterated. We straightway forget what manner of men we are, and the insight which has been granted to us into our own true selves is just one more wasted experience. But this need not be so, and in some cases a very different result may be noticed. Instead of merely looking attentively for a short time, he may stoop down and pore over it. Instead of forthwith going away, he may continue in the study of it. And instead of straightway forgetting, he may prove a mindful doer that worketh. He who does this recognises Gods Word as being the perfect law, the law of liberty. The two things are the same. It is when the law is seen to be perfect that it is found to be the law of liberty. So long as the law is not seen in the beauty of its perfection it is not loved, and men either disobey it or obey it by constraint and unwillingly. It is then a law of bondage. But when its perfection is recognised men long to conform to it; and they obey, not because they must, but because they choose. To be made to work for one whom one fears is slavery and misery; to choose to work for one whom one loves is freedom and happiness. The gospel has not abolished the moral law; it has supplied a new and adequate motive for fulfilling it. Being not a hearer that forgetteth. Literally, having become not a hearer of forgetfulness, i.e., having by practice come to be a hearer, who is characterised, not by forgetfulness of what he hears, but by attentive performance of it. A hearer of forgetfulness exactly balances, both in form and in thought, a doer of work; and this is well brought out by the Revisers, who turn both genitives by a relative clause: a hearer that forgetteth, and a doer that worketh. This man shall be blessed in his doing. Mere knowledge without performance is of little worth: it is in the doing that a blessing can be found. The danger against which St. James warns the Jewish Christians of the Dispersion is as pressing now as it was when he wrote. Never was there a time when interest in the Scriptures was more keen or more widely spread, especially among the educated classes; and never was there a time when greater facilities for gratifying this interest abounded. But it is much to be feared that with many of us the interest in the sacred writings which is thus roused and fostered remains to a very large extent a literary interest. We are much more eager to know all about Gods Word than from it to learn His will respecting ourselves, that we may do it; to prove that a book is genuine than to practise what it enjoins. We study lives of Christ, but we do not follow the life of Christ. We pay Him the empty homage of an intellectual interest in His words and works, but we do not the things which He says. (A. Plummer, D. D.)

Knowledge and duty

It has been said of St. James that his mission was rather that of a Christian Baptist than a Christian apostle. A deep depravity had eaten into the heart of the national character, and this, far more than any outward cause, was hastening on their final doom. The task, therefore, which fell to the lot of that apostle, in whom the Jew and the Christian were inseparably blended, and who stands in the unique position midway between the old dispensation and the new, was above all things to prolong the echo of that Divine Voice which in the Sermon on the Mount had first asserted the depth and unity of the moral law. In St. Jamess view the besetting peril of the spiritual life was the divorce of knowledge and duty: To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, he says, it is sin. And you see how he enforces this lesson in the text by a fresh and striking illustration of his own. He is contemplating, perhaps experiencing some barbarian who, in days when a mirror was a rare and costly luxury among civilised nations, happened for the first time to see his face reflected in one. What would be the effect upon the mind of the man? First, no doubt amusement at a new discovery, and then recognition of identity in a way undreamed of before. And yet the impression, however sharp and startling, would be but temporary; unless renewed it would soon vanish away. Remove a savage into some centre of culture, and you may indeed quicken his intelligence by the sudden shock of contact with the efforts and appliances of civilised life; but let him return to his old surroundings, and presently no trace will be found in his habits, and little enough in his memory, of the spectacle set before him. Stimulated faculties subside again to the old level; full of amazement and admiration to-day, he sinks tomorrow into his wonted apathy and ignorance. Such, according to St. James, is the moral effect of hearing the Word without acting upon it. The clearest revelation of character photographed upon the soul by the Divine Sun of the spiritual world, and therefore intensely vivid and true at the time, will inevitably vanish unless it is fixed by obedience. The Bible, so rich in illustration of all moral strength and weakness, presents us with a striking example of insight into duty absolutely disconnected with performance of duty; it describes to us a man who had the very clearest intuition of Gods will, and yet remained totally untouched by what he knew. Balaam had an open eye, but an itching palm; a taste for heavenly things, but a stronger love for earthly things; he could be rapped out of his lower self to behold the image of the Almighty, and listen to the announcement of His will; but that sublime revelation left not a trace upon his own soul. It is that which may be safely predicted not of rare geniuses alone, but of men of ordinary mould. It is the sure Nemesis wherever the light flashed in is not suffered to guide, wherever there is an eye clear enough to see the better with heart gross enough to choose the worse. But let us come back to the searching language of the apostle. Has there not been in the personal experience of many of us something very like what he here describes–I mean a time when Gods Word suddenly became to us what it had never been before–a bright gospel mirror, imaging to us our own likeness with a startling distinctness–showed us to ourselves as God sees us, with every intent of our heart, every recess of our character laid bare? It seemed as if this new knowledge would be itself a safeguard against relapsing into the sins we saw so clearly and deplored so sincerely. Remembering the degraded features of the old man, which is corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts, the lust of pride, of evil temper, of impurity, covetousness, of unbelief, we could not imagine ourselves capable of being lowered again into fellowship with things so hateful; and turning from this dark picture of self to that other mirrored in the Divine Word by its side in all the spotless beauty of holiness, it seemed as if this alone could satisfy the new-born aspiration of the soul. What has become of the impression of that memorable hour? To know and not to do, to have the heavenly vision without being obedient to it, this is enough to account for the loss of that knowledge which was once so clear and seemed likely to be so lasting. Ah! which of us does not know full well, when he is true to himself, that just in proportion as he has forgotten what Gods Word once told him about himself, it is to this he must trace his forgetfulness? One act of carelessness, one act of disobedience after another, one weak compliance after another, has enfeebled discernment and confused memory, and to-day he knows not what he was, or what he is, or what God would have him to be. Deceiving your own selves, says the apostle. Yes; there is no snare more perilous than that which we lay for ourselves when we stop short at the discovery of our own imperfections and sins. It is so easy to be a hearer, so easy to rest in a taste for religion, to take credit to ourselves for the interest we feel in expositions of truth, to have the notions, theories, doctrines, and ritual of religion, and yet to live on from day to day without prompt obedience, apart from which the closest familiarity with sacred things is worse than useless. Deceiving your own selves. It is quite possible to have forfeited a power which we imagine to be still ours, and simply because we have failed to use it. Spiritual blindness is the penalty of wasted light; it is the penalty which ever waits upon ineffectual seeing. Such a revelation as God has given, when His Word mirrors our natural face to us, is no casual opportunity; it is the gift of His grace, and it involves the deepest responsibility on the part of each who receives it. As soon as we neglect it the disposal of it begins to pass out of our hands. Gods law is that as soon as you let it be idle you forfeit your title to it, and before you know it, it shall be utterly and irrevocably gone. (Canon Duckworth.)

Hearing and doing

I. THE FATHER SPEAKS (Jam 1:18; Jam 1:21; Jam 1:24-25). We have a clearly-spoken Word, the Word of truth, an implanted Word, a law perfect and liberating. My Fathers Word I and it is like Him! A life-giving Word: in it, God, who raiseth the dead, works by His renewing Spirit to summon out of their spiritual graves His innumerable children; of His own will begat He us with the Word of truth. My Fathers Word I and it is like Him! Who by searching can exhaust it? It will stand looking into (Jam 1:25). Let us be found bending over it, searching into it, meditating on it day and night: delight thyself in the law of the Lord. My Fathers Word t and it is like Him! It is the kingly Word of the King of kings–the royal law–the perfect law. Obeyed, this law is perfection, for the law lived out is the life of Christ. And the world under its sway would be a perfect world. My Fathers Word! and it is like Him! The law that makes free, the law that is for free souls, the law of love that casts out fear, that binds me to my Fathers heart and shows that man is my brother; the law of life and love that lifts me above the slaves cowering service; the full, sweet, comforting Word, freeing me when in Christ from all condemnation, from all fear of men, of death and the future.

II. THE CHILD HEARS. Obedience is the proof of the new birth. As the prerogative of the Father is to speak out His will, which is law, so the privilege of the child is to hear His Fathers good pleasure. I will hear what God the Lord will speak. In this filial hearkening are found three marked and distinguishing features.

1. There is, first, the attentive silence of warmest affection (Jam 1:20). The thoughtful and loving child will be swift to hear, slow to speak.

2. The child will hear with the filial submissiveness of true humility.

3. The child will hear with eager desire and honest efforts to fulfil the Fathers law. Sonship and service are proportionate–as the son, so is the service. The perfect Son yielded the perfect service. The truer and higher our childhood, the truer and higher will be our obedience. We are not to hear merely to learn, but learn that we may live. Christianity is both a science and an art: it is exact hearing of exact truth, and the appropriate embodiment of that sublime truth in worthy forms.

III. THE OBEDIENT CHILD GROWS GODLIKE. The true hearer becomes a joy to the brokenhearted and strength to the weak (Jam 1:27). Can it be otherwise when we sit at His feet who is a husband to the widow and a Father to the fatherless? (J. S. Macintosh, D. D.)

Hearing and doing

1. Hearing is good, but should not be rested in. They that stay in the means are like a foolish workman, that contents himself with the having of tools.

2. The doers of the Word are the best hearers. The heaters life is the preachers best commendation. They that praise the man but do not practise the matter are like those that taste wines that they may commend them, not buy them. Others come that they may better their parts and increase their knowledge. Seneca observed of the philosophers, that when they grew more learned they were less moral. And generally we find now a great decay of zeal, with the growth of notion and knowledge, as if the waters of the sanctuary had put out the fire of the sanctuary, and men could not be at the same time learned and holy. Others hear that they may say they have heard; conscience would not be pacified without some worship: They come as My people use to do (Eze 33:31); that is, according to the fashion of the age. Duties by many are used as a sleepy sop to allay the rage of conscience. The true use of ordinances is to come that we may profit. Usually men speed according to their aim and expectation (1Pe 2:2; Psa 119:11). The mind, like the ark, should be the chest of the law, that we may know what to do in every ease, and that truths may be always present with us, as Christians find it a great advantage to have truths ready and present, to talk with them upon all occasions (Pro 6:21-22).

3. From that . DO not cheat yourselves with a fallacy or false argument. Observe that self-deceit is founded in some false argumentation or reasoning. Conscience supplieth three offices–of a rule, a witness, and a judge; and so accordingly the act of conscience is threefold. There is or a right apprehension of the principles of religion; so conscience is a rule: there is , a sense of our actions compared with the rule or known will of God, or a testimony concerning the proportion or disproportion that our actions bear with the Word: then, lastly, there is , or judgment, by which a man applieth to himself those rules of Christianity which concern his fact or state.

4. That men are easily deceived into a good opinion of themselves by their bare hearing. We are apt to pitch upon the good that is in any action, and not to consider the evil of it: I am a hearer of the Word, and therefore I am in good ease.

(1) Consider the danger of such a self-deceit: hearing without practice draweth the greater judgment upon you.

(2) Consider how far hypocrites may go in this matter. Well, therefore, outward duties with partial reformation will not serve the turn.

(3) Consider the easiness of deceit (Jer 17:9). Who can trace the mystery of iniquity that is in the soul? Since we lost our uprightness we have many inventions (Ecc 7:29). (T. Manton.)

Doers and non-doers

I. THE DOER.

1. Like every other practical man, he acts with a view to the attainment of some object. He acts intelligently, as a moral and responsible agent. Admitting the veracity and authority of the Word, he sets about thoroughly understanding it for one tiling, and then, guided by reason and conscience, he obeys its injunctions for another.

2. He pays strict obedience to the essential elements of active and daily engagements–earnestness, honesty, correctness, steady obedience, and watchfulness with respect to favourable opportunities.

3. There is another thing involved in the character we speak of, namely, the following of the guidance of infinite wisdom, and the being sustained by infinite power.

4. The deer of the Word fulfils his part, too, in the world of which he is an inhabitant. He is no clog on the wheel of Providence–no dead weight on the machinery of energetic and industrious employment. He does not become a fruitless and rotten branch upon the human tree; but his example is like the fresh and balmy air of the mountains, or like the blossom passing into a fuller and riper fruitfulness. But setting aside all figure, the life of such a person is a Divine purpose accomplished.

II. THE NON-DOER.

1. One of the chief features of this character is indifference to the great and solemn truths of the Christian religion.

2. Another feature of this character is forgetfulness.

3. Self-deception. (W. D. Horwood.)

Hearing without doing

I. The apostle speaks in the text of HEARERS ONLY. When are we so? It is when all the good we get ends with the hearing, and goes no further. This is easy work. It requires no self-denial, no dying to the world, no newness of heart and life. Are we hearers only?

1. We are surely so, if the Word of God which we hear does not separate us from our sin.

2. We are hearers only when the Word of God makes no more than a passing impression.

3. Another reason why so few of us who are hearers of the Word are doers of it also, is because faith is wanting–faith to receive it as the Word of God.

4. To faith must be added self-application. Place yourselves honestly in the light of Scripture. Let it bring to your own view the very secrets of your heart. Let your most besetting sin be judged by it. Let us be only brought to feel that we are labouring under a sickness which none but God can heal. Let us be fully persuaded of this, and then the Scriptures will be no longer a source of pain, but a comfort to us. For if they wound, they also have power to cure.

II. WHEN THE WORD OF GOD IS THUS APPLIED TO US IN SPIRIT AND IN POWER, THEN WE BECOME DOERS OF IT, AND NOT HEARERS ONLY.

III. BE YE THUS DOERS OF THE WORD, AND NOT HEARERS ONLY, DECEIVING YOUR OWN SELVES. What has our hearing, what has our religion done for us? Has it convinced us of our sin? humbled us before God? (E. Blencowe, M. A.)

Doing the Word

The admonition, Be ye doers of the Word, not hearers only. St. James having not in vain learned in the parable of Christ that the seed being cast into the four several grounds, yet fructifieth but in one only, and seeing by daily experience that many men make show of religion, but yet live careless in their conversation, showeth most notably what manner of hearers the gospel requireth, even such as hear not only, but do also. To do the Word is double.

1. To do it absolutely and perfectly, so that both the heart consent and the outward life answer fully to the law of God in perfect measure. To which doing God in the law did promise life (Lev 18:5). This no man can possibly perform; for what man ever could love God with a perfect heart, with all his soul, with his whole affection, strength, and power? What man ever loved his neighbour as himself? Where is he, and who is he, that continueth in all things that are written in the law to do them? The holy men of God, therefore, seeing themselves to come short of the doing of the Word and law in this matter and manner of doing, have, in the humility of their minds, accounted themselves as sinners, and therefore have confessed their transgressions before the Lord.

2. Seeing that no man is able thus to do the Word, there must some other kind of doing the Word be by St. James here required; therefore there is a doing of the Word and law under the gospel, when Christ, for us and our salvation, fulfilled the law in perfect measure, and therefore is called the fulfilling of the law to all that believe the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of sanctification, that thereby they, after some measure, may truly do His will, earnestly cleave unto His Word, faithfully believe His promises, unfeignedly love Him for His goodness, and fear Him with reverence for His mighty power. This performance of obedience offered to God must shine in the saints, which, as necessary in all professors of Gods Word, is joined with the hearing thereof (Mat 7:24; Mat 12:30; Luk 8:20; Luk 11:28). To hear or know, then, the Word of God, and not to do His will, prevaileth nothing. This knew the holy prophets, who therefore joined practice of the will and the hearing of the Word and law of God. This the holy angel in the Revelation, weighing and pronouncing them blessed only which join practice with hearing of the Word, breaketh out and crieth (Rev 1:3). Be ye doers of the Word, not hearers only. Of which admonition there are two reasons. The first is from detriment and hurt. They that hear only, and do not the Word also, are hurtful to themselves; for they deceive themselves in a vain persuasion, and thereby hurt themselves to their own juster condemnation. The second reason why we must be doers of the Word, not hearers only, is drawn from the use of the Word, which is to reform in us those things that are amiss; this profit and use we lose when we hear the Word only, and do not thereafter. This use of Gods law and Word Moses commendeth unto princes and people (Deu 17:18). This use was respected when he willed the Levites to teach the law unto the people (Deu 31:12). David, disputing the use and end of the law, maketh it the former of our manners, the director of our paths, the line and level of our life, and the guide of our ways to godliness (Psa 119:9). St. Paul affirmeth that all Scripture is inspired from above, and is profitable (2Ti 3:16) to teach such as are ignorant, to convince such as are repugnant, to correct such as err and wander in conversation, to instruct in righteousness–wherefore? to what end? to what use? to what purpose? Even thatthereby the man of God may be absolute and perfect to every good work. (R. Turnbull.)

The due receiving of Gods Word

The text is a severe caveat for the due receiving the Word of God. And it is framed in that manner as is like to be most effectual; and that is, by forewarning us of a great mischief that will befall us if we fail in the duty.

I. First, come we to THE DUTY PRESCRIBED. The duty presupposed. That we must be hearers. And because there are many things that wilt crave our audience, and the ear lies open to every voice (Ecc 1:8), therefore, in point of faith and religion, the apostle limits our hearing to the only and proper object, and that is the Word of God.

1. All our religious hearing must be conversant about this one thing, the Word of God. The text places us, like Mary, at Christs feet, commends unto us that one thing necessary.

(1) It is proper to the blessed Word to enlighten us and to acquaint us with the mind of God. This Word made David wiser than than his elders, for all their experience; it made him wiser than his teachers, for all their craft Psa 119:98-100).

(2) It is proper to this good Word of God to regenerate, to sanctify, and reform us (verse 18).

(3) Salvation–it is proper to this Word of God (Joh 5:39). Some sober truths may be in other words; but saving truth is only to be found in the Word of God.

2. Our attention and hearing of this blessed Word–it is enjoined us. It is no indifferent, arbitrary thing left to our own liking–come to it at your leisure, or stay at home at your pleasure–but imposed upon us by a strong obligation.

(1) It is enjoined us as a duty. It is the preface which God premises to His law, Hear, O Israel. Necessity is laid upon us, and woe be to us if we do not. So St. James (verse 19): Let every man be swift to hear. Swift, ready, quick, diligent, suffer not a word to fall to the ground.

(2) It is a weighty duty, not slightly to be esteemed. It is a great part of our religion. In it we make a real protestation of our allegiance and humble subjection, Which we owe to our God.

(3) It is a fundamental duty, the prime, original duty of our religion, the mother and nurse of all other duties which we owe to God. Hearing and receiving the Word, it is the inlet and entrance of all piety.

(4) It is a duty exceeding beneficial to us. Many rich and precious pro-raises are made to the due receiving of the Word of God. See two main ones in the context: It is an engrafted Word, able to alter and change our nature; of a wild crab-stock, it will make it a kindly plant. It sanctifies our nature, and makes it fructify. It is able to save our soul. Hear, and your soul shall live (Isa 4:1-6). There is in it a Divine power to free us from perdition, to give us entrance and admission into heaven.

(5) It is not only a duty and means to beget grace at first, but of perpetual use to increase and continue it. It is not only incorruptible seed to beget us 1Pe 1:23), but milk to nourish us (1Pe 2:2), not only milk, but strong meat to strengthen us (Heb 5:1-14.).

II. THE MISTAKE WE MUST BEWARE OF IN PERFORMING THIS DUTY. Hear we must, but we must not only hear. There are more duties than only hearing which we owe to this Word of God. Take it in these particulars:

1. Hearing is not the whole sum and body of religion; it is but a part only. The body of religion is like the natural body of a man; it consists of many members and parts. So religion consists of several services–hearing, praying, practising, doing holily, suffering patiently–it puts all graces to their due exercise. He cannot be accounted a man who is destitute of any vital or substantial part; nor can he go for a good Christian who wilfully fails in any of those holy duties that are required of him.

2. Hearing, as it is but one part of piety, so it is but the first part and step of piety, Now as he who only tastes meat and goes no further is far off from nourishment, because he stays at the beginning: or as he who travels must not only set out, but hold on, or he will not finish his journey, so in piety hearing is but the first step–a progress must be made in all other duties.

3. Hearing is a religious duty; but not prescribed for itself, but in reference and subordination to other duties. Like those arts that are called instrumental arts, and are only to fit us for other and higher performances, their use is only for preparation.

4. In comparison with the substantial parts of piety, bare hearing is but an easy duty. Indeed, to hear as we should do, attentively, reverently, devoutly, is a task of some pains, but yet of a great deal easier discharge than other duties are. Thus we see that only hearing of Gods Word falls short of our main duty, makes us no good Christians. It may be, we will grant, that the bare, outward bodily hearing of the Word may be justly reprovable; but yet we think if our hearing be attended with some commendable conditions, which we hope will be accepted and stand us in some stead. As–

(1) If it be a diligent hearing, constant, and assiduous upon all occasions. St. Paul tells of some that are always learning, and so would be taken for devout Christians, and yet he passeth an hard censure upon them.

(2) What if it be hearing with some proficiency, when we so hear as that we understand and grow in knowledge, and our mind is edified, such as do as Christ bids them do (Mat 15:10; Mar 13:14); such an hearing, we trust, will serve the turn. Even this great progress in knowledge, if thou stoppest there, will stand thee in no stead. Hell is full of such auditors; beware of it. Even this hearing, with proficiency in knowledge, if thou go no further, will fail thee at last.

(3) But what if our hearing go another step further, and so it be an affectionate hearing, that we hear the Word with great warmth of affection, sure then we are past danger. But a reverend hearing will not suffice if it stops there and comes short of practising. What if we bring with us another commendable affection in our hearing–the affection of joy, and gladness, and delight in hearing? As for those who are listless in this duty, who find no sweetness in the Word of God, we condemn them for unworthy auditors. Nay, not only such, but thou mayest hear the Word of God with joy, and yet if thou failest in point and obedience, thy religion is vain. But what if this hearing of the Word of God doth so much affect us that it begets many good motions in us, and we find ourselves inwardly wrought upon; then we conclude that we are right good auditors, and have heard to purpose. Ye may have sudden flashes, good moods, passionate wishes, nay, purposes and good intendments, at the hearing of Gods Word, and yet ye may miscarry. It is not purposes, but performances, that will bring us to heaven.

III. BE DOERS OF, THE WORD. And here comes in the conjunction of both duties–hearing and doing. These put together make up a good Christian. And great reason there is for this conjunction, to know and to perform. Not to hear nor know breeds a blind religion; we would be doing, but we know not what. To know and not to do breeds a lame religion; we see our way, but we walk not in it. Both are requisite to true religion (Pro 19:2). And if it hath knowledge without practice, it is never a whit the better. For as the bare knowledge of evil, if we do not practise it, makes us never the worse, so the knowing of good, if we do not practise it, makes us not the better.

1. The nature of religion requires it. What is religion? It is not a matter of contemplation, but of action. It is an operative, practical virtue. It is an art of holy living. It begets not a speculative knowledge swimming in the brain, but works devotion and obedience in the heart and life.

2. The Author of religion is represented in Scripture not as a Teacher or Doctor only, but as a Commander and Law-giver.

3. The subject of religion, wherein it is placed, is not so much the knowing part of our soul as the active part, the will and affections, which are the spring of practice. Religion is never rightly seated till it be settled in the heart, and from that flow the issues of life.

4. That religion is an holy art of life and practice, the summary description of religion in Scripture shows us (1Ti 6:3; 1Ti 3:16; 2Ti Act 24:16). Now, practical truths are best learned by practice; their goodness is best known by use and performance. As a rich and costly garment appears, then, most comely and beautiful, not when the workman hath made it, but when it is worn and put upon our body, so, saith Chrysostom, the Scripture appears glorious when it is by the preacher expounded; but far more glorious when by the people it is obeyed and performed. Without this doing what we hear, all our hearing is but in vain.

As eating of meat, except by the heat of the stomach it be digested and conveyed into all the parts of the body, will never support life, so it is not receiving the Word into our ears, but the transmitting of it into our lives that makes it profitable. Nay, hearing and knowing makes us much the worse if it ends not in doing, as meat taken into the stomach, if not well digested, will breed diseases.

IV. THE DANGER IF WE FAIL IN THIS DUTY, We deceive our own selves; thats the mischief.

1. They are deceived who place all their religion in bare hearing, let go all practice. They suffer a deceit in their opinion, run into a gross error. And that is a misery, were there no more but that in it. Man, naturally, is a knowing creature, abhors to be mistaken. As St. Augustine saith, he hath known many that love to deceive others; but to be deceived themselves, he never knew any. Now, they who think hearing of the Word is sufficient, without doing and practising, they show they utterly mistake the very nature and purpose of Gods Word, the use and benefit whereof is all in practice. The Word of God is called a Law. Give ear, O Israel, to My law. When the king proclaims a law to be observed, shall we think him a good subject who listens to it, or reads it over, or copies it out, or talks of it, but never thinks or cares to observe and obey it? The Word of God is called Seed. Were it not a gross error for an husbandman to buy seed-corn and store it up, and then let it lie, and never go about to sow his land with it? The Word is called Meat and Nourishment. Is not he foully deceived who, when he comes to a feast, will look upon what is set before him, commend it, or taste it only, and then spit it out, and never feed of it? Is this to feast it, only to look upon it, and never feed on it? St. James calls the Word a Looking-glass. A looking-glass is to show our spots, and what is amiss in us. Is not he deceived who thinketh it is only to gaze into, and never takes notice of any uncomeliness to amend and rectify it? The Word is the Physic of the Soul, the Balm of Gilead. Is not he deceived that shall take the prescript of a physician, and think all is well if he reads it and lays it up by him, or puts it in his pocket, and makes no other use of it? The Word is called the Counsel of God. What a vanity is it to listen to good counsel, and never to follow it? And this miscarriage, that they run into error and are foully mistaken, is a just punishment, pertinent unto them who will be only hearers and knowers of religion only. They are punished. They aim only at knowledge and rest in that, it is just they should be punished in that which they so much affected; that they should fail in that which they only aimed at. Instead of knowledge, they are fallen into error.

These hearers pride themselves in knowledge; they boast of their skill in the law; they are the only knowing Christians, none but they. As their forefathers the Pharisees spake (Joh 9:40). They are justly gulled and mistaken. These hypocritical hearers aim at deceiving of others. It is just that deceivers should be deceived. Impostors in religion should themselves be mistakers.

2. As they are deceived in their opinion, so they are deceived in their expectation. These Christians that are all ears and no hands, they promise great matters to themselves–Gods favour, and heaven itself–and hope to do as well as the most laborious practisers. Vain men! how will they be deceived and disappointed of their hopes? That is the first evil consequence–they are deceived. They are self-deceived; that is a second mischief, andthat is worse. It is ill to be deceived; but to be authors of our own errors and disappointments, to deceive ourselves, thats a double misery.

(1) They think to deceive God, to beguile Him with their empty shows of devotion. Thou wouldst hear Him, but not obey Him; He will hear thee too, but He will not answer thee.

(2) They think to deceive the minister, put him off with a bare hearing. As Gehazi thought to carry it cunningly, and to delude Elisha; but it will be found that they will cozen themselves.

(3) They think to deceive their neighbours, and by their seeming forwardness to delude them. Well, that imposture holds not always. There is never a counterfeit cripple but is sometimes seen walking without his crutches. The hypocrites vizor will sometime or other fall from his face and then he will appear in his true colours. There is some excuse to be over-reached by others; it makes the sin or error more pardonable. But who will pity him that cozens himself? Nay, such self-deceivers, they act a double part in sinning, and so shall undergo a double portion in punishment. The misleaders and misled shall both fall into the ditch.

3. They deceive themselves in a matter of the greatest moment and consequence; and that is worst of all. And such a deceit as this hath these three aggravations

It is a most shameful cozenage. Slight oversights are more excusable; but to miss in the greatest business, that is most ridiculous. This is the man who is cunning in trifles, but grossly deceiving himself in soul business. How shameful is that! The greatest loss–the loss of salvation–that is an estimable loss. It is an irrecoverable deceit. Other mistakes may be rectified; but he who cheats himself of his own soul and his heavenly inheritance is undone for ever. To have all our thoughts to perish, all our imaginations and hopes of going to heaven to be a mere delusion; not to be mistaken in some particulars, but in the end to be a fool! (Bp. Brownrig.)

Self-deceit of those who are hearers but not doers of the Word

I. By the Word we are to understand that which was delivered to mankind by the inspired messengers of God, and is transmitted to us in the books of the Old and New Testaments. In this it hath pleased the Most High God to declare His mind, and to reveal to us both Himself and His will. How men deceive themselves by being not doers of the Word, but hearers only.

1. They deceive themselves in supposing that what they do is acceptable to God, and conducive to the honour of His name. Wherefore do you hear the Word of God but that you may become acquainted with His will? And what is His will, but that you may become doers of His Word, and not hearers only? And if you neglect to do it, are you not acting in direct opposition to His will? and is not this directly contradictory to the very purpose for which you hear? And if you can persuade yourselves to think otherwise, are you not deceiving yourselves, and mocking and affronting, instead of serving and honouring, God?

2. If you do no good, be assured that you can receive no good from such hearing as this. Is a man at all the better for hearing of an advantageous bargain unless he makes it? Is a man at all nearer his journeys end for knowing the way thither unless he proceeds in it?

3. But the evil rests not here. For they, who are hearers only, and not doers of the Word, are so far from being placed by their knowledge in a better condition, that they are indeed placed in a worse. To have heard the will of God is a high aggravation of their crime in not doing it. It is to rebel against the light. (Bp. Mant.)

Self-deception of hearers

No self-deception is so universal as that which arises from hearing for the mere sake of hearing, without ever thinking of acting out in the life what is heard with the ear. On the lowest calculation of the number of places of worship in this country, there must be at least one hundred thousand sermons preached every Sunday. All these sermons are preached from texts taken from the Word of God, any one of which, if followed up with any care or faithfulness, would lead the person so following it up abreast of all the truths of the Christian religion, and yet how extremely small is the practical impression. (M. F.Sadler, M. A.)

Living the preaching

An expressive eulogy was pronounced by Martin Luther upon a pastor at Zwickau, in 1522, named Nicholas Haussmann. What we preach, said the great reformer, he lives.

Duty of hearers

At one time, when I was preaching for Father Taylor, he rose at the conclusion of the sermon, and said, If some things have been said that you do not understand, much has been said that you do understand: follow that. (Joseph Marsh.)

Hearing without mending

When the emperor himself (Constantine) was announced to preach, thousands flocked to the palace. He stood erect, with his head tossed back, and poured forth a torrent of facile eloquence, and the people applauded all his points. Now he denounced the follies of paganism, now it was the unity of Providence or the scheme of redemption that formed his theme; and often he would denounce the avarice and rapacity of his own courtiers. It was then observed that they all cheered lustily, but it was also noticed that they did not mend their ways.

Hearing with the conscience

Charles the First used to say of the preaching of one of his chaplains, afterwards Bishop Sanderson, ,I carry my ears to hear other peachers, but I carry my conscience to hear Mr. Sanderson and to act accordingly. (Isaac Walton.)

A man beholding his natural face in a glass

Self-realization

There is a very strange and suggestive contrast between the two senses in which it may be said that a man forgets himself. On the one hand the phrase is sometimes used to mark that high grace of sympathy or love whereby the desire and energy of the heart is transferred from the gratification of a mans own tastes to the pure service of his fellow-men: that true conversion, whereby the will is rescued from its original sin of selfishness and wholly set upon the glory of God and the good of those for whom His Son was crucified. But it is, surely, an inaccurate use of words to say of such an one that he forgets himself. For he only forgets his own wishes and pleasures and comfort, he forgets those things which other men gather round them and delight in until they seem essential to their very life; but all the while his true self is vividly and actively present in the labour which proceedeth of love; it goes freely out in unreserved devotion, only to come again with joy, enriched and strengthened both by the exercise of its affection and the answering love which it has won. So it has been well said that in the life of love we die to self; but the death is one not of annihilation but of transmigration. It is in the other sense of the common phrase that men do more truly forget themselves: when they so surrender their will to some blind impulse, some irrational custom, some animal craving, that for a while they seem driven as autumn leaves before the changing gusts, they know not how or whither. A man can live for days, and months, and years, without ever giving any reality or force to the knowledge that he is himself an immortal soul; without ever really feeling his essential separation from things visible, his independence of them, his distinct existence in himself, his power of acting for himself in this way or in that, his personal responsibility for his every choice end action. As he wakes in the morning, as he is regaining from the blind life of sleep the wonder of self-consciousness, at once the countless interests which await him in the coming day rush in upon him, there, in his own room, during the one half-hour, perhaps, when he can be alone in all his waking time, the distractions of the outer world are already around him. And so he goes forth to his work and to his labour until the evening; and all day long he is looking only at the things about him, he is committing the guidance and control of his ways to that blind and alien life which wavers and struggle around him, and of which he should rather be himself the critic and guide. We can never cancel the act whereby man became a living soul; we can never cease to be ourselves. But we can so turn away from self-knowledge, we can so forget ourselves and our responsibility, that this first and deepest truth of our being will no longer have its proper power in our lives. Such blurring of our own self-consciousness will always obscure and invalidate for us the evidences of Christianity, always hinder and imperil our progress in the life of faith. Let me try briefly to show the certainty and manner of this result by speaking of three chief points in the Christian revelation which essentially presume, and require for the very understanding of their terms, that we should know ourselves as personal and spiritual beings.

I. First, then, in the very front of Christianity, in the very name of Him whom the Church preaches and adores, is set the thought of our salvation from our sins. The fact of sin is to Christianity what crime is to law, what sickness is to medicine; if sin, it has been truly said, were not an integral feature of human life, Christianity would long ago have perished. Hence the consciousness, the appreciation of sin, is essential to any sufficient estimate of the claim which Christs message has upon our attention and obedience; even as it is necessary for the interpretation of almost every page throughout the Bible, and presupposed in psalms, and histories, and prophecies, and types. In the recognition of the enfeebled and perverted will, of the early promise unfulfilled, of early hopes obscured or cast away; in the presence of hateful memories; in the sense of conflict with desires which we can neither satisfy nor crush, and pleasures which at once detain and disappoint us; above all, in a certain fearful looking for of judgment, we begin to enter into that great longing, which, through all the centuries of history, has gone before the face of the Lord to prepare His way; and we learn to rise and welcome the witness of Him who cries that our warfare is accomplished end our iniquity is pardoned,

II. And secondly, in proportion as the consciousness of our personal and separate being grows clear and strong within us, we shall be able to enter more readily and more deeply into the Christian doctrine of our immortality; we shall be better judges of the evidence for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come: for it is as personal spirits that we shall rise again with our bodies and give account for our own works. It must be hard for us to give reality to this stupendous and all-transforming truth, so long as our thoughts and faculties are dissipated among things which know no resurrection, and interests which really shall for ever die. The message and the evidences of Christianity presuppose in us the clear sense of our own personality when they speak to us of- sin, and when they point us to a life beyond the grave; and we are fit critics of their claim in proportion as we can realise this, our deep and separate existence. It is when we recall ourselves from the scattered activity of our daily life; it is either when we have courage to go apart and stand alone and hear what the Lord God will say concerning us, or else when sickness or age has forced us into the solitude which we have always shunned: it is then that we know ourselves, and our need of a sufficient object in which the life of the soul may find its rest for ever. (Prof. F. Paget.)

The looking-glass

I. First, here is LOOKING INTO A GLASS. Looking into a glass is a trivial business. Is not this a hint at the light in which many regard the hearing of the gospel? Truly the burden of our lives is a pastime to some of you. Sirs, this reminds me of the fable of the frogs. When the boys stoned them, the poor creatures said, It may be sport to you, but it is death to us. You may hear me this day with the idlest curiosity, and judge my message with the coldest criticism; but if you do not receive the blessings of the gospel, it strikes a chill at my heart.

1. Upon my first head of looking into a glass let me say, that to every hearer the true Word of God is as a mirror. The thoughts of God, and not our own thoughts, are to be set before our hearers minds; and these discover a man to himself. The Word of the Lord is a revealer of secrets: it shows a man his life, his thoughts, his heart, his inmost self. A large proportion of hearers only look upon the surface of the gospel, and upon their minds the surface alone is operative. Yet even that surface is sufficiently effectual to reflect the natural face which looks upon it, and this may be of lasting service if rightly followed up. The reflection of self in the Word is very like life. You have, perhaps, seen a dog so astonished at his image in the glass that he has barked fiercely at himself. A parrot will mistake its reflection for a rival. Well may the creature wonder, since every one of its movements is so accurately copied; it thinks itself to be mocked. Under a true preacher men are often so thoroughly unearthed and laid bare that even the details of their lives are reported. Not only is the portrait drawn to the life, but it is an actually living portrait which is given in the mirror of the Word. There is little need to point with the finger, and say, Thou art the man, for the hearer perceives of his own accord that he is spoken of. As the image in the glass moves, and alters its countenance, and changes its appearance, so doth the Word of the Lord set forth man in his many phases, and moods and conditions. The Scripture of truth knows all about him, and it tells him what it knows. The glass of the Word is not like our ordinary looking-glass, which merely shows us our external features; but, according to the Greek of our text, the man sees in it the face of his birth; that is, the face of his nature. He that reads and hears the Word may see not only his actions there, but his motives, his desires, his inward condition.

2. Many a hearer does see himself in the mirror of the Word. He is thoughtful dining the discourse, he spies out the application of the truth to himself, and marks his own spots and blemishes. Oftentimes he sees himself so plainly that he grows astonished at what he sees. You have seen yourselves so unmistakably that you have been unable to escape from the truth, but have been filled with wonder at it. But what is the use of this, if it goes no further? Why should I show you your blots if you do not seek to the Lord Jesus to have them removed? Many of our hearers go somewhat further, for they are driven to make solemn resolves after looking at themselves. Yes, they will break off their sins by righteousness; they will repent; they will believe on the Lord Jesus; and yet their fine resolves are blown away like smoke, and come to nothing. Let us not resolve and re resolve, and yet die in our sins! But what follows? Observe, He beholdeth himself, and goeth his way.

3. Many hearers go away from what they have seen in the Word. Tomorrow morning he will be over head and ears in business; the shutters will be down from his shop-windows, but they will be put up to the windows of his soul. His office needs him, and therefore his prayer-closet cannot have him; his ledger falls like an avalanche over his Bible. The man has no time to seek the true riches; passing trifles monopolise his mind. Others have no particular business to engross them, but having seen themselves in the glass of the Word with some degree of interest, they go their way to their amusements. Alas! there are some who go their way to sin. I do not wonder that no good comes of such hearing as this. When a man seeth his face in the glass, and then goeth his way to defile that face more and more, of what use is the glass to him?

4. This going away is followed by forgetting all they have seen. The truth passes by them unappropriated, unpractised, and all because they take no earnest heed to make it their own by personal obedience to it. They are mere players with the Lords message, and never come to honest dealing with it. Forgetfulness of the Word leads to self-satisfaction. Looking in the glass the man felt a little startled that he was such an ugly fellow, but he went his way and mingled with the crowd, and forgot what manner of man he was, and therefore he felt quite easy again. What can be more fatal than this? One may as well not know, as only learn and straightway forget. This forgetfulness leads to a growing carelessness. A man who has once looked in the glass, and afterwards has not washed, is very apt to go and look in the glass again, and continue in his filthiness. He who thinks his conscience has cried wolf in mere sport, will think the same till he takes no heed when it cries in earnest. When men get to play with the Word of God they are near to destruction,

II. May I have your further attention while I speak upon the true and blessed hearer? He does net look into the glass, but he is represented as LOOKING INTO THE LAW. The picture I have in my minds eye at this moment is that of the cherubim upon the mercy-seat; these are models for us. Their standing is upon the golden mercy-seat, and our standing-place is the propitiation of our Lord; there is the resting-place of our feet, and, like the cherubs, we are joined thereto, and therefore continue therein. They stand with their eyes looking downward upon the mercy-seat, as if they desired to look into the perfect law of God which was treasured within the ark; even so do we look through the atonement of our Lord Jesus, which is to us as pure gold like unto transparent glass, and we behold the law, as a perfect law of liberty, in the person of our Mediator. Like the cherubim, we are in happy company; and like them, we look towards each other, by mutual love. Our common standing is the atonement; our common study is the law in the person of Christ; and our common posture is that of angels with outstretched wings prepared to fly at the Masters bidding.

1. Note well that the law of God is worth looking into. I understand by the law here not merely the law of ten commandments, but the law as it is condensed, fulfilled, and exhibited in Jesus Christ. A law is always worth considering, for we may break the law unwittingly, and involve ourselves in penalties which we might have avoided. An unknown law is a pit-fall, into which a man may fall without knowing it. It is the duty of all loyal subjects to learn the law, that they may obey it. Better still, it is a perfect law. It is a law which touches our whole nature, and works it unto perfect beauty. Who would not wish to look into a law which, like its Author, is love and purity itself? It is called the perfect law of liberty. He that wears the yoke of Christ is the Lords free man. Oh, brothers, I do trust our eyes will be turned to the perfect law of liberty; for freedom is a jewel, and none have it but those who are conformed to the mind and will of our God!

2. The true hearer looks into this perfect law of liberty with all his soul, heart, and understanding, till he knows it, and feels the force of it in his own character. He is the prince of hearers, who delights to know what Gods will is, and finds his joy in acting out the same. He sees the law in its height of purity, breadth of comprehensiveness, and depth of spirituality, and the more he sees the more he admires. A man looks into the law of liberty, and he sees all perfection in Christ; he looks and looks till, by a strange miracle of grace, his own image dissolves into the image of Jesus. Surely this is a thing worth looking into, and infinitely superior to any looking into a glass merely to see yourselves. He that looks into the perfect law of liberty will not only see Christ, but he will begin to see the Eternal Spirit of God bearing witness with that law of liberty, and operating by that witness upon his own soul. Ay, and he that looks into that perfect law will, by and by, see God the Father; for the pure in heart shall see God. Those who love and live the law of God become like unto God, they are imitators of God as dear children. They that are familiar with Gods will, and love it, and study it, gradually receive the likeness of God their Father till they are called the children of God. Thus the sacred Trinity are seen and known by those who do the will of the Father in heaven. And continueth; that is, he continues to meditate in the law, and he continues to own his allegiance to it. He also continues to practise it; he does not begin and then turn aside, but he continues to make advances in holy living, and he continues by a final perseverance to follow on. The man who obtains the blessing of the Lord is by Gods grace made to continue in it. I have heard of a famous King of Poland, who did brave deeds in his day, and confessed that he owed his excellent character to a secret habit which he had formed. He was the son of a noble father, and he carried with him a miniature portrait of this father, and often looked upon it. Whenever he went to battle he would look upon the picture of his father, and nerve himself to valour. When he sat in the council-chamber he would secretly look upon the image of his father, and behave himself right royally; for he said, I will do nothing that can dishonour my fathers name. Now, this is the grand thing for a Christian to do: to carry about with him the will of God in his heart, and then in every action to consult that will.

3. To conclude: you notice how it says, this man shall be blessed in his deed. Mark: this man, this man. These demonstrative pronouns act like fingers. In my text there is a person who has seen himself in the glass, and he has gone his way; but we need not mind about him, he is of no account. But here is a man who has been looking into the law, and has continued to look into it, and the Holy Spirit has selected him from all others, and marked him as this man. This man is blessed. Where IS this man? Where is this woman? Judge whether you are the persons thus called and chosen; whether you are abiding in love to that law, which has won your heart. This man shall be blessed in his deed. Oil, saith one, I do not see the blessedness of true religion! No, you are not likely to see it, because you do not do it. This man is blessed in his deed. In keeping His commandments there is great reward. Much of the blessedness of godliness lies in the practice of godliness. Not in consideration of doctrine, but in obedience to precept the blessing lies. This man shall be blessed in his deed. In the very act of serving his Lord and Master he shall be blessed; not for it but in it. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Word a mirror and a late

A capacity for self-knowledge is one of our distinctive endowments. We have no reason to suppose that other creatures are capable of knowing themselves. This distinctive capacity implies a duty. Know thyself, we are told, is a precept that descended from Heaven. But, whatever its origin, it speaks with the highest authority. It is self-commended. And this duty is a great privilege. The study of mankind is man. Oar own nature is necessarily central to all our studies.
For this self-knowledge we are furnished with abundant means. The universe, as a revelation of God, is a mirror for man. Nature, as in a book, presents us with a picture of ourselves. But how strange it is that, possessing such a mirror, we make so little use of it! With all our self-love, how is it that we are not only indifferent to, but even shrink from a genuine self-knowledge? We seek to know how we appear; we turn away from the knowledge of what we are. Against the consequences of this ignorance of ourselves, God warns us and urges upon us the duty of a genuine self-knowledge. In the text we are cautioned against the fatal temptation of paying a merely outward homage to the Word of God without any practical intent, as though hearing it were a lawful pastime, or could be pleasing to God, or of any avail to us apart from its embodiment in our will, our words, and our works. In a spirit becoming those who have received such an exhortation, let us hear and look into this living Word, that with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we may be changed into the same image, from glory to glory, as of the Lord, the Spirit, that it may become to us the perfect law of liberty, the law of the spirit of life in Jesus Christ. For the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.

I. FIRST OF ALL WE DIRECT OUR ATTENTION TO THE WORD WE ARE EXHORTED TO HEAR AND DO. It is emphatically called the Word, the Word of God, or, as in the connection of the text, the Word of the Truth, or, in another scripture, the Word of the Truth of the Gospel, as Truth is in Jesus. Words are wonderful–as expressions of thought and feeling, reason and will. The Word of God brings God to us. In His Word we have the mind of His Spirit clothed in forms apprehensible by our senses. It is the record of His Mind and Will concerning us. The Word of God is the outward form of an abiding spiritual force; once uttered, it remains a spiritual power always, and everywhere working according to tits will. The Word of God, is the name of His only-begotten Son, who, at the fulness of time, came out from God, and came into the world. to reveal to us the Father, and make known to us in words of spirit and life, His will. This final revelation of the Will of God bus its verbal embodiment in the words of the gospel, its incarnation in Jesus, its abiding spiritual power in the Holy Spirit. As heard it addresses the ear, as seen it appeals to the eye, as felt it moves in the heart.

II. THIS WORD OF GOD IS SPOKEN OF IN OUR TEXT AS A MIRROR, OR GLASS, IN WHICH WE MAY SEE WHAT MANNER OF MEN WE ARE. All words should mirror the mind of the speaker. God is revealed in His Word. He makes

Himself known in all His words, and ways, and works. In the Son of Man we behold, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord. In Him, the Incarnate Word, mans nature is complete, its idea satisfactorily embodied, the Divine image fully expressed, and God glorified in the world. God is wellpleased to see again His own image and likeness in the face of man; and men are called to behold in Jesus, the Word made flesh, the glory of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The revelations of God are means of self-knowledge for man. The Word presents a mirrored face of what man ought to be, and not only the ideal of what he ought to be, but also the image of what he really is. It discerns and reveals the thoughts and intents of the heart. The shadow of the beholder, as he is, is thrown upon the bright image of what he ought to be. The true form in the Word, as a glass, reflects the false form of the beholder, which it judges and condemns. The mirror of the Word judges the shadow of what we are by receiving it upon the fair image of what we ought to be.

III. THE WORD OF GOD IS NOT ONLY A MIRROR, BUT ALSO A LAW. The law commands, presents obligation, awakens conviction, points to its sanction, but does not enforce compliance. Force belongs not to the moral sphere. The capacity to obey is a capacity to suffer for disobedience, but one which is intolerant of force. Obedience is of the heart which is the very seat and soul of liberty. The discovery of our defects by the law which judges them, awakens a feeling of culpability, self-condemnation and exposure to punishment. We feel that defect and disobedience with respect to this law are not misfortunes but sins, hence a sense of blameworthiness. Now, of all laws, the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, as law, is the most burdensome and oppressive, and for this reason, that it is perfect and pertains to the whole life–allowing no thought, no desire, for a single moment, to be withdrawn from its universal empire.

IV. LET US NOW INQUIRE WHAT IS MEANT BY THIS EXPRESSION, THE PERFECT LAW, AS APPLIED TO THE GOSPEL. Are not all laws perfect? There are many forms of law, all of which have their pre-supposition in goodness, and have also this in common, that their action is uniform under the same circumstances. Law is the regulative controlling power of that to which it belongs. As an idea, it is necessary to the conception of anything; and, as such, it is the same for the same creature under the same conditions.

1. Natural law is this governing idea in the form of necessity, and operative as force. Such are all the laws of inorganic matter; such, too, are the laws of vegetable and animal life, at least, for the most part.

2. But the law of intelligent creatures is presented for reception, not imposed; is a law which coin-man(is, but does not necessitate obedience. It pre-supposes freedom and the possibility of obedience being refused.

3. Then there is what Paul terms the law of the spirit of life, which is a free, spontaneous, eager, intense spirit of obedience, not acting within a sphere it is required to fill by the imperative of an outward law, but from a central fire of love which anticipates all commands and outstrips all requirements. This was the service Christ rendered and required. If any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. There is yet another form of law, which is determined, as to its form, by the circumstances, state, and condition of its subjects, in view of the end proposed. You may call it the law of the end. Let me illustrate. A gardener wishes to train a tree in a certain direction, and sees that it will require a certain number of stakes and a given strength of cordage to fold its branches in the required position; in other words, to be a law to it. These requirement,, imposed by the purpose, are the law of the end. Their wisdom and value can only be judged of when looked at in relation to the end which they are intended to serve. In like manner, certain forms of ritual and ceremonial, among the Jews, owe their existence, form, and place in their history to the circumstances and condition of the nation, in view of the purposes of God concerning mankind. But, in addition to these, the text speaks of the perfect law in a sense somewhat different from any of them. By the perfect law is meant the Old Testament in its final, completed development–in its purposed, perfect outcome–in the law of the spirit of life.What is meant is the word of the truth of the gospel, as the norm of Christian life. It is perfect because it attains the end of the law–liberty. For the word of the truth, as is truth in Jesus, carries the law of the spirit of His life, which makes free from the law of sin and death. And further, the law of the spirit of His life is the perfect law as being final, complete, and possessed of the power and the purpose of all law at the height of its excellency–the power of the obedience of life. It presupposes other laws, and is spoken of as perfect in the sense of its being final. There is no other Jaw to come after it. It is also perfect in this sense–that all the requirements of God are reduced to simplicity and unity ofprinciple. Love God, says this perfect law, and you will not fail to do His will, for love is the fulfilling of the law. This is the new and final commandment, the perfect law in a single word Love. And this one principle is, in the perfect law of liberty, embodied in life. The Jaw is fulfilled in Christ, lives in Him, is the spirit of His life, and capable of being given to us. In His Spirit the law of life is lost in liberty, and its freedom is the blessedness of a chosen necessity.

V. WE NEED SCARCELY ADD THAT THIS PERFECT LAW, HIDDEN IN THE HEART AS THE VERY SPIRIT OF THE AFFECTIONS, GIVES LIBERTY TO THE LIFE. Law and liberty do but express opposite relations to the same ideal of our nature. When we are dead we are under it as law, but when we live our life is free in the restful, self-satisfied experience of its true and just-proportioned powers. The ideal has become real and enjoys its living fulfilment. And the life which fulfils it loves the measurements and limits of its sphere and is free. And when we are free we are so disposed to the governing law of our nature that we are sweetly drawn to all its requirements and instinctively observe all its limitations. The law of liberty is a power of love in the heart, the love of the creature to the Creator, of the child to the Father, of the saved to the Saviour. This is the freedom enjoyed under the perfect law of liberty, or, as it is termed in another place, the royal law. The law is perfect because it is embodied in its own life; it is a law of liberty, because the life in which it is presented is a spirit of love to the Law-giver; and it is a royal law, because it proceeds from the royalty of the Fathers heart, and lives in the loyalty of the childs affections, as a power of bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. It thus liberates from every bondage by a Divine captivation, in which the liberty is a necessity hidden in the heart. (W. Pulsford, D. D.)

Standing before the mirror

I. THE APOSTLE SPECIFIES A CERTAIN KIND OF MAN. If any man be a hearer of the Word, and not a doer.

1. A man may be prompted to hear the word by motives in which true religion is not at all involved. A habit formed in early life–a regard to what is considered respectable–or a wish to have his intellect gratified, may be the true explanation of the frequency with which he enters church.

2. A person, hearing the Word, may, notwithstanding, be so listless and unconcerned, as scarcely to receive any impression, whether intellectual or moral, from what he hears.

3. On the part of men who do, to a great extent, understand the meaning of what they hear, and who even receive mental excitement and enjoyment, there may be ingenuity enough to shut out from their consciences the moral impression which the heavenly message is intended to produce.

II. The apostle proceeds, by a figurative illustration, to DESCRIBE THE HEARER WHOM HE SPECIFIES. He is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass, &c.

1. The Word of God is represented as a mirror. And why? Because it makes objects manifest.

2. The man who hears the Word, but does it not, is compared to a man beholding his natural face in a glass. True, of those who stand before the mirror of the Word there are some of whom it might be almost said, that they shut their eyes, and thus receive no impression from that Word at all. But certainly the hearer of Divine truth does, in general, receive some impression on his mind from hearing it. It seems morally impossible for any sane man to hear, for many successive times, a message so plain and so peculiar as that of the Word of God, without having his understanding, at least, whatever may be the case with his conscience and his heart, in a greater or less degree affected. But–

3. The man to whom he that heareth the Word, and doeth it not, is here compared, is represented as going his way, when he has beheld his natural face in a glass, and forthwith forgetting what manner of man he was. As from the one, so also from the other, the impression of what he has seen speedily departs. The hopeful impression dies–the man who so lately stood before the mirror forgetteth what manner of man he was. (A. S.Patterson, D. D.)

Hearing and doing

Now the whole passage exhibits a striking difference, amounting to a complete contrast in the results which are accomplished in different persons who came into contact, more or less close, with this great law, word, or gospel of God.

I. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE IN THE ACT MANNER OF LOOSING. The natural man looks into the gospel superficially, the spiritual man more deeply. A man looking well into the perfect law of liberty is as it were drawn into it, and draws it into himself. A man of appreciative taste looking at a famous painting, will feel drawn into it as it were. He will become in a degree unconscious of the things and the persons around. He will be standing in that highland glen! or resting in that sylvan glade I or dashing in triumph through that foaming sea! So a man, looking aright at the gospel, will feel as though he was drawn into it, and it into him! He will be received into the kingdom, and the kingdom into him.

II. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE IN THE TIME OCCUPIED IN THE LOOKING. If a man were to sit down and make out a time-table of his own life, classifying his waking hours according to the several occupations in which he is generally engaged, and allotting to each the time that is spent in it, how much would be for religious contemplation for beholdings of the gospel of God? In the case of some, the time would be found to be exceedingly brief. So that, when the looking is not only superficial but extremely transient, it is not at all surprising that the practical results should be scanty and poor. Here let it be understood that we ask for nothing high-strained of impossible. Religion is a reasonable service, Now I will put a case which has often been in your experience. You are very busy. And yet it has sometimes happened in your busiest time that a matter has arisen suddenly, one claiming instant attention. And you did it; and nothing else was neglected; a day that seemed full of duty, has room in it for a supreme duty; and that duty well done, imparted a higher character to everything else that was in the day, and the calm and rest of the evening were the sweeter for that happy retrospect in which nothing lay undone. It is just so that religion, having due time at signed to it, will come in not to enfeeble but to strengthen the toiling men–not to excite and waste, but to calm and purify, these fretful days.

III. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE IN THE PRACTICAL ACTION TAKEN AS THE RESULT OF THE LOOKING, The careless looker–he who looks superficially and transiently–goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth–takes no action at all. Even with his looking, he saw that some, action ought to be taken, and without delay. He looks in the glass, and sees spots on his countenance, and feels that these ought to be removed. He has sights, but no corresponding deeds. He has convictions, but no corresponding performances. He has feelings without decisions, longings without realisations, constant hearing of the Word but no doing of the work. On the other hand, he who looketh into the law of liberty with profit, looks that he may do; and does that he may look again with clearer eye. Suppose such a man, not yet an assured Christian, only becoming one. He looks and sees himself, covered as we all are by nature with the defilements of sin. And what does he do? Does he go away in forgetfulness, or does he lie down in despair? He does neither. He goes to the open fountain, and washes and is clean. Or he sees God revealed in Christ. Christ as God manifest in the flesh, radiant in His own perfections and yet overflowing with love to us, reconciling the world unto God and not imputing unto men their trespasses. But is he satisfied with the sigh? No. He comes to Christ. He trusts Him that he may be justified. And so of everything else, a required sacrifice is made–an recumbent duty is done–an opened path in providence is followed. And so strength comes, and purity returns, and the lost image of heaven. All who behold thus, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)

The Divine mirror

The Word, in reference to him who bears but forgets it, is represented under the figure of a glass or mirror, the general use of which, you are aware, is to exhibit by its reflective power, or by the formation of a correct image, what we cannot otherwise perceive by the eye, and thus a person is enabled to discover whatever is disordered or unsuitable in his outward appearance. What a mirror is for the discovery of deficiencies or stains upon the countenance, the Word of truth is for the discovery of deficiencies and stains in the heart and conduct, and he who carefully listens to the statements of that Word, can no more fail to have a correct image of his spiritual condition brought before him, than he who looks into a mirror can fail to behold the similitude of his outward mum tie must see himself as a moral being, represented in all the reality of truth. We may take the case of a licentious profligate, a man within whose bosom there is nothing to be found bearing any resemblance to moral far less to religious principle. He is the slave of his passions, and following no dictate but that of corrupt inclination, he lives as far from God and from the recognition of His authority as it is possible for a human being to do. Now, although it may not be a common thing that such victims to debased feeling and profligate habits should place themselves within the hearing of the Word of truth, yet we know that sometimes they do hear the gospel proclaimed; and when this is the case how can they escape from seeing the picture of their own character which it unfolds? If they listen with any degree of attention while it describes the features and traces the descending footsteps of those who have thrown off all regard for Divine authority, and all deference to human opinion; if they hear it testifying of them that the imaginations of the thoughts of their heart are only evil, and that continually; that they drink up iniquity like water; that being past feeling, they have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness;–that they sport themselves with their own deceivings, having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls, being cursed children, which have forsaken the right way, and gone astray;–and that though they know the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them,–if, I say, they hear the Word of truth thus testifying of the conduct and progress of those that have abandoned themselves to the ways of vice, can they fail to perceive that it is just describing themselves? But, again, in illustration of the power of the gospel to discover their true character to those who listen with any attention to its declarations, we may contemplate another and a very different class of persons, when brought under its reflective influence; I mean those who may be characterised as men of virtue without godliness-men who are distinguished by a strict regard to the morality of the world, and are ready to exult in the self-righteous thought that, as they stand well with their fellow-men, they cannot have much to dread from God. They are, doubtless, endowed with many amiable and attractive qualities. They can compare themselves, without suffering from the comparison, with many around them. And, in the pride of their spirit, they are often ready to declare that, no stain has darkened their reputation; they may be found, after a self-complacent view of their fancied attainment, virtually exclaiming, What lack we yet? With all these lofty claims, however, to moral excellence, they may yet be chargeable by the God that made and that sustains them, with an alienation of heart from Him and His authority, no less guilty than that of the licentious profligate; and when the question comes to be put to each of them, What hast thou done unto Me? they may every one be as little able to give a satisfactory reply as the most ungodly of our rebellious species; and thus there may be, in the sight of a holy and heart-searching Judge, chargeable against them, deficiencies of as fatal a nature as those with which the characters of the most abandoned are degraded and deformed. Now, when the gospel is proclaimed to such persons, if they duly consider what it says, it will not fail to reveal to them a faithful picture of their condition before God, and to summon up before them a lively representation of blemishes from which they perhaps imagined themselves to be free. When it brings within their hearing those distinctions which it constantly recognises between the decencies and observances of mere outward morality, or the offspring of natural disposition, and the fruits of that pure and undefiled religion which has had its vital principle imparted in a renewed and sanctified heart–when, for instance, it lays before them the history of the young manwhose amiable deportment and external conduct were such as to call forth an expression of the Saviours kindness towards him, but whose love to the world and its possessions was such as to exhibit the weakness and imperfection of his character, they must see a very obvious likeness of themselves; and when the Divine law, in all its extent and spirituality, is brought to their notice, must they not feel that their best and most beauteous moralities are sadly defective–that the pride with which they had often contemplated themselves on account of their fancied virtues, though it might find food for itself in their superiority to many around them, should be converted into the deepest humility when they compare themselves with the standard of Gods holy law, and that, though from the mere dictates of their own nature they have been prompted to benevolence, and high-minded honesty, and upright dealing, they never knew the love of God to operate as a principle of action upon their minds? Let us advert to another illustration of the detecting power of the Word of truth, which is to be seen in its bearing upon the hypocritical formalist. He makes a fair, sometimes a bold, sometimes a most flaming profession. Whatever homage he can pay with the lip, none more ready to give it than he; whatever sacrifices he can offer with the outward man, none more forward to present them than he. But all the feelings of his heart contradict and belie the intended meaning of such offerings. Now, when the Word of truth falls upon the ears of such persons, like the licentious profligate and the man of mere worldly virtue, they will be made to feel that it exhibits a faithful image of their moral condition, detects the lurking hypocrisy of their hearts, and holds them up to their own contemplation, under the ignominious aspect of worthless pretenders and paltry formalists. When they hear its reiterated references to those who offer God the service of the body while their hearts are far from Him; who present vails oblations, but delight not in obeying the voice of the Lord; who have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof; who are, to all human appearance, fair and honest, while their inward man is defiled with wickedness and inhabited by vain thoughts; can they fail to see that it truly represents their own likeness, and displays before their minds eye, in vivid but faithful delineation, those secret imaginations and hidden artifices which they thought were confined to their own knowledge? When they are directed in their thoughts to our Lords description of the Pharisees, who for a pretence made long prayers, who made clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but were within full of extortion and excess; and who, while they appeared outwardly righteous unto men, were within full of iniquity and hypocrisy, is it possible for them to escape from the impression that they are themselves virtually described? I might adduce other and not less striking illustrations of the description which, in our text, is figuratively afforded of the Word of truth. It would be no difficult matter, indeed, to show that it is a mirror in which every variety and class of character are exhibited in their moral features; or, in a word, that no man can attentively look into it without feeling that its reflective power is such as to present him to himself, in the actual reality of his spiritual condition, without the least exaggeration in the blemishes or in the virtues that may attach to him. In conclusion, I would put the question to each of you,–To what purpose have you heard the gospel? If you have any wish to be freed from those defects which you may see in your character; if you have any wish to be prepared for appearing in the presence of unspotted holiness, without those stains which must render you subject to its consuming indignation, it behoves you to take a steady and impartial view of yourselves in the mirror of the gospel, and to resolve, in the faithful application of the means which are therein prescribed, that you may be thoroughly purified, and furnished with every ornament of the Christian character. (Jas. Noble, M. A.)

Mans glass

There is a leading idea in each of the verses thus read to you; and because these ideas are perhaps more striking when taken together, than when detached the one from the other, we may solicit your attention to the whole of this passage of Scripture, rather than to either of its separate parts. The ideas are the following: the first, that the Word of revelation generally serves as a mirror or a glass, in which the natural man may see himself imaged; the second, that he will be nothing advantaged by this reflexion of his features if it do not make him active in the correcting and amending; the third, that to him who is not only a hearer, but a doer, revelation becomes a perfect law of liberty.

I. Now there are, as you will remember, expressions in Scripture which set before us THE WHOLE WORK, WHETHER OF CREATION OR REDEMPTION, AS ONE VAST MIRROR, upon which we must gaze if we would learn the great truths which have to do with the nature of our God. Thus St. Paul, wishing to contrast our present with our future condition, says to the Corinthians, Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. He means, as it would seem, that here we have no direct vision; we see only as in a mirror–that is, by reflected rays–creation and redemption both imagingDeity, but neither our faculties nor our opportunities permitting us to look upon God face to face. And there is no doubt that in this sense the Word of God also is a mirror. God may be said to glass Himself in its pages; and when we look on those pages, they give back to us with greater clearness than any other reflector the attributes and perfections of our invisible Maker. But it cannot be in this sense that St. James represents the Word as a mirror; it is as showing man himself, and not as showing him God, that revelation is here likened to a glass. The supposition is that a man may place himself morally before the Bible, even as he may naturally before some polished surface, and learn with as much accuracy what are his lineaments or his features. And we may suppose that St. James refers to the same power in the Bible, as is referred to by St. Paul, when he describes himself and his fellow-workers in the ministry as not walking in craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending themselves to every mans conscience in the sight of God. And this is what, probably, you must have often heard of as the self-evidencing power of Scripture–the power which there is in the contents of the Bible to act as the credentials of the Bible; so that if all external witness were swept away, revelation might yet so vindicate its pretensions as to place beyond doubt its being a message from God. And this self-evidencing power of Scripture goes mainly on this fact–that there is such a correspondence between what we read in the Bible and what we find in ourselves, as is not to be accounted for except on the supposition that He who wrote the Book had a superhuman acquaintance with the heart. The point is here passed, in which we can allow the sufficiency of human sagacity; the acquaintance is too profound, too extensive, too accurate, to be measured by mere native powers, and our only way of accounting for the marvellous disclosure, which exhibits to us ourselves–every thought being laid bare, every motion of the will, every remonstrance of the conscience, every conflict between duty and inclination–our only way is by referring the document to more than human authorship. And is there any one of you utterly unaware of this power in Scripture to shadow himself? is there any one of you who has read so little of the Bible, and read it with so little attention, that he has not found his own case described–described with so surprising an accuracy that he feels as though he himself had sat for the portrait? When Scripture insists on the radical corruption of the heart, in its native enmity and deceitfulness, is there any one of us who must not allow that the affirmations in every way hold good–just supposing his own heart to be that of which the affirmations are made? And when, over and above these more general statements, the Bible descends into particulars–when it speaks of the proneness of men to prefer a transient good to an enduring, the objects of sight, however inconsiderable, to those of faith, however magnificent–when it mentions the subterfuges, the excuses of those whom conscience disquiets–when it shows the vain hopes, the false theories, the lying visions, with which men suffer themselves to be cheated, or rather with which they cheat themselves–who is there among us who will venture to deny that the representation tallies most nicely either with what he is or with what he was–with what he is if he have never repented or sought the forgiveness of sin, with what he was if his nature have been renewed by the operation of Gods Spirit?

II. We now turn to the second great truth presented in the passage which is under review; THE TRUTH THAT WE SHALL BE NOTHING ADVANTAGED BY THIS REFLECTING POWER OF THE WORD, UNLESS WE SET OURSELVES TO THE ACTING ON ITS DISCLOSURES. St. James, as we before pointed out to you, is speaking of a man who is a hearer only, and not also a doer of the Word. He likens such a man to one, who having beheld his natural face in a glass, goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. Are there not many of you who would be ready to own that sermons have occasionally had on them a mighty and almost overcoming effect; so that they have felt constrained to give their full assent to truths uttered in their hearing, though those truths have convinced them of heinous offences, and proved them placed in terrible danger? It is not that no impression has been made; it is not that the preachers strength has been wholly thrown away, and that there has been no response to his statements in the breasts of those by whom he has been surrounded; it is rather that the hearers have taken no pains to deepen and make permanent the impressions which the preaching has made; nay, perhaps in many cases, that t-hey have actually taken pains to obliterate those impressions, dreading the sacrifices which they must make if resolved to be religious, and therefore crushing the convictions which would have led them to repentance. It is that they have gone from the church into the world, with the voice of the preacher yet ringing in their ears, and so that voice has been drowned in the whirl of business, or in the sounds of pleasure.

III. But now turn, lastly, to the third truth presented by the passage which forms our subject of discourse. This is the truth–THAT BY SUBMITTING IMPLICITLY TO WHAT IS TAUGHT US BY GODS WORD, WE SHALL FIND THAT IT BECOMES TO US A PERFECT LAW OF LIBERTY. There has been no such nurse of freedom as the Christian religion. The principles which that religion expounds and enforces–the accuracy with which it defines the province and prerogatives of rulers and the duties of subjects–the rigour with which it denounces every form of injustice, enjoins benevolence, and asserts the brotherhood of man with man–these have caused it to become, though it professes not to interfere with civil institutions, the great extirpator of oppression, the great founder and the great guardian of all that deserves to be called liberty. And this beautiful word liberty may be prostituted and abused; it may be bandied about by venal statesmen or turbulent demagogues; but liberty and Christianity are synonymous terms, as are slavery and irreligion. He who would guide a nation to freedom, must take the Bible as his statute-book: and to attack its vices is the direct way to loosen its chains. They little know, who brawl about liberty and show contempt for Christianity, how ignorant they show themselves of the very essence and life of that which they profess to idolise and pursue. God guard us from the liberty which would be enjoined when Christianity was prostrate! It would be near akin to that liberty of which we read in the book of Jeremiah. Behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord–a liberty to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine. But it is rather of an individual, than of a nation, that the apostle speaks in our text. And who, we may well ask, but the true Christian–the doer as well as the hearer of the Word–deserves to be accounted free? Is a man free, just because there are no fetters on his limbs, and he is not the inmate of a prison? There are fetters of the spirit; there are mental chains forged of such material, and fastened with such strength, that he who wears them may sit upon a throne, and be unspeakably more a bondsman than many a wretched thing that grinds in a dungeon. What think ye of the fetters of bad habits? What think ye of the chains of indulged lusts? What think ye of the slavery of sin? The drunkard, who cannot resist the craving for the wine–know ye a more thorough captive? The covetous man, who toils night and day for wealth–what is he but a slave? The sensual man, the ambitious man, the worldly man–those who, in spite of the remonstrances of conscience, cannot break away from their enthralments. But whoso looketh into Scripture and continueth therein, finds himself gradually delivered from all this oppression and all this thraldom. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. If it be not the liberty of him who has no opponent, no tempter, it is the liberty of him who has broken the yoke, and who is ever on the watch that it may never be again fastened round his neck. It is not indeed to our lusts that Christianity proclaims liberty, nor to our natural inclinations and propensities; against these it proclaims war–a war of extermination; but on this very account it is that we declare it brings liberty to man. These lusts, these inclinations, are the taskmasters of man; and until grace gain the ascendency, and give the spirit dominion over the flesh, man is literally in bondage to himself–the lowest of slaves, because he does not hate slavery. And in respect of fears, the bondage is too apparent to admit of debate. But let the Spirit of God apply these blessed words to his heart, There is now therefore no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, and he casts off his chains and springs from his dungeon. Glorious liberty! Who would not long to be the freed man, by thus being the servant of Jehovah? (H. Melvill, B. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 22. But be ye doers of the word] They had heard this doctrine; they had believed it; but they had put it to no practical use. They were downright Antinomians, who put a sort of stupid, inactive faith in the place of all moral righteousness. This is sufficiently evident from the second chapter.

Deceiving your own selves.] . Imposing on your own selves by sophistical arguments; this is the meaning of the words. They had reasoned themselves into a state of carnal security, and the object of St. James is, to awake them out of their sleep.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

But be ye doers of the word; the same as doers of the work, Jam 1:25, namely, which the word prescribes; q.d. Receive the word by faith into your hearts, and bring forth the fruit of it in your lives: see Luk 11:28; Joh 13:17.

And not hearers only; not contenting yourselves with a bare hearing the word, though it have no influence upon you.

Deceiving your own selves; playing the sophisters with, or putting a fallacy upon, yourselves; particularly, persuading yourselves into a good opinion of your state, merely because of your being hearers of the word, Mat 7:21.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

22. Qualification of theprecept, “Be swift to hear“: “Be ye doers . . .not hearers only”; not merely “Do the word,”but “Be doers” systematically and continually, as ifthis was your regular business. James here again refers to the Sermonon the Mount (Mt 7:21-29).

deceiving your own selvesbythe logical fallacy (the Greek implies this) that the merehearing is all that is needed.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

But be ye doers of the word,…. And they are such, who spiritually understand it; gladly receive it; and from the heart obey it, and make a sincere and ingenuous profession of it; and who submit to the ordinances it directs to, and keep them as they have been delivered; and live, and walk, becoming their profession of it. The Arabic and Ethiopic versions read, “be ye doers of the law”; and so one of Stephens’s copies, as in Ro 2:13

and not hearers only; though the word should be heard swiftly and readily, and received with meekness; yet it should not be barely heard, and assented to; but what is heard should be put in practice; and especially men should not depend upon their hearing, as if that would save them; this is deceiving your own selves; such as rest upon the outward hearing of the word will be sadly deceived, and will find themselves miserably mistaken, another day; see

Lu 13:25. Arguments taken from hence are like the sophisms, paralogisms, and false reasonings of sophisters, which carry a fair show, and ensnare and deceive.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

But be ye ( ). Rather, “But keep on becoming” (present middle imperative of ).

Doers of the word ( ). Old word for agent (–) from to do as in Jas 4:11; Rom 2:13, but in Ac 17:28 our “poet” (long regarded as a “doer” or “maker”).

Hearers (). Old word for agent again from (to be a hearer), in N.T. only here and Ro 2:13.

Deluding yourselves ( ). Present middle (direct) participle of , to reckon aside () and so wrong, to cheat, to deceive. Redundant reflexive with the middle. In N.T. only here and Col 2:4. Such a man does not delude anyone but himself.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Hearers [] . Used by James only.

Deceiving [] . From para, beside, contrary to, and logizomai, to reckon, and hence to conclude by reasoning. The deception referred to is, therefore, that into which one betrays himself by false reasoning – reasoning beside the truth.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) Children of God are admonished to keep on becoming doers or agents of the Word and not idle hearers only, or idle agents and haters, deceivers, and deluders of their own selves. Jas 4:17.

2) The idle hearer who turns away from doing good becomes a base self-deceiver, Rom 2:13; Col 2:4; Eph 2:10.

DEEDS

Dwight Moody once was in a boat That caught on fire while afloat And he helped them put out the flame By passing buckets, but there came Some passengers with this to say Won’t you sir, lead us while we pray That God will save us from this fire?

But Moody said, “Friend, your desire is worthy, but if I were you I’d pray and pass the buckets, too.”

– From “The Shepherd”

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

22 Be ye doers of the word. The doer here is not the same as in Rom 2:13, who satisfied the law of God and fulfilled it in every part, but the doer is he who from the heart embraces God’s word and testifies by his life that he really believes, according to the saying of Christ,

“

Blessed are they who hear God’s word and keep it,” (Luk 11:28😉

for he shews by the fruits what that implanting is, before mentioned. We must further observe, that faith with all its works is included by James, yea, faith especially, as it is the chief work which God requires from us. The import of the whole is, that we ought to labor that the word of the Lord should strike root in us, so that it may afterwards fructify. (110)

(110) Calvin takes no notice of the last sentence, “deceiving yourselves.” The participle means deceiving by false reasoning.; it may be rendered with Doddridge, “sophistically deceiving yourselves.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

Jas. 1:23. Natural face.Lit. face of his birth; the face he has by corporeal birth. is used in distinction from the notion which follows of spiritual features. The tenses of the verbs (aorist) imply, looks at himself once for all; has taken his departure and is gone; forgets and thinks of it no more.

Jas. 1:25. Looketh.; to lean aside, to stoop to look, at something which attracts attention; hence to look particularly, to scrutinise; implying close inquiry after truth. Perfect.Because regarded as the consummation of Judaism; the law of Moses was incomplete in respect of pardon of sin and holiness. Law of liberty.Its characteristic is its freeing men from the bonds which prevent their being righteous. The gospel is in a proper sense the law of liberty, because those who receive it render a free, loving obedience from an inward, vital principle. Dean Alford says, Not in contrast with a former law of bondage, but as viewed on the side of its being the law of the new life and birth, with all its spontaneous and free development of obedience.

SYNONYMS OF THE WORD

, only in Joh. 9:31; necessarily implies piety towards gods, or the God. may mean this, but may also mean piety in the fulfilment of human relations; it implies worship or worthship, and reverence well directed. , passed from caution and carefulness in human things to the same in Divine things. Devout, or the special Jewish Old Testament phase of piety. In the mingled fear and love which constituted together the piety of man toward God, the Old Testament emphasises fear, the New Testament love. therefore suits the Old Testament piety. It represents the scrupulous worshipper making conscience of omitting anything. In , Lat. religiosus, we have the zealous and diligent performer of the Divine offices of the outward service of God. , cultures exterior, predominantly ceremonial, external service. The external form or body of which is the informing soul.After Trench.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Jas. 1:22-25

Following up Religious Instructions.One of the weaknesses of the Hebrew Christian communities was that so many of the members thought they were called to teach, and were able to teach. It is the constantly recurring weakness of the so-called Free Churches, which encourage their members to use their various gifts in the service of the Church. Persons who think they can teach and cannot are amongst the most difficult and troublesome people to deal with. St. Jamess counsel here is directly addressed to such persons. He politely but searchingly says, You would make better hearers than teachers; and you would find plenty of sphere for your energy, if you set yourselves to do the things about which you hear. Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves. There is a hearing only, which leads to nothing. The seed of truth lies as on a hard field-path, exposed to the birds. There is a talking only about what is heard, which is more than useless, which is mischievous, because self-satisfying. There is a doing of what we hear which is in every way valuable, for it implies thought, care, anxiety, right sense of responsibility and duty. Doing prefers silence.

I. Religious knowledge is not the final result of religious instruction.It is a proper result, one to be distinctly aimed at. But it may be made a final result by the teacher who has the special gift of teaching; and by the hearer who is mentally strong, naturally critical, or unduly interested in doctrine. It needs to be strongly urged on public attention in these days, that religious knowledge is no more than a stage on the way to the final result aimed at by the public presentation of religious truth. F. W. Robertson says, I can conceive of no dying hour more awful than that of the man who has striven to know rather than to love, and finds himself at last in a world of barren theories, loving none and adoring nothing.

II. Religious feeling is not the final result of religious instruction.This truth appeals to quite a different class of hearersto the emotional class. There are very many persons who think they can never get a blessing from public services unless their feelings are moved. And the claim of these really good, but somewhat weak-charactered, people mischievously influences our public preachers, who allow themselves to cultivate the merely rhetorical and pathetic, and to imagine that they have gained splendid triumphs when they have subdued congregations to tears. It is well therefore to set forth the surface and temporary character of religious emotions, and the temptation to satisfy ourselves with them, and even flatter ourselves in our goodness as indicated by them. Many a Christians life, if read searchingly, will be found very full of high, forced, fictitious emotions and feelings, but very weak in masteries of evil, power of principles, self-sacrifices, holy charities, and good works. People seem to prefer that which cultivates the sentimental.

III. Religious talk is not the final result of religious instruction.Some hearers simply reproduce what they hear, with variations, and imagine they have reached the true result when they have given everybody whom they can influence their idea of the sermon. And their talk is of no value to themselves, or to any one who listens to them. In every sphere of life it is found that the talkers are the helpless people, if they are not the mischievous people. While they stop and talk, the real work of life waits undone. True preaching tends to stop talk, by compelling people to think, and to inquire what they can do.

IV. Religious doing is the final result of religious instruction.Our Lord, as the great Teacher, constantly enforced this truth by direct word, e.g. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them: by pictures, as of the good tree that brings forth good fruit; and by parable on parable, such as that of the talents. The apostle constantly urges the same thing. St. James has it for the one thing that he variously illustrates and impresses. The true hearer is the doer that worketh; and the true preacher or teacher is he who can inspire men unto doing, lead into the life of service.

SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES

Jas. 1:22. Spiritual Parasites.The plants that grow on the great trees, and thrive on the sap of the trees, only bring forth their own fruit unto themselves. They in no sense help the mission of the trees. Nay, their simple receptiveness becomes a drain of the trees life, and even effects its ultimate ruin. There be those in the fellowship of Christs Church who are hearers only; receptive only; they take in everything, give out nothing, help in nothing, do nothing but serve and please themselves. They are but parasites, but they may have a fatally mischievous influence on the Churchs life. He who receives is honourably bound to use what he receives in the common service; but this no parasite ever does.

Living the Truth.A brief and simple but very expressive eulogy was pronounced by Martin Luther upon a pastor at Zwickaw, in 1522, named Nicholas Hausman. What we preach, said the reformer, he lives.

True Religion.A mans religion is not a thing all made in heaven, and then let down and shoved unto him. It is his own conduct and life. A man has no more religion than he acts out in his life.H. Ward Beecher.

An End in view for Hearers of the Gospel.It is strange folly in multitudes of us to propound no end in the hearing of the gospel. The merchant sails, not only that he may sail, but for traffic, and traffics that he may be rich. The husbandman ploughs, not only to keep himself busy, but in order to sow, and sows that he may reap with advantage. And shall we do the most excellent and fruitful work fruitlesslyhear only to hear, and look no further? This is indeed a great vanity, and a great misery, to lose that labour which, duly used, would be of all others most gainful; and yet all our meetings are full of this.Leighton.

Jas. 1:22-24. Profitless Hearing.

I. The vacant hearers.These are men who are drawn mechanically to the sanctuary, and leave all but their bodies elsewhere.

II. The curious hearer.This spirit brings the attention to bear upon a subject, but merely to dissect and criticise it.

III. The captious hearer.Here the attention is excited only to be turned against the teachings of religion. The business here is to catch the preacher in his words.

IV. The fashionable hearers.These welcome the Sabbath so as to display to advantage their attractions.

V. The speculating hearers.These are they whose selfishness leads them to make a pecuniary gain of godliness. It is respectable to attend Divine worship, therefore they go.

VI. The self-forgetful hearers.Those who listen to find out their neighbours defects.

VII. The prayerless hearers.

VIII. The unresolved hearers.J. T. Tucker.

Jas. 1:23. Eastern Mirrors.The mirrors in use among the Jews, Greeks, and Romans were of polished metal; and as these presented a less perfect image than our modern mirrors, to see through, i.e. by means of, a mirror had become among the later Rabbis, as well as with St. Paul, a proverbial phrase for mans imperfect knowledge of Divine things.

Objects that may be looked at.St. James especially draws attention to the character of the looking, and the dependence of the after-results upon that character. But we may also compare the objects looked at, and the results dependent on looking at right and fitting objects. There is

1. Looking in at self.

2. Looking around on others.

3. Looking out at truth.

4. Looking up to God. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews bids us look offlook awayunto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

Characters seen in the Use of Mirrors.Vanity is thus shown. So is the anxiety to please. But the indifference which involves a hurried and careless use of the mirror should be recognised as a moral weakness. A Christian man ought to be the best possible in every relation of life, and in the use of every power of influence. Much influence does come from his personal appearance, expression of countenance, and manners. A careful use of the mirror may therefore be a sign of right Christian carefulness, and anxiety to serve others in every kind of ministry. It is possible, though it can hardly be insisted on, that there is an emphasis on a mans casual way of looking at a mirror, and the more careful gaze supposed to be characteristic of a woman.

Jas. 1:24. Fading Impressions.This is described as an actual occurrence, seen and noted by the writer. There is a recognition of the well-known face, followed by instant and complete forgetfulness; and thus is it often with the mirror of the soul. In some striking sermon, or book, a mans self is made manifest to him, and the picture may be too familiar to cause aversion; but, whether or no, the impression fades from his mind as quickly as the echoes of the preachers words. At the best the knowledge was only superficial, perhaps momentary, widely different from that which comes of a holy walk with God.E. G. Punchard, M.A.

Jas. 1:25. The Perfect Law.That must be the law which secures to man the liberty and the power to do right. And that liberty and that power are precisely the things which man supremely needs, seeing that he finds himself under persuasion and constraint to do wrong.

The Perfect Law and its Doers.St. James is the preacher of works, but of works which are the fruit of faith.

I. The perfect law.In every part of the revelation of Divine truth contained in the gospel there is a direct moral and practical bearing. No word of the New Testament is given to us only in order that we may know truth, but all in order that we may do it. No man can believe the principles that are laid down in, the New Testament, and the truths that are unveiled there, without their laying a masterful grip upon his life, and influencing all that he is. In the very central fact of the gospel there lies the most stringent rule of life. Jesus Christ is the pattern, and from those gentle lips which say, If ye love Me, keep My commandments, law sounds more imperatively than from all the thunder and trumpets of Sinai. In the great act of redemption, which is the central fact of the New Testament revelation, there lies a law for conduct. Gods love redeeming us is the revelation of what we ought to be; and the cross, to which we look as the refuge from sin and condemnation, is also the pattern for the life of every believer. It is a law just because it is a gospel. If your conception of Christianity has not grasped it as being a stringent rule of life, you need to go to school to St. James. This thought gives the necessary counterpoise to the tendency to substitute the mere intellectual grasp of Christian truth for the practical doing of it. Not what we believe, but what we do, is our Christianity; only the doing must be rooted in belief. Take this vivid conception of the gospel as a law, as a counterpoise to the tendency to place religion in mere emotion and feeling. Notice that this law is a perfect law. Jamess idea, I suppose, in that epithet, is not so much the completeness of the code, or the loftiness and absoluteness of the ideal which is set forth in the gospel, as the relation between the law and its doer. He is stating the same thought of which the psalmist of old time had caught a glimpse. The law of the Lord is perfect, because it converts the soul. That is to say, the weakness of all commandmentwhether it be the law of a nation, or the law of moral text-books, or the law of conscience, or of public opinion, or the likethe weakness of all positive statute is that it stands there, over against a man, and points a stony finger to the stony tables, Thou shalt! Thou shalt not! but stretches out no hand to help us in keeping the commandment. It simply enjoins, and so is weaklike the proclamations of some discrowned king who has no army at his back to enforce them, and which flutter as waste-paper on the barn-doors, and do nothing to secure allegiance. But, says James, this law is perfect, because it is more than law, and transcends the simple functions of command. It not only tells us what to do, but it gives us power to do it; and that is what men want. The world knows what it ought to do well enough. There is no need for heaven to be rent, and voices to come to tell men what is right and wrong; they carry an all but absolutely sufficient guide to that within their own minds. But there is need to bring them something which shall be more than commandment, which shall be both law and power, both the exhibition of duty and the gift of capacity to discharge it. The gospel brings power because it brings life. If there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness had been by the law. In the gospel that desideratum is supplied. Here is the law which vitalises, and so gives power. The life which the gospel brings will unfold itself after its own nature, and so produce the obedience which the law of the gospel requires. Therefore, says James further, this perfect law is freedom. Of course, liberty is not exemption from commandment, but the harmony of will with commandment. Whosoever finds that what is his duty is his delight is enfranchised. We are set at liberty when we walk within the limits of that gospel; and they who delight to do the law are free in obedience,free from the tyranny of their own lusts, passions, inclinations; free from the domination of men, and opinion, and customs, and habits. All those bonds are burnt in the fiery furnace of love into which they pass, and where they walk transfigured and at liberty, because they keep that law. Freedom comes from the reception into my heart of the life whose motions coincide with the commandments of the gospel. Then the burden that I carry carries me, and the limits within which I am confined are the merciful fences put up on the edge of the cliff to keep the traveller from falling over, and being dashed to pieces beneath.

II. The doers of the perfect law.James has a long prelude before he comes to the doing. Several things are required as preliminary. The first step is, looketh into the law. The word employed here is a very picturesque and striking one. Its force may be seen if I quote to you the other instances of its occurrence in the New Testament. It is employed in the accounts of the Resurrection to describe the attitude and action of Peter, John, and Mary as they stooped down and looked into the empty sepulchre. In all these cases the Revised Version translates the word as I have just done, stooping and looking, both acts being implied in it. It is also employed by Peter when he tells us that the angels desire to look into the mysteries of redemption, in which saying, perhaps, there may be some allusion to the silent, bending figures of the twin cherubim, who, with folded wings and fixed eyes, curved themselves above the mercy-seat, and looked down upon that mystery of propitiating love. With such fixed and steadfast gaze we must contemplate the perfect law of liberty if we are ever to be doers of the same. A second requirement is, and continueth. The gaze must be, not only concentrated, but constant, if anything is to come of it. Old legends tell that the looker into a magic crystal saw nothing at first, but, as he gazed, there gradually formed themselves in the clear sphere filmy shapes, which grew firmer and more distinct until they stood plain. The raw hide dipped into the vat with tannin in it, and at once pulled out again, will never be turned into leather. Many of you do not give the motives and principles of the gospel, which you say you believe, a chance of influencing you, because so interruptedly and spasmodically, and at such long intervals, and for so few moments, do you gaze upon them. Steadfast and continued attention is needful if we are to be doers of the work.Homiletic Review.

Practical Exhortation.

1. Cultivate the habit of contemplating the central truths of Christianity as the condition of receiving in vigour and fulness the life which obeys the commandment.
2. Cultivate the habit of reflective meditation upon the truths of the gospel as giving you the pattern of duty in a concentrated and available form.
3. Cultivate the habit of meditating on the truths of the gospel, in order that the motives of conduct may be reinvigorated and strengthened. Make of all your creed deed. Let everything you believe be a principle of action too; your credenda translate into agenda.A. Maclaren, D.D.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 1

Jas. 1:22. Doers of the Word.Cromwell is said to have once entered a church where stood gold and silver figures of the twelve apostles. What do these here? said he. Nothing, was the reply of the priest in charge. Very well, said Cromwell, take them away; melt them down, and send them about doing good.

Hearing and Doing.There is a story told of two men who, walking together, found a young tree laden with fruit. They both gathered, and satisfied themselves for the present; but one of them took all the remaining fruit, and carried it away with him, the other took the tree, and planted it in his own ground, where it prospered and brought forth fruit every year; so that though the former had more at present, yet this had some when he had none. They who hear the word, and have large memories, and nothing else, may carry away most of the word at present, yet he that perhaps can but remember little, who carries away the tree, plants the word in his heart, and obeys it in his life, shall have fruit when the other has none.Old Writer.

Religious Excitement ineffective.A celebrated preacher of the seventeenth century, in a sermon to a crowded audience, described the terrors of the last judgment with such eloquence, pathos, and force of action, that some of his audience not only burst into tears, but sent forth piercing cries, as if the Judge Himself had been present, and was about to pass upon them their final sentence. In the height of this commotion the preacher called upon them to dry their tears and cease their cries, as he was about to add something still more awful and astonishing than anything he had yet brought before them. Silence being obtained, he, with an agitated countenance and solemn voice, addressed them thus: In one quarter of an hour from this time the emotions which you have just now exhibited will be stifled, the remembrance of the fearful truths which excited you will vanish; you will return to your carnal occupations or sinful pleasures with your usual avidity, and you will treat all you have heard as a tale that is told.

Jas. 1:23. Seeing Ourselves.The wife of a drunkard once found her husband in a filthy condition, with torn clothes, matted hair, bruised face, asleep in the kitchen, having come home from a drunken revel. She sent for a photographer, and had a portrait of him taken in all his wretched appearance, and placed it on the mantel beside another portrait taken at the time of his marriage, which showed him handsome and well-dressed, as he had been in other days. When he became sober he saw the two pictures, and awakened to a consciousness of his condition, from which he arose to a better life. Now, the office of the law is not to save men, but to show them their true state as compared with the Divine standard. It is like a glass, in which one seeth what manner of man he is.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

LISTENING IS POINTLESS WITHOUT DOING

Text 1:2225

Jas. 1:22.

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves.

23.

For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror;

24.

for he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

25.

But he that looketh into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and so continueth, being not a hearer that forgetteth but a doer that worketh, this man shall be blessed in his doing.

Queries

69.

Explain how hearing without doing is actually deluding oneself.

70.

What is the natural face?

71.

The natural face and the mirror represent what concerning the man who hears and does not?

72.

How is the New Testament the perfect law? (Remember the Biblical meaning of the word perfect.)

73.

Why would the New Testament be called the law of liberty?

74.

Since the word law is here used in describing the Word of God, could it be that James is speaking of the Old Testament law, and not of the New? How do you know?

75.

In what way may Christianity be referred to as a law?

76.

Since the doer must work, is not James teaching salvation by works?

Paraphrases

A. 22. You fool yourselves if you listen to the Word of God but dont obey it.

23.

For if this is what you are doing, you are like a man looking at his physical face in a mirror;

24.

who sees himself but immediately departs without remembering what he saw.

25. But he that continues to see himself described clearly in the New Testament and, unlike the man above, proceeds to do something about what he sees, shall be blessed for his action.

B.*22.

And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. So dont fool yourselves:

23.

For if a person just listens and doesnt obey, he is like a man looking at his face in a mirror;

24.

As soon as he walks away, he cant see himself anymore or remember what he looks like.

25.

But if he keeps looking steadily into Gods law for free men he will not only remember it, but do what it says, and God will greatly bless that man in everything he does.

Summary

A man fools himself who thinks there is profit in reading the Word of God without doing what it says. But if a man continues to read the Word and conforms himself to what he reads, God will bless his action.

Comment

Self-deception is a means of cheating oneself. The desire to believe a lie is behind self-deception. And why, one may ask, does a person wish to believe a lie? Because the truth hurts, and we do not like to be hurt. This particular deception is ironic in that it is so obvious in others, and yet so hard to detect in ourselves. The secret is desire. If we love a sin or a wrong doing, with reluctance we examine it in the light of Gods Word. Once having seen what it really is in Gods sight, we are caught in a dilemma: for the Word of God and our conscience say no, and our desire says yes, We can either reform our desire and continue with the Word of God, or we can engage in a bit of mental gymnastics that reasons: This is an interesting bit of advice but, of course, it doesnt apply to me. When we do the latter, we promptly turn from the Word of God (It makes us uncomfortable!) and dismiss it from our mind. The rationalization involved may be quite complicated, or it may be as simple as that above. In either case, the result is that we have deluded ourselves into believing a lie . . . a lie so obvious that anyone else can see through it easily; but we, in blissful self-chosen ignorance, continue with our dirty sin no longer knowing that it stinks in the sight of God and in the nostrils of men.

Self-deception, ignorance, and conceit go hand in hand. We have already pointed out that one who prefers to be ignorant of Gods truth will deceive himself; and one who deceives himself will become ignorant of the truth he once understood. Gal. 6:3 points out that conceit is very closely related. For if a man thinketh himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. Either directly or indirectly, a man will boost his own ego in order to rationalize his action to the point of complete ignorance of Gods will. The whole process, of course, is self-deception. Puffed up with our inflated opinion of ourselves, we arrogantly ignore Gods plain words regarding our action, explaining our disobedience to ourselves in such a way that our conscience will be eased and we can forget what we read.

Oh, beloved brother . . . how do you read Gods Word? Is the Word of God a pattern by which your life is adjusted and governed? Is Gods will for your philosophy, or for your life? Do you find His commandments grievous, and His will contrary to your own? Do you rejoice to go back to Gods Word again and again to determine His will for your life, or do you prefer to read and forget? Do you prefer to argue the Word with others about peripheral interpretations and matters that do not pertain to your own personal life? Can it be that you need to see Jas. 1:16-27 as your own personal mirror, and read it again and again; then on your knees before God ask for His help in making the proper adjustment in your life?

The natural face we see in a mirror of silver, copper or tin is the same face that other men see when they look at us. The natural face is here the face given to each person by physical birth and natural growth; hence, the physical face, or the face that nature gave him. (Ropes) The face we see in the mirror of God is our spiritual appearance . . . not primarily as we appear to others, but rather as we appear to God. Therein we see our soul as God sees us. We may not like it, in fact we are not expected to like it. . . . Therefore we turn to God for help in making it over. We seek to be born again so that God can make us what we ought to be. This involves far more than a change in desire and spirit . . . it involves a change in deeds and action. Since there is no earning power in the deeds, the deeds without the converted heart earn us absolutely nothing in Gods sight. Yet the converted heart that does not change the deeds and life of the individual is not converted in the manner that God wants. The total conversion involves deeds as well as desires.

The perfect law, the law of liberty is obviously the gospel of Christ which sets us free. This is the same Word of Truth that makes us new creatures (Jas. 1:18). Yet, why will it be called a law here? The point of emphasis is that it must govern our lives and deeds, and this is the primary function of law. Hence, the New Testament is a law in that it is a pattern for my life and a guide for my deeds. It is not a law in the sense of the Old Testament law . . . wherein a person earns wages and receives what he earns. In the gospel law, I govern my life and conform to Gods wishes, but I do not receive what I earn. I am a sinner, I have earned death . . . eternal death. Christ fulfilled the law in that He received what I earned, thus I do not take upon myself the just recompense for my deeds. Rather, I receive eternal life and joy and peace, none of which I have earned. Christianity is therefore a way of life (law) founded on faith (belief) in Christ which bestows upon me the grace (free gift) of salvation. (For other references of the New Testament as law, see Joh. 13:34; Rom. 3:27; 1Co. 9:21; Gal. 6:2; 1Jn. 2:7 ff.)

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(22) Doers of the word.Acting up to the full of their knowledge, whether gained by the spoken or the written Word of God. There is a force in the original sentence, which our own language cannot supply. The term deceiving is the contrary of that rendered word, and means its corruption; the Word which is the source of knowledge and life may be so handled as to cause error and death. No acquaintance with the Bible, apart from the practice of its precepts, will avail the Christian any more than it did the Jew. For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers shall be justified (Rom. 2:13). Those who deceive themselves may not altogether be hypocrites; there is a subtler danger of being blind, and nevertheless exclaiming We see. (Comp. Joh. 9:41.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

22. It is not enough to be a hearer, or a receiver of the saving word delivered in the synagogue, and then go out and transgress it in the world. By considering that listening to be sufficient, and omitting to be also doers, we glide into a self-deception. We imagine we are quite good, while in fact we are unsaved. Going to church, reading the Bible, and yet neglecting a holy life, is a delusive course.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘But be you doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves.’

James is very conscious of the danger of hearing and not doing. He had previously been like this himself, and he had seen among the Jews how easy it was to be a hearer in the synagogues every Sabbath and yet not be a doer. He had seen it also among the Pharisees. He does not want this repeated among the new Israel. So he calls on them not only to be hearers of the word which is proclaimed to them, as those who have received the truth, but also to be doers of it. They must be like the wise man who built his house on a rock, who heard and did the word of Jesus, and not the foolish man who built his house on sand and heard but did not do (Mat 7:24-27). For they must recognise that if they hear but do not do they are deluding themselves about being a Christian. The message is a very important one. The New Testament as a whole has no place for those who hear but do not do. As Jesus Himself said, ‘Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do the things which I say?’ (Luk 6:46, compare Luk 11:28).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

It Is Not Sufficient Only To Be A Hearer, It Is Necessary Also To Be A Doer ( Jas 1:22-27 ).

Having laid a careful foundation in demonstrating that God’s People are those whom He has sovereignly begotten, in whose hearts his word of truth has been received and implanted, and is to grow, (their side has been through the response of faith both to His word and to His begetting), James now emphasises that that truth must be carried out into practise. It was very necessary that they hear His word, and receive it with due solemnity (Jas 1:19), but now they must also ensure that they carry it through into action.

Analysis.

a But be you doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves (Jas 1:22).

b For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like to a man beholding his natural face in a mirror, for he beholds himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what manner of man he was (Jas 1:23-24).

c But he who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and so continues, being not a hearer who forgets but a doer who works, this man will be blessed in his doing (Jas 1:25).

b If any man thinks himself to be religious, while he does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is vain (Jas 1:26).

a Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world (Jas 1:27).

Note that in ‘a’ we have the command to be a doer and a picture of the deluded religionist, and in the parallel we have the description of what is true religion which results in doing. In ‘b’ we have the picture of the man who looks into his mirror in vain because he does not act on what he sees, and in the parallel we have the picture of the man who thinks himself fine but in fact his religion is in vain, because he does not bridle his tongue. Both are self-deceived. Centrally in ‘c’ we have the man who looks in the perfect law of liberty who acts on what he sees and is thereby blessed.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Doers of the Word:

v. 22. But be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

v. 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;

v. 24. for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

v. 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.

v. 26. 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.

v. 27. 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.

The words which introduce this paragraph may be said practically to form the topic of the entire letter, the apostle’s aim being to combat the mere head Christianity which, even in those days, threatened the life of the Church: But become doers of the Word, and not only hearers, deceiving yourselves. The Jewish Christians of Judea had now heard the Gospel-message for about a generation, and they were in danger of falling away from the first love. They still came to hear the Word, but there the matter ended. There was no evidence in their lives of their possessing the fruit-bearing faith which should come by hearing, Rom 10:17. The hearing of the Gospel, of all the preaching which they were blessed with so richly, had become a mere dead custom with them, a habit without life. But hearing should be accompanied by a living faith, by a faith which gives evidence of its existence in the entire life of the believer. Sanctification is the correlate of justification. The preaching of sin and grace is not to pass through the hearing of the Christian like a dead sound, but the spiritual life which was worked in the Christians through the Gospel should find its expression in deed and in truth, should be living and powerful in good works. Unless there is such evidence of faith in the life of people professing to be Christians, unless sanctification follows upon justification, they are deceiving their own hearts, they are reasoning themselves into a state of carnal security.

The apostle explains his meaning by a comparison: For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man who glances at his natural face in a mirror; for he glances at himself, and goes away, and at once forgets what he was like. A person whom this description fits, with whom the hearing of the Word has become a mere dead habit, without meaning and life, is well compared to the average person who merely glances into the mirror to see whether his face is clean, whether his clothing is arranged properly. There are very few persons that would be able to recall their own features even after using a mirror hundreds of times. Thus the mere hearers of the Word go back to their every-day lives and neither retain the Gospel-message with a believing heart, nor do they bring forth fruit with patience, Luk 8:15.

With such forgetful, vain hearers of the Word the apostle contrasts the true believer: But he that looks closely into the perfect law, that of liberty, and remains thus, proving himself not a forgetful listener, but a doer of the Word, he will be blessed in his doing. It is God’s will that the believers, having been regenerated through His almighty power through faith, should grow in holiness, in perfection, according to His holy will. The perfect law or institution of liberty is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for it teaches us wherein true liberty consists, namely, in serving our heavenly Father through Christ. The true believer does not merely glance at this fact in passing, but takes time to study carefully all those things which, he knows, have the approval of the Lord. It is just because he realizes the extent and the wonderful richness of his liberty in Christ Jesus that he strives to be a doer of the Word, to make progress in sanctification. And he that is thus employed in the service of his heavenly Father, for the love which he bears Him in faith, will be happy and blessed in his doing, the very fact of his being engaged in works which are well-pleasing to his Lord and Master is a satisfaction and a reward which fully repays him, not to speak of the reward of grace which the Lord will pay out to him on the last day. In doing the will of God, a Christian realizes and experiences on his part what the Word of God is able to perform in him, that it is a power of God unto salvation.

That sanctification must thus follow justification the apostle shows in conclusion: If anyone fancies himself to be a religious man, but does not control his tongue and rather deceives his own heart, his religion is vain; pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to care for orphans and widows in their tribulation, to keep oneself unspotted from the world. If Any person thinks he is, imagines himself to be, such a one as has the reverence of God in mind at all times, probably making a boast of his religion and of his zeal for God’s Word, and at the same time is guilty of the threefold misuse of the tongue, slander, swearing, and impure speaking, he thereby deludes himself. His own words and actions give the lie to his protestations; he denies by his life during the week what he proudly boasts of on Sundays, and therefore his so-called religion is a futile, useless thing. The power and efficacy of the Word, as the author points out, will rather, in all true believers, give evidence of its presence in a far different way. That is pure, real, unsoiled, selfless religion, a real fruit of faith as it is active and effective in love, if Christians make the care of the fatherless, of widows, of all such as are deprived of their natural protectors, their special purpose, thus alleviating their affliction as much as lies in their power. And another way in which true religion will become evident is in this, that the believers preserve themselves unspotted from the world, that they have no communion with the unfruitful works of darkness which soil the hearts and minds and drive faith out of the heart. Thus shall the sanctification of the Christians go forward all along the line and their faith and love be exercised in accordance with the will of their heavenly Father.

Summary

After the address the apostle speaks of the temptations which beset the Christians, of the power of prayer, of the need of humility, of the real source of temptations, of the fatherhood of God, of the acceptance of His Word with meekness, and of sanctification as a fruit of justification.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Jam 1:22. Hearers only, deceiving, &c. The Jews did indeed place much of their religion in going up at proper times to the synagogue to hear the law read; and there may possibly be an allusion to that disposition, The exact signification of the word , rendered deceiving, is, “imposing upon any, by a sophistical show of argument;” and here it is used with peculiar propriety. The Jews have a proverb, “That he who hears the law, and does not practise it, is like a man who ploughs and sows, but never reaps.”

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Jas 1:22 . The exhortations given in Jas 1:19 form the starting-point for what follows. The next section, to the end of chap. 2, is attached to the thought , which is continued in . The word must be so heard and received that it produces a corresponding activity. James first expresses this thought briefly and definitely: “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” The verb is neither intended to express the successionem perpetuam horum exercitiorum (Semler), nor to indicate that hitherto the readers had not been ; this indication is contained in the whole exhortation, but not in the verb, which is to be translated not by become , but by be; comp. chap. Jas 3:1 ; Mat 6:16 ; Mat 10:16 ; Mat 24:44 ; Joh 20:27 ; Rom 12:16 . [98] The particle unites this verse with the preceding as its completion. The readers ought to be , namely, of the (Jas 1:21 ), or of the (Jas 1:18 ), the gospel, inasmuch as it requires a definite Christian conduct, and on this account in Jas 1:25 is expressly called a . On , comp. Jas 4:11 ; 1Ma 2:67 ; Rom 2:13 (Joh 7:19 : ); in the classical language, is the lawgiver. Theile correctly observes: substantiva plus sonant quam participia; the substantive expresses the enduring relation.

In the reading , is closely united with : not such who are only hearers. The word , in classical Greek “an attentive hearer,” occurs in the N. T. only here and in Rom 2:13 , but both times without that additional meaning. On the thought, comp. besides Rom 2:13 (where the same contrast is expressed), Mat 7:21 ff.; Luk 11:28 ; Joh 13:17 .

] belongs to the subject contained in (de Wette, Wiesinger), deceiving your own selves , and not as a more exact definition of , “hearers who deceive themselves” (Stolz, Gebser, Schneckenburger, Lange). The import of the word (besides here in the N. T. only in Col 2:4 , in the O. T. Gen 29:25 , LXX.; synonymous expressions are found in Jas 1:26 ; Gal 6:3 ; 1Jn 1:8 ) is to draw false inferences, to deceive by sophistical reasoning. The warning is directed against such who deceive themselves by sophisms on the utility of mere hearing.

[98] Meyer certainly explains the imperative , , uniformly by “become thou,” “become ye;” but this meaning is frequently retained in a manner more or less forced; comp. especially Joh 20:27 . The N. T. usage, to consider as equivalent to , is explained from the fact that the Christian must yet ever more become that which he as a Christian is.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

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. (26) 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. (27) 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.

Nothing can be more evident, from the whole scope of James’s Epistle, taken in one mass of particulars, than that he is admonishing the real Church of God, made up of true, regenerated believers, against the nominal Church of Professors, in whose hearts, no saving change had been wrought. There were in this Apostle’s days, as there have been in all ages of the Church, as well as in our days, vain talkers, whose religion consisted only in name. Such we read of, Heb 6:4-6 ; Tit 1-3. And James, through the whole of this Epistle, is continually speaking of these nominal Christians, by way of instructing the Lord’s people. I beg the Reader, to pause over the Apostle’s expression, of the perfect law of liberty. What can be meant by it, but the Person and work of Christ? The engrafted word, and the uncreated word, are those mirrors here referred to, into which by looking, we behold the Lord’s perfections for his people. Paul hath a similar figure, But we all (saith the Apostle) with open face, beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord, 2Co 3:18 . Here, as in James, the Church of true children regenerated, and made new creatures in Christ Jesus, are considered, as looking wholly to Jesus. And thus looking under the Spirit’s influence, (for where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty,) to Jesus, they imbibe his graces, are made to imitate his example, and delight in all that belongs to Jesus, and the holy principles of his Gospel. This is the life of God’s children, a doer of the word, and not a hearer only. Whereas the nominal professor, knoweth these things only by name. And although he may observe the greatest punctuality, in attending ordinances; yet; where the heart is not regenerated, head-knowledge is but vain. The love of Christ is only known, and felt, and enjoyed in the renewed man. Where this is wanting, all is wanting. Where God the Spirit hath wrought the saving change, all acts of grace, more or less, wilt follow; and not only the purity of those principles, begotten by regeneration, will shew themselves in the life and conversation, in visiting the fatherless and widows, in their affliction, but through the Spirit, the child of God will be enabled to mortify the deeds of the body; and be kept from mingling with the heathen, and learning their works, Psa 106:35 ; Rom 8:13 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Ver. 22. And not hearers only ] The Panotii in Scythia are said to have such large ears, as that therewith they cover their whole bodies. (Isidore.) Such are our hearers only.

Deceiving your own souls ] Either as by false reckoning or false reasoning; Gr. , putting paralogisms and fallacies upon yourselves. For hypocrites may easily deceive not others only, but themselves too; as a drunken stage player, that in his drunkenness acting a king’s part, thinks himself a king indeed.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

22 .] The and are qualified, at the same time that they are enforced, by a caution. But be ye (not, ‘ become ye ,’ any more than in Mat 6:16 ; Mat 10:16 ; Mat 24:44 ; Joh 20:27 ; Rom 12:16 . In all these places no other meaning will suit the context but simply “ be ye :” with reference indeed to some future act by which the word gets its propriety; but ‘become’ in English carries a very different meaning, viz. that of change into the state mentioned from some other previous one, which is in none of these cases implied) doers of the word (viz. of the , the . Theile remarks well, “Substantiva plus sonant quam participia;” the substantive carries an enduring, a sort of official force with it: ‘let this be your occupation.’ For the expression, see reff.), not hearers only ( in classical Greek carries rather the idea of attentive observance with it, which cannot be the case either here or in ref. Rom.), deceiving yourselves (see note on ref. Col. is used here probably as allusive to , and means, to deceive by a false logical conclusion. The ‘hearer only’ does this, when he infers that the mere sound of the word received in his outward ear will suffice for him. Cf. , Jas 1:26 . Hesych. gives as the explanation of . See Suicer, sub voce).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Jas 1:22 . : perhaps best expressed by the German “Werdet,” though Luther does not render it so. , , etc.: Taylor quotes an appropriate passage from the Babylonian Talmud: “On Exo 24:7 which ends (lit.), We will do and we will hear , it is written ( Shabbath , 88 a ) that “when Israel put we will do before we will hear , there came sixty myriads of ministering angels, and attached to each Israelite two crowns, one corresponding to we will do , and the other to we will hear ; and when they sinned there came down a hundred and twenty myriads of destroying angels and tore them off” (quoted by Mayor, p. 67). The duty of doing as well as hearing is frequently insisted upon in Jewish writings. See, further, Mat 7:24 , etc. As to the precise meaning to be attached to opinions differ; but the mention twice made of hearing the word makes it fairly certain that in the first instance whatever further meaning it connoted reference is being made to the reading of the Scriptures in the synagogue; further, the mention, also twice made, of the doing of the word makes it a matter of practical certainty that the reference is to the Torah , the Law; the fact that Jews are being addressed only emphasises this. For the attitude of the Jews towards the Torah during the centuries immediately preceding Christianity and onwards, see Oesterley and Box, The Religion and Worship of the Synagogue , pp. 135 151; here it must suffice to say that it was regarded as the final revelation of God for all time, that it was the means of salvation, and that its practice was the highest expression of loyalty towards God. Jews who had from childhood been taught to regard the Torah in this light would have found it very difficult to discard the time-honoured veneration accorded to it, and there was no need to do so, seeing the place that Christ Himself had given to it (Mat 5:17-18 ; Mat 7:12 ; Mat 12:5 ; Mat 19:17 ; Mat 23:3 ; Luk 10:26 ; Luk 16:17 ; Luk 16:29 ), and provided that its teaching in general was regarded as preparatory to the embracing of Christianity. The intensely practical writer of this passage realised that those to whom he was writing must be drawn gently and gradually, without unduly severing them from their earlier belief, which, after all, contained so much which was identical with the new faith. The Torah , which had been rooted in their hearts and which was to them, in the most literal sense, the word of God, was the point of attachment between Judaism and Christianity; it was utilised by the writer in order to bring them to Christ, the “Word” of God in a newer, higher sense. All that he says here about the was actually the teaching of the Jews concerning the Torah , the revealed word of God; and all that he says was also equally true, only in a much higher sense, of the teaching of Christ, the “Word” of God, this latter, higher conception of the “Word of God,” the , was one with which Hellenistic Jews were quite familiar; what has been said can be illustrated thus:

In Jas 1:18 it is said, “Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth”; the Jews taught that they were the children of God by virtue of the Torah . In Jas 1:21 it is said, “Wherefore putting away all filthiness receive the rooted word”; according to Jewish ideas, purity and the Torah were inseparable, it was an ancient Jewish belief that the Torah was the means whereby lust was annihilated in a man. In the same verse, the expression can have a two-fold meaning in reference to the Torah ; either it contains an allusion to the belief that the Torah was implanted, like Wisdom, in God Himself from the very beginning, hence the expression (“beginning”) used of the Torah ; or else the writer is referring to the teaching of the Torah which was implanted, and therefore rooted, in every Jew from the earliest years. Once more, it is said that this word is able to save souls. Among the Jews it was an axiom that the Torah was the means of salvation; to give but one quotation illustrative of this ancient belief, in Wajjikra Rabba , 29 it is written: (“ Torah is the only way that leadeth to life”). And finally, as already remarked, the necessity of being doers as well as hearers of the Torah is a commonplace in Jewish literature. For many illustrations showing the correctness of what has been said, see Weber, Jdische Theologie (2nd Ed.), pp. 14 38, Bousset, Die Religion des Judenthums (1st Ed.), pp. 87 120, the various editions of Midrashim translated by Wnsche in “Bibliotheca Rabbinica,” and the handy collection being issued under the editorship of Fiebig, entitled “Ausgewhlte Mischnatractate”. It will have been noticed that all that the writer of this passage says about as applicable to the Law, or Torah , is equally applicable, only in a much higher sense, to Christ; this will be obvious and need not be proved by quotations. But it is interesting to observe that apparently precisely the same thing was done by our Lord Himself, as recorded by St. John in the fourth Gospel; He adapted Jewish teaching on the Torah and applied it to Himself; for details of this, see Oesterley and Box, op. cit. , pp. 139 ff. It will be noticed that in our Epistle the writer presently goes on to substitute ( Torah ) for , Jas 1:25 ; this is very significant; the “perfect law of liberty,” and the “royal law,” both refer to the Torah as perfected by the “King of the Jews”. : i.e. , deceiving the heart, as it is expressed in Jas 1:26 ; the rebuke shows the intimate knowledge on the part of the writer of the spiritual state of those to whom he is writing.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

be = become.

hearers. Greek. akroates. Only here, verses: Jam 1:23, Jam 1:25. Rom 2:13.

deceiving. Greek. paralogizomai, to deceive by false reasoning. Only here and Col 2:4.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

22.] The and are qualified, at the same time that they are enforced, by a caution. But be ye (not, become ye, any more than in Mat 6:16; Mat 10:16; Mat 24:44; Joh 20:27; Rom 12:16. In all these places no other meaning will suit the context but simply be ye: with reference indeed to some future act by which the word gets its propriety; but become in English carries a very different meaning, viz. that of change into the state mentioned from some other previous one, which is in none of these cases implied) doers of the word (viz. of the , the . Theile remarks well, Substantiva plus sonant quam participia; the substantive carries an enduring, a sort of official force with it: let this be your occupation. For the expression, see reff.), not hearers only ( in classical Greek carries rather the idea of attentive observance with it, which cannot be the case either here or in ref. Rom.), deceiving yourselves (see note on ref. Col. is used here probably as allusive to , and means, to deceive by a false logical conclusion. The hearer only does this, when he infers that the mere sound of the word received in his outward ear will suffice for him. Cf. , Jam 1:26. Hesych. gives as the explanation of . See Suicer, sub voce).

Fuente: The Greek Testament

[22. , deceiving their [your] own selves) Pleasing themselves in their hearing.-V. g.]

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

be: Jam 4:17, Mat 7:21-25, Mat 12:50, Mat 28:20, Luk 6:46-48, Luk 11:28, Luk 12:47, Luk 12:48, Joh 13:17, Rom 2:13, Phi 4:8, Col 3:17, 1Jo 2:3, 1Jo 3:7, 3Jo 1:11, Rev 22:7

deceiving: Jam 1:26, Isa 44:20, Oba 1:3, 1Co 3:18, 1Co 6:9, 1Co 15:33, Gal 6:3, Gal 6:7, 2Ti 3:13, Tit 3:3, 2Pe 2:13, 1Jo 1:8, Rev 12:9

Reciprocal: Exo 35:1 – do them Lev 20:8 – And ye Jos 1:8 – observe 2Ki 22:13 – because our fathers Psa 15:5 – He that doeth Psa 119:48 – unto thy Pro 8:34 – watching Pro 14:12 – General Pro 15:32 – heareth Pro 21:2 – right Pro 27:19 – in Isa 58:2 – they ask Jer 11:6 – Hear Jer 37:9 – Deceive Jer 38:20 – Obey Jer 42:20 – dissembled in your hearts Eze 18:5 – if Eze 18:9 – walked Eze 33:4 – whosoever heareth Eze 33:31 – and they Zep 2:3 – all Mat 13:23 – good Luk 6:47 – doeth Luk 6:49 – that heareth Luk 8:15 – keep Luk 8:21 – which Joh 5:38 – ye have Rom 2:23 – that makest Rom 7:11 – deceived Rom 15:18 – by word Phi 4:9 – do 2Th 2:17 – in Jam 2:14 – though Jam 4:11 – a doer

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

EGOISM AND ALTRUISM

Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves.

Jam 1:22 (R.V.)

There are two great classes of human lives; there are two fundamental differences which separate them. The one class is egoistic, it lives simply for itself; the other, if you will pardon me the word, is altruistic, it lives mainly for the good of others. The one is epicurean; the other is Christlike.

I. The self-indulgent, self-absorbed life ranges up and down many degrees in the social and moral scales. It may be that of the elegant and bejewelled patrician, or it may reek of the gin-shop and the prison. It may assume the guise of languid ease or that of brutal ruffianism; but in all cases it is only selfishness wearing different masks, and in all phases it involves the most despicable state to which human life can sink. And Godspeaking in the force of outward circumstancesGod, Whose light shines on so patiently, showing all things in the slow history of their ripeningstamps this life with the seal of His utter reprobation. Oh, how terrible and certain a retribution does this life of selfishness draw down upon itself!

II. How different is the altruistic life, the unselfish life, the life which is given to God and fearlessly lives for the good of its fellow-menthe life, not like those others, earthly, sensual, devilish; but pure, gentle, peaceable, full of mercy and good fruit, without partiality and without hypocrisy! That is the life of heaven; such are the lives of the saints of God. The world has ever recognised the lustre, the loveliness of such a life, though in envy and hatred it has many times slain or slaughtered those who have tried to live it. Rise before us as ye were, ye saints of God, in the beauty of your holiness; show us the lives roses without, lilies within; the lives white as lilies in their transparent guilelessness, and red as roses in their glowing enthusiasm! Show how gracious a thing a human being may become, in whom the love of God, expanded into infinitude, has led to the abjuration of the lower self.

III. Can such a life be described in a single word?Yes! and it lies at the centre of all that in all nations of the world has the best right to call itself religion. When Confucius was asked by a disciple to express all the virtues in one word, he answered, Is not reciprocity such a word? and by reciprocity he meant the Divine ruleDo unto thy neighbour as thou wouldst that he should do to thee. When Auguste Comte tried to formulate a new religion of Positivism he made its one rule altruismVivre pour autrui. It is Christianity that gives us a word more divine, more all-comprehensive, more steeped in emotion, more radiant with the light of heaven than reciprocity or altruismand that is the word love. Andlet men prate how they will about other thingsif the Word of God stands sure, then one truth is supremely important above all other truths, and that is, that we owe no man anything, but to love one another; that love is the bond of perfectness; and that love is the fulfilling of the law.

IV. Consider the bearing of these two lives on the entire condition of the world.

(a) The natural and immediate result of selfishness is utter, hopeless, callous quiescence, contented luxury, absolute neglect. It shuts out the disturbing spectacle of human necessity.

(b) The unselfish life, the life of Christian charity, is opposed to all this. Though all the journals misrepresent and sneer at it, it will try every method in its powerlegislative, social, ecclesiastical, individualwhereby it may in any way alleviate the sorrows or reverse the wrongs of the world. It is invincibly hopeful; it is undauntedly courageous; it believes in the soul, and is very sure of God; it is full of Divine enthusiasm; it leaps amid the laughter of the world into the flaming chariot of zeal, and shakes loosely the slack reins.

How shall we grapple with this overwhelming mass of evil? There are some, thank God! who are grappling with it. Everywhere the work is being attempted by the clergy, and by those who help their work. The poor in many parishes are treated as brethren, and as free men and women, for whom, with all their faults, Christ died.

Dean Farrar.

Illustration

To the egotist classthose who are absorbed by the desires of the mindbelong the ruinous conquerors who from time to time have swept over the earth with sword and flame, and have made her furrows red with the blood of men. The course you propose, said Prince Metternich to Napoleon, would cost the lives of a hundred thousand men. A hundred thousand men! answered Napoleon. What are a hundred thousand men to me? Prince Metternich walked to the window, flung it wide open, and said, Sire, let all the world know that you express this atrocious sentiment! There you have this egoism on a colossal scale. Yet a man need not be a Napoleon to sacrifice the good of hundreds, and sell the fate of his country for the satisfaction of himself, his party, or his class.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

Jas 1:22. Even a good seed that is implanted in the soil will produce no fruit unless it becomes active. So the engrafted word will be fruitless unless the receiver of it becomes active and does what it directs. It is a matter of self-deception to imagine that hearing the ward is all that is required to be acceptable to the Lord. Even men will not be deceived (much less the Lord) by such a character, for it will be apparent to all that such a person is not producing anything useful to others.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Jas 1:22. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only. The implanted word, or the word of truth, must be so heard and received as to produce a corresponding course of action. Practice, and not opinion, is the desired effect of the reception of the word. The Jews have a proverb among themselves: He who hears the law, and does not practise it, is like a man who ploughs and sows, but never reaps. It is, however, to be observed that St. James does not in the slightest degree depreciate the hearing of the word; he only asserts the superior importance of the doing of the word. Be not only hearers of the word, but be also doers. And indeed the hearing is in order to the doing; if this be wanting, the hearing is of no value. Compare with this the words of St. Paul: Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of it shall be justified (Rom 2:13).

deceiving your own selves. The term denotes deceiving by false and sophistical reasoning. He who is a hearer of the word and not a doer, and who thinketh that this is sufficient, imposeth upon his own self. And of all deceptions, self-deception is the worst. If a man were deceived by others, it would be comparatively easy to undeceive him, by placing things in their true light. But if a man be deceived by himself, it is next to impossible to undeceive him, because prejudices have blinded his eyes; the bandage must first be removed before he can see the light.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Doing What We Hear

The word is only able to save if we hear and do what we hear ( Mat 7:21-27 ; Rom 2:13 ). Woods says the verb tense here in the word “doers” is such that it denotes a continuous action. The same is true when Paul says Christ is going to take vengeance on those who “obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” ( 2Th 1:7-9 ). We are deceived when we think all that we have to do is hear the truth. That hearing must produce a faith that acts ( Jas 1:22 ; Rom 10:17 ; Heb 11:6 ).

James then gives a parable to illustrate the point of verse 22. A person who looks in a mirror to check his appearance and then goes away without correcting the problems he sees is like one who only hears. Woods says the verb for “looks” in verse 25 means “to stoop and look, to gaze intently”. So, in contrast to the one who glances in the mirror and does nothing about the things he sees which are amiss, we have one who carefully examines himself intending to correct every flaw.

The perfect law of liberty could not be Moses’ law since it was unable to offer liberty or bring imperfect man to perfection ( Gal 5:1 ; Heb 8:8 ). In Christ, perfection is available to man ( Heb 7:19 ; Col 1:28 ). Certainly, it is Christ’s law that offers true freedom from condemnation ( Rom 8:1-6 ). Christ’s law is the perfect law of liberty ( Jas 1:23-25 ).

Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

Jas 1:22. But be ye doers of the word See on Mat 7:21; Mat 7:24. We are then doers of the word, when, being enlightened by its doctrines, awed by its threatenings, and encouraged by its promises, we, through the aid of divine grace, love and obey its precepts, both those which enjoin repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, as terms necessary to be complied with in order to our justification and regeneration, and those subsequent commands which show how those, who are already justified and born from above, ought to walk that they may please God, and save their souls; and not hearers only Not contenting yourselves with mere hearing, or even with understanding and believing what you hear, without reducing it to practice; deceiving your own selves As if it was sufficient to know your Masters will without doing it. Some suppose that in these words the apostle refers primarily to the Jews, whose doctrine it was, 1st, That to be Abrahams seed was sufficient to obtain for them Gods favour, and secure them against his judgments; 2d, That circumcision procured them acceptance with God; 3d, That all Israelites had a portion in the world to come; and especially, 4th, That to be employed in hearing and studying the law was of itself sufficient. But it seems more likely that he gives this caution with a reference to those Gnostics and other Antinomians that were creeping fast into the church; and were hearers only, not even considering the word they heard, and therefore not understanding it; and especially not experiencing its power to regenerate and save them from the guilt and power of their sins, and restore them to the divine image. The words, , rendered, deceiving your own selves, properly signify, imposing upon yourselves by sophistical reasonings; an expression here used with great propriety, and very applicable to all those professors of Christianity who abuse the doctrines of grace to Antinomian purposes, and make void the moral law through a pretence of faith.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

“Doers” is a word that is translated well, but there is an aspect of it that I really like. Doer of the Word is quite adequate, but there is the aspect of “perform” that is there as well. Be a doer, but also be a performer of the Word, not as in acting or faking, but as in perform the Word, put it across in your life as if it is the desire to do the very best that you can. To do something, you simply do it, while if you perform it you are really throwing yourself into the matter, giving it the best that you can.

James uses the imperative here so this is a command, not a suggestion. Be performers of the Word, not just hearers of the Word. Oh, the many in our churches today that are listeners, that are hearers that are taking in all there is to take in but few there are today that are doers of the Word.

Many listen to the word, many hear it, many may even take notes, but to put those ideas into action is another thing, something that only a few ever do. There are two basic reasons for a believer to be a hearer only. First there is the simple fact of not being interested in applying the Word to themselves, and secondly there is the fact that in many churches the leadership will not allow anyone but their pet people do anything in the church. Many leaders would rather work a few to death and leave the rest to sit and do little in the church.

The opposite is often true as well. There are leaders that will use anyone that comes along, whether they are qualified, whether they are living in sin or anything else – they just want workers and anyone will do. They allow people that are living in open sin to work in the church. We knew a man that was near criminal in his business dealings – a fact known to the entire congregation, yet this man led the singing, and led the services when the pastor was gone and was involved in many other areas of the church.

There is an inherent falsehood in those that hear only. They deceive themselves into thinking they are spiritual. The following verses make it plain that the person that hears only sees himself for what he really is spiritually and goes away thinking he is spiritual because he forgets immediately what he has seen in the Word.

When we hear or read the Word we see the standard set and automatically know we don’t meet the standard, but as soon as we go about our business we forget that little detail and go on as we were. On the other hand, however, if we see the standard and realize we don’t meet it, then go home and change our lives to be in conformity with the standard, then we have heard, and we have done, and we are more spiritual than before and most likely will be performing that Word in our everyday lives.

There is a dual problem, we do not correct our lives and we think we are spiritual. A double whammy in that if we think we are spiritual, we will tend to listen even less the next time the Word speaks to us in that area of our life.

There is an Old Testament account that illustrates this well. Cain brought of the fruit of the field, while Abel brought the first fruits. Abel brought what was commanded and Cain brought what he wanted to bring. Abel found himself right before God and Cain found himself in trouble with God. Both looked upon the truth given and one followed it while the other rejected it and did what he wanted to do.

Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson

1:22 {15} But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, {16} deceiving your own selves.

(15) Another admonition: therefore God’s word is heard, that we may model our lives according to the laws it contains. {16} He adds reasons, and those most weighty: first, because they that do otherwise seriously harm themselves.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

3. The complete response 1:22-25

Whereas Jas 1:19-21 stress the importance of listening to the Word, Jas 1:22-25 emphasize the necessity of putting the Word into practice, applying it.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Doing the Word of God in this context means persevering in God’s will when we experience temptation to depart from it. Hearing God’s will is good as far as it goes, and it is indispensable, but obedience should follow. Some Christian disciples delude themselves by thinking that knowing God’s will is enough, but it is only foundational to doing God’s will.

"The blessing does not come in studying the Word, but in doing the Word." [Note: Wiersbe, p. 16.]

"The call to ’do what it says’ lies at the center of all that James teaches. It sums up the message of the whole book: Put into practice what you profess to believe. Indeed, Jas 1:22 may well be the key verse of James’s epistle." [Note: Burdick, p. 175.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Chapter 9

THE DELUSION OF HEARING WITHOUT DOING-THE MIRROR OF GODS WORD.

Jam 1:22-25

HERE we reach what on the whole seems to be the main thought of the Epistle – the all-importance of Christian activity and service. The essential thing, without which other things, however good in themselves, become insignificant or worthless, or even mischievous, is conduct. Everything else, if not accompanied by practice, by avoiding evil and doing good, is vain. In Bishop Butlers words, religion “does not consist in the knowledge and belief even of fundamental truth,” but rather in our being brought “to a certain temper and behavior”; or as St. John puts it still more simply, only “he who doeth righteousness is righteous.” Suffering injuries, poverty and temptations, hearing the Word, teaching the Word, faith, wisdom, {Jam 1:2; Jam 1:9; Jam 1:12; Jam 1:19; Jam 2:14-16; Jam 3:13-17} are all of them excellent; but if they are not accompanied by a holy life, a life of prayer and gentle words and good deeds, they are valueless.

There are two or three other leading thoughts, but they are all of them subordinated to this main thought of the necessity for Christian conduct as well as Christian belief and wisdom. One of these secondary thoughts has already been noticed more than once-the blessedness of enduring temptations and other trials; it is specially prominent in the first and last chapters. {Jam 1:2-4; Jam 1:12; Jam 5:7-11} Another of the secondary topics which have a prominent place in the letter is the peril of much speaking. It introduces and closes the section which lies immediately before us, {Jam 1:19; Jam 1:26} and it is dwelt upon at length in the third chapter. Yet a third topic which cannot fail to attract the attention of the reader is the preference given to the poor over the rich as regards their spiritual opportunities, and the stern warnings addressed to all those whose wealth leads them to become tyrannical. This subject is specially prominent in the first, second, and last chapters. {Jam 1:10-11; Jam 2:1-7; Jam 5:1-6} But all these matters are looked at from the point of view of Christian conduct and service. They are not in any one case the idea which binds together the whole Epistle, but they lead up to it and emphasize it. If we were to single out one verse as in a special way summing up the teaching of the whole letter, we could hardly find one more suitable for the purpose than the first of the four which stand at the head of the present chapter: “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves.” It will be worth while to examine this simple and most practical exhortation somewhat in detail.

It is one of the many sayings in the Epistle which irresistibly remind us of the teaching of Jesus Christ; not as being a quotation from any of His recorded discourses, but as being an independent reproduction of the substance of His conversation by one who was quite familiar with it, but was not familiar with the written Gospels. Had the writer of this letter been well acquainted with any of the four Gospels, he could hardly have escaped being influenced by them, and the echoes of Christs teaching which we find in its pages would have been more closely in accordance with the reports of His words which they contain. This feature of the Epistle harmonizes well with its being written by the Lords brother, who must have been very familiar with the Lords teaching, and who wrote before A.D. 62, i.e., at a time when perhaps not one of our Gospels was written, and when certainly none of them can have had a very wide circulation. More will be said upon this point hereafter: for the present it suffices to point out the resemblance between this warning against the delusion of thinking that hearing without doing is of any avail, and the warning which closes the Sermon on the Mount: “Every one which heareth these words of Mine, and doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man, which built his house upon the rockAnd every one that heareth these words of Mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and smote upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall thereof”. {Mat 7:24-27}

“Be ye doers of the Word.” Both verb and tense are remarkable (): “Become doers of the Word.” True Christian practice is a thing of growth; it is a process, and a process which has already begun, and is continually going on. We may compare, “Become ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves”; “Therefore {Mat 10:16} become ye also ready”; {Mat 24:44} and “Become not faithless, but believing”. {Joh 20:27; where see Westcotts note} “Become doers of the Word” is more expressive than “Be doers of the Word,” and a good deal more expressive than “Do the Word.” A “doer of the Word” () is such by profession and practice; the phrase expresses a habit. But one who merely incidentally performs what is prescribed may be said to “do the Word.” By the “Word” is meant what just before has been called the “implanted Word” and the “Word of truth” (Jam 1:18; Jam 1:21), and what in this passage is also called “the perfect law, the law of liberty” (Jam 1:25), i.e., the Gospel. The parable of the Sower illustrates in detail the meaning of becoming a habitual doer of the implanted Word.

“And not hearers only.” The order of the words in the Greek is a little doubtful, the authorities being very much divided; but the balance is in favor of taking “only” closely with “hearers” ( rather than ); “Be not such as are mere hearers and nothing more.” The word for “hearer” occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, excepting in the singularly similar passage in the Epistle to the Romans, which is one of the passages that give support to the theory that either St. Paul had seen this Epistle, or St. James had seen St. Pauls: “Not the hearers () of a law are just before God, but the doers of a law shall be justified”. {Rom 2:13} The verb () does not occur in tile New Testament; but another cognate substantive (), meaning “a place of hearing,” is found in the Act 25:23. In classical Greek this group of words indicates attentive listening, especially in the case of those who attend the lectures of philosophers and the addresses of public speakers. It is thus used frequently in Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides, and Plutarch. It is somewhat too hastily concluded that there is nothing of this kind included either in this passage or in Rom 2:13. Possibly that is the very thing to which both St. James and St. Paul allude. St. James, in the address which he made to the so-called Council of Jerusalem, says, “Moses from generations of old hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath”. {Act 15:21} The Jews came with great punctiliousness to these weekly gatherings, and listened with much attention to the public reading and exposition of the Law; and too many of them thought that with that the chief part of their duty was performed. This habitual public testimony of respect for the Mosaic Law and the traditional interpretations of it, and this zeal to acquire a knowledge of its contents and an insight into its meaning, was the main portion of what was required of them. This, St. James tells them, is miserably insufficient, whether v-hat they hear be the Law or the Gospel, the Law with or without the illumination of the life of Christ “Being swift to hear” (Jam 1:19) and to understand is well, but “apart from works it is barren.” It is the habitual practice in striving to do what is heard and understood that is of value. “Not a hearer that forgetteth, but a doer that worketh” is blessed, and “blessed in his doing.” To suppose that mere hearing brings a blessing is “deluding your own selves.” Bede rightly quotes Rev 1:3 in illustration: “Blessed are they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things which are written therein.”

The word here used for deluding () is found nowhere else in the New Testament, excepting in one passage m the Epistle to the Colossians, {Col 2:4} in which St. Paul warns them against allowing any one to “delude them with persuasiveness of speech.” But the word is fairly common, both in ordinary Greek and in the Septuagint. Its meaning is to mislead with fallacious reasoning, and the substantive () is the Aristotelian term for a fallacy. The word does not necessarily imply that the fallacious reasoning is known to be fallacious by those who employ it. To express that we should rather have the word which is used in 2Pe 1:16 to characterize “cunningly devised fables” ( ). Here we are to understand that the victims of the delusion do not, although they might, see the worthlessness of the reasons upon which their self-contentment is based. It is precisely in this that the danger of their position lies. Self-deceit is the most subtle and fatal deceit. The mere knowledge of the law derived from their attentive listening to it does but increase their evil case, if they do not practice it. “To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin”. {Jam 4:17}

The Jews have a saying that the man who hears without practicing is like a husbandman who ploughs and sows, but never reaps. Such an illustration, being taken from natural phenomena, would be quite in harmony with the manner of St. James; but he enforces his meaning by employing a far more striking illustration. He who is a hearer and not a doer “is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror.” Almost all the words in this sentence are worthy of separate attention.

“Is like unto a man” ( ). St. James uses the more definite word, which usually excludes women, and sometimes boys also. He does not say, “is like unto a person” (), which would have included both sexes and all ages. A somewhat quaint explanation has been suggested by Paes and adopted as probable elsewhere; viz., that men, as a rule, give only a passing look to themselves in the glass; whereas it is a feminine weakness to be fond of attentive observations. But it is fatal to this suggestion that the word here used for beholding () means to fix ones mind upon, and consider attentively. It is the word used in “Consider the ravens,” and “Consider the lilies”. {Luk 12:24; Luk 12:27} Moreover, the Greeks sometimes do what we very frequently do in speaking of the human race; they employ the male sex as representative of both. This usage is found in the New Testament; e. g., “The queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with the men ( ) of this generation, and shall condemn them. The men () of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment of this generation, and shall condemn it.” {Luk 11:31-32} Here it is impossible that the women are not included. And this use of “man” () in the sense of human being is specially common in St. James. We have it four times in this chapter (Jam 1:8; Jam 1:12; Jam 1:20; Jam 1:23), and again in the second (Jam 2:2) and third (Jam 3:2).

This man, then, attentively studies his natural face in a mirror. The words for “his natural face” literally mean “the face of his birth” ( ); i.e., the features with which he was born; and the mirror would be a piece of polished metal, which, however excellent, would not reflect the features with the clearness and fidelity of a modern looking-glass. Hence the necessity for attentive observation, the result of which is that the man recognizes his own face beyond all question. But what follows? “He beheld himself, and he has gone away, and he straightway forgot what manner of man he was.” The perfect tense between two aorists gives a lively simplicity to the narration ( . . . . . . ). This is represented as a common case, though not an invariable one. Most of us know our own features sufficiently well to recognize them in a good representation of them, but do not carry in our minds a very accurate image of them. But what has all this to do with being hearers, and not doers, of the Word?

The spoken or written Word of God is the mirror. When we hear it preached, or study it for ourselves, we can find the reflection of ourselves in it, our temptations and weaknesses, our failings and sins, the influences of Gods Spirit upon us, and the impress of His grace. It is here that we notice one marked difference between the inspiration of the sacred writers and the inspiration of the poet and the dramatist. The latter show us other people to the life; Scripture shows us ourselves.

“Our mirror is a blessed book, Where out from each illumined page We see one glorious image look, All eyes to dazzle and engage,”

“The Son of God; and that indeed We see Him as He is we know, Since in the same bright glass we read The very life of things below.”

“Eye of Gods Word, whereer we turn Ever upon us I thy keen gaze Can all the depths of sin discern, Unravel every bosoms maze.”

“Who that has felt thy glance of dread Thrill through his hearts remotest cells, About his path, about his bed, Can doubt what Spirit in thee dwells?”

Kebles metaphor is somewhat more elaborate than St. Jamess. He represents the Bible as a mirror, out of which the reflected image of the Son of God looks upon us and reads our inmost selves. St. James supposes that in the mirror we see ourselves reflected. But the thought is the same, that through hearing or reading God s Word our knowledge of our characters is quickened. But does this quickened knowledge last? Does it lead to action, or influence our conduct? Too often we leave the church or our study, and the impression produced by the recognition of the features of our own case is obliterated. “We straightway forget what manner of men we are,” and the insight which has been granted to us into our own true selves is just one more wasted experience.

But this need not be so, and in some cases a very different result may be noticed. Instead of merely looking attentively for a short time, he may stoop down and pore over it. Instead of forthwith going away, he may continue in the study of it. And instead of straightway forgetting, he may prove a mindful doer that worketh. Thus the three parts of the two pictures are made exactly to balance. The word for “looking into” is an interesting one (). It indicates bending forward to examine earnestly. It is used of Peter looking into the sepulcher; {Luk 24:12} a verse of doubtful genuineness and of Mary Magdalene doing the same; {Joh 20:11} and of the angels desiring to look into heavenly mysteries. {1Pe 1:12} He who does this recognizes Gods Word as being “the perfect law, the law of liberty.” The two things are the same. It is-when the law is seen to be perfect that it is found to be the law of liberty. So long as the law is not seen in the beauty of its perfection, it is not loved, and men either disobey it or obey it by constraint and unwillingly. It is then a law of bondage. But when its perfection is recognized men long to conform to it; and they obey, not because they must, but because they choose. To do what one likes is freedom, and they like to obey. It is in this way that the moral law of the Gospel becomes “the law of liberty,” not by imposing fewer obligations than the moral law of the Jew or of the Gentile, but by infusing into the hearts of those who welcome it a disposition and a desire to obey. Christian liberty is never license. It is not the relaxation of needful restraints, but the spontaneous acceptance of them as excellent in themselves and beneficial to those who observe them. It is the difference between a code imposed by another, and a constitution voluntarily adopted. To be made to work for one whom one fears is slavery and misery; to choose to work for one whom one loves is freedom and happiness. The Gospel has not abolished the moral law; it has supplied a new and adequate motive for fulfilling it.

“Being not a hearer that forgetteth.” Literally, “having become not a hearer of forgetfulness” ( ); i.e., having by practice come to be a hearer, who is characterized, not by forgetfulness of what he hears, gut by attentive performance of it. The unusual word “forgetfulness” occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, nor in classical Greek; but it is found in Ecclesiasticus (11:27), “The affliction of an hour causeth forgetfulness of pleasure”; and this adds a trifle to the evidence that St. James was acquainted with that book. “A hearer of forgetfulness” exactly balances, both in form and in thought, “a doer of work”; and this is well brought out by the Revisers, who turn both genitives by a relative clause: “a hearer that forgetteth,” and “a doer that worketh.” The Authorized Version is much less happy: “a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work.” There is no article in the Greek, and the translation of one genitive by an adjective, and of the other by a genitive, is unfortunate. “A doer of work” ( ). or “a doer that worketh,” is an expression that emphasizes just what St. James wishes to emphasise, viz., the necessity of actively practicing what is attentively heard. “A doer” would have sufficed, but “a doer that worketh” makes the idea of habitual action still more prominent.

“This man shall be blessed in his doing” ( ). Once more we have a word which is found nowhere else in the New Testament, but occurs in Sir 19:20, and with much the same meaning as here: “All wisdom is fear of the Lord; and in all wisdom there is doing of the law” ( ). The correspondence between the meaning of St. James and the meaning of the son of Sirach is very close. Mere knowledge without performance is of little worth: it is in the doing that a blessing can be found.

The danger against which St. James warns the Jewish Christians of the Dispersion is as pressing now as it was-when he wrote. Never was there a time when interest in the Scriptures was more keen or more widely spread, especially among the educated classes; and never was there a time when greater facilities for gratifying this interest abounded. Commentaries, expositions, criticisms, introductions, helps of all kinds, – exegetical, homiletic, historical, and textual, -suitable both for learned and unlearned students, multiply year by year. But it is much to be feared that with many of us the interest in the sacred writings which is thus roused and fostered remains to a very large extent a literary interest. We are much more eager to know all about Gods Word than from it to learn His will respecting ourselves, that we may do it; to prove that a book is genuine than to practice what it enjoins. We study Lives of Christ, but we do not follow the life of Christ. We pay Him the empty homage of an intellectual interest in His words and works, but we do not the things which He says. We throng and press Him in our curiosity, but we obtain no blessing, because in all our hearing and learning there is no true wisdom, no fear of the Lord, and no doing of His Word.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary