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Scripture Reading: James 1:19-27
In this message we shall consider 1:19-27. In verse 19 James says, “You know this, my beloved brothers; but let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” The Greek words rendered “you know this” may also be translated “know this.” Hearing tempts us to speak, and speaking is the fire that kindles wrath (see James 3:6). If we bridle our speaking (1:26), we quench our wrath. James’ word here, for the strengthening of his view of practical Christian perfection, resembles the tone of the Old Testament proverbs (Prov. 10:19; 14:17).
In verse 20 James continues, “For the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God.” The righteousness of God does not need the help of man’s wrath. The wrath of man is useless in performing the righteousness of God.
In verse 21 James goes on to say, “Wherefore, putting away all filthiness and abundance of malice, receive in meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” Here the word of God is likened to a plant of life planted into our being and growing in us to bring forth fruit for the salvation of our souls. We need to receive the word of God in meekness, in all submission, without any resistance.
According to the context of this chapter, the salvation of our souls implies the endurance of environmental trials (James 1:2-12) and the resisting of lustful temptation (James 1:13-21). James’ view concerning the salvation of our souls is somewhat negative, definitely not as positive as that of Paul, who says our soul can be transformed by the renewing Spirit even to the image of the Lord from glory to glory (Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23; 2 Cor. 3:18).
We should appreciate James for saying that we need to receive in meekness the implanted word, which is able to save our souls. In his writings Paul did not use the expression “implanted word.” This expression indicates that the word is of life. Here James likens the word to a living plant that is planted into the soil of our heart. In this way, the word becomes the implanted word. After the word of God has been planted into the soil of our heart, it will grow and have the power to save our soul.
In verse 21 we are told to receive the implanted word with meekness. In this verse meekness does not mean gentleness; here meekness means submissiveness, without resistance. To receive the word with meekness is not to reject it, but to be submissive to the word. We should receive God’s word implanted into our being with full submissiveness. Whatever God’s word says, we should receive by saying, “Amen.” As the hymn says, we should “Amen the Word of God” (Hymns,#1218).
If we receive the implanted word with meekness, with submissiveness, this means we are absolutely open to God’s word. We are like land that is opened to receive seed from the farmer and rain from the sky. God plants, or sows, His word into our heart, and we should receive His word with meekness. This is to receive in meekness the implanted word. Because this word is living, after it has been implanted into our heart, it will grow. Moreover, as the word grows, it will save our soul.
In 1:14 and 15 James says, “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own lust; then the lust, having conceived, gives birth to sin; and the sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.” Here we see that temptation is related to lust. Furthermore, lust has much to do with the soul. The saving of the soul involves both the enduring of trials and the resisting of temptations.
Persecution, trial, and temptation for the most part affect our soul. For example, suppose a brother’s new car is stolen, and he is sad because of this; he is suffering in his soul. Likewise, if a brother loses his job, he will also suffer in his soul. Most sufferings affect the soul. How can we withstand these sufferings? As we have pointed out, the power to withstand suffering is through the divine life that is within us. As God-born ones, we resist temptation also by the divine life.
If we would resist temptation, we need to be nourished through receiving the implanted word. We may use eating food as an illustration. Although we may be physically healthy, we still need to eat nourishing meals every day. Although we have physical life, we still need daily nourishment. If I did not eat breakfast in the morning, I would not have the strength to work. The principle is the same with the divine life. Through regeneration God has imparted His life into us. But this life still requires nourishment, and the nourishment we need is the implanted word. Every day we need to come to the Bible to receive God’s word. In our spiritual life we need a good “breakfast” every day. When we eat our spiritual breakfast, we receive the implanted word. As God plants His word into us every morning, this word becomes nourishment to our inward man, and it strengthens our spirit. Once our spirit has been strengthened, it will sustain our soul. As a result, our soul will have the strength to withstand suffering and to resist temptation. This means that through the nourishment of the implanted word we experience the salvation of our soul.
If our soul is not strengthened in this way, it will not be able to withstand trials and temptations. For instance, if a brother is not nourished through the implanted word, his soul will not be able to withstand the loss of a job or of a sum of money. Such a loss will always affect our soul. Satan uses such sufferings to put us down. How, then, can our soul be sustained in the midst of such suffering? Our soul can only be sustained by a spirit that has been nourished through the implanted word. Realizing this, Paul prayed that the saints would be strengthened into the inner man (Eph. 3:16). Our soul needs to be strengthened in the inner man, and the inner man is the spirit. But how can the spirit be strengthened? The spirit is strengthened by being nourished with the implanted word of God.
Many of us can testify that our spirit has been strengthened by God’s implanted word. If we spend some time in the morning to take the Word of God into us, our spirit will be strengthened. Because our spirit is strengthened, it will sustain our soul. Then our soul, being sustained in this way, will be able to withstand trials and resist temptations.
We know from experience that if our spirit is not strengthened and our soul is not sustained by a strong spirit, we are easily defeated by trials or temptations. The result is failure. This means that although we have been saved in our spirit, we are not being saved daily in our soul. Rather, day by day there is a loss to our soul; we even lose our soul. Do you know why we lose our soul? We lose our soul because it does not receive sustenance from our spirit. If our spirit is “flat,” lacking heavenly air, it will not be able to sustain our soul. Hence, we need the implanted word to “pump up” our spirit. If our spirit is filled with divine air, it will be strong and able to sustain our soul. As a result, our soul will be saved.
Day by day we need to receive in meekness the implanted word, which is able to save our soul. The implanted word is full of energy to save our soul. This word in 1:21 certainly is an excellent point in James’ writing.
Every day our soul is tested by outward environmental sufferings and by inward enticing lusts. For this reason, our soul needs to be saved. As we have pointed out, in order for our soul to be saved, it needs to be sustained through our daily feeding on the implanted word. This requires that we receive the word of God just as we receive our daily food. If a child refuses to eat, he will become weak and unhealthy. If a child refuses to eat nourishing food, he is not submissive or meek in the matter of eating. Every child needs to receive in meekness the food served by his mother. If he eats healthy food in this way, he will be strong and healthy. In like manner, we need to receive in meekness the implanted word.
In 1:25 James speaks of the perfect law, the law of freedom: “But he who looks into the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continues in it, not having become a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the word, this one will be blessed in his doing.” The perfect law, the law of freedom (or liberty), is not the law of letters written on tablets of stone outside of us, but the law of life inscribed on our hearts (Heb. 8:10), the moral standard of which corresponds to that of the kingdom’s constitution decreed by the Lord on the mount (Matt. 5—7). Since the law of letters was unable to give man life (Gal. 3:21), but only able to expose man’s weakness and failure and keep him in slavery (Gal. 5:1), it was a law of bondage. Since the perfect law of life is the function of the divine life which was imparted into our being at regeneration, and supplies us throughout our Christian life with the unsearchable riches of the divine life to free us from the law of sin and death and fulfill all the righteous requirements of the law of letters (Rom. 8:2, 4), it is the law of freedom. It is the law of Christ (1 Cor. 9:21), even Christ Himself, living within us to regulate us by imparting the divine nature into our being, that we may live a life to express God’s image. James may have considered this law to be the basic rule of the Christian life for practical Christian perfection.
Concerning the perfect law, the law of freedom, one interpretation is that the perfect law refers to the entire New Testament. Our notes say that the perfect law, the law of freedom, is the law of life within us. Actually, these two interpretations are one. By using the Old Testament law as an illustration, we can point out how this is so. When we speak of the law of Moses, we usually have in mind the Ten Commandments. However, often the entire Old Testament is called the law and the prophets (Matt. 7:12; 22:40). In ancient times, the Jews regarded the Old Testament as consisting of two parts — the law and the prophets. The “prophets,” of course, comprised all the books of the prophets. Then the remainder of the Old Testament, including the Psalms, was considered the “law.” In a similar way, we may say that the entire New Testament is a new law to us. The Old Testament law was written on tablets of stone. It was not written within the people. But the New Testament is written on our hearts (Heb. 8:10). First, God has written the perfect law, the law of freedom, in the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. Second, when He begot us through regeneration, He wrote this law into our being. Now we have within us a law of life that corresponds to the entire New Testament. Therefore, the two interpretations of the perfect law — that it refers to the New Testament and that it refers to the law of life — are one. On the one hand, the perfect law is the entire New Testament; on the other hand, it is the law of life inscribed into our being.
The words “look into” indicate that the perfect law is something that can be read. This indicates that the perfect law refers to the New Testament and not only to the law of life in our being. The law of life can be sensed, but it is not readable. The fact that the perfect law is readable indicates that it denotes not only the law of life but also the entire New Testament.
The principle of the New Testament law has been written into our inner being and has become the law of life within us. The difference between the old law and the new law is that the old law was written only on tablets, whereas the new law was written both in ink and within our being. As we have pointed out, this new law has become the law of life within us, and this law corresponds to the entire New Testament. This is the perfect law, the law of freedom.
Although the law of the New Testament is shorter than the law of the Old Testament, the new law is perfect, whereas the old law is not perfect. Furthermore, the new law is the law of freedom, but the old law is the law of bondage. The law of the Old Testament was the law of bondage because it did not have the ability to impart life. That law could make requirements and condemn. Because it brought people into the bondage of slavery, it was the law of bondage. But the New Testament law gives life; it imparts life into our being. The life imparted into us through the New Testament law delivers us from the law sin and of death. Therefore, this law, the perfect law, is the law of freedom.
In verse 26 James goes on to say, “If anyone thinks himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this one’s religion is vain.” Here the Greek word rendered “religious” is threskos, an adjective; threskeia, the noun for religion, means ceremonial service and worship to God, implying the fear of God. The adjective is used only here in the New Testament. The noun is used here and in verse 27 in a positive sense, in Colossians 2:18 (for worship) in a negative sense, and in Acts 26:5 in a general sense.
James’ writing concerning God’s New Testament economy is not as striking as Paul’s, Peter’s, or John’s. Paul focuses on Christ living and being formed in us (Gal. 2:20; 4:19) and Christ magnified in us and lived out of us (Phil. 1:20-21), that we as the church, His Body, may become His fullness, His expression (Eph. 1:22-23). Peter stresses the fact that God has regenerated us through the resurrection of Christ (1 Pet. 1:3), making us partakers of His divine nature, that we may live a life of godliness (2 Pet. 1:3-7) and be built up a spiritual house to express His virtues (1 Pet. 2:5, 9). John emphasizes the eternal life given to us for our fellowship with the Triune God (1 John 1:2-3) and the divine birth that brings into us the divine life as the divine seed for us to live a life like God (1 John 2:29; 3:9; 4:17) and be the church, as a lampstand, bearing the testimony of Jesus (Rev. 1:9, 11-12), which will consummate in the New Jerusalem to express God for eternity (Rev. 21:2-3, 10-11). James stresses, as New Testament characteristics, only God’s begetting of us (James 1:18), the perfect law of freedom (1:25), the indwelling Spirit (4:5), and a little bit of the church (5:14), without speaking of Christ as our life and the church as the expression of Christ, the two most outstanding and dispensational characteristics of the New Testament. According to his Epistle, James must have been very religious. It might have been due to this and his practical Christian perfection that he was reputed along with Peter and John to be a pillar, even the first, in the church at Jerusalem (Gal. 2:9). However, he was not strong in the revelation of God’s New Testament economy in Christ, but was still under the influence of the background of the old Judaic religion — to worship God with ceremonies and live a life in the fear of God. This is proved by the words in Acts 21:20-24 and in this Epistle, 2:2-11.
In 1:26 James says of the one who does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, that his religion is vain. Not bridling the tongue is to speak quickly (v. 19) and loosely without restriction. This always deceives the speaking one’s own heart, deceiving his conscience, the consciousness of his heart.
In verse 27 James says, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” This word of James, for the strengthening of his view of practical Christian perfection, implies an element of the Old Testament charges (Deut. 14:29; 12-13, 24:19-21).
To keep oneself unspotted from the world is not to be worldly, not to be stained by worldliness. This word about keeping oneself unspotted from the world is also a part of James’ God-fearing view of practical Christian perfection. To visit orphans and widows is to act according to God’s loving heart, a positive characteristic of the perfection; and to keep oneself unspotted from the world is to be separated from the world according to God’s holy nature, a negative characteristic of the perfection.
In chapter one of the Epistle of James three major points are covered: the divine birth (v. 18), receiving the implanted word (v. 21), and the perfect law of freedom (v. 25). First God brought us forth, regenerated us, by the word of truth. Hence, the word of truth is the seed of life for our divine birth. After being regenerated by receiving this seed, we need to continue to receive the implanted word, which is able to save our soul in our daily life. According to verse 18, the word of truth is for regeneration in our spirit. According to verse 21, we need the implanted word for the daily salvation of our soul. Moreover, according to verses 25 through 27, we need the perfect law of freedom so that we may live a God-fearing life, a life that might be considered religious in a proper sense. Such a life corresponds to God’s heart, which is love, and to God’s nature, which is holiness.
Negatively, chapter one of James deals with enduring trials and resisting temptations. Actually, the intrinsic contents of this chapter comprise three aspects of the divine word: the word of truth for regeneration, the implanted word for the salvation of the soul, and the entire New Testament as God’s word to be the law of freedom. We have seen that the law of freedom refers to the law of life, which has been planted into our being as a principle. This inner law helps us to live a life of love and holiness, a life that is according to God’s heart and nature.
I want to emphasize the fact that each of the three major points covered in James 1 is related to the divine word: first, the word in the aspect of truth for regeneration; second, the word in the aspect of implantation for the daily salvation of the soul; and third, the word referring to the entire New Testament as the new law, the law that has been wrought into our being to become an inner principle by which we live a godly life according to God’s loving heart and holy nature.
