James 1:22-27 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - James 1:19-27

In this part of the chapter we are required, I. To restrain the workings of passion. This lesson we should learn under afflictions; and this we shall learn if we are indeed begotten again by the word of truth. For thus the connection stands?An angry and hasty spirit is soon provoked to ill things by afflictions, and errors and ill opinions become prevalent through the workings of our own vile and vain affections; but the renewing grace of God and the word of the gospel teach us to subdue... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:22-24

1:22-24 Prove yourselves to be doers of the word, and not only hearers, for those who think that hearing is enough deceive themselves. For, if a man is a hearer of the word and not a doer of it, he is like a man who looks in a mirror at the face which nature gave him. A glance and he is gone; and he immediately forgets what kind of man he is. Again James presents us with two of the vivid pictures of which he is such a master. First of all, he speaks of the man who goes to the church... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:25

1:25 He who looks into the perfect law, which is the law in the observance of which a man finds freedom, and who abides in it and shows himself not a forgetful hearer but an active doer of the word, will be blessed in all his action. This is the kind of passage in James which Luther so much disliked. He disliked the idea of law altogether, for with Paul he would have said, "Christ is the end of the law" ( Romans 10:4 ). "James," said Luther, "drives us to law and works." And yet beyond... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:26-27

1:26-27 If anyone thinks that he is a worshipper of God and yet does not bridle his tongue, his worship is an empty thing. This is pure and undefiled worship, as God the Father sees it, to visit the orphans and the widows, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. We must be careful to understand what James is saying here. The Revised Standard Version translates the phrases at the beginning of James 1:27 : "Religion that is pure and undefiled is....." The word translated religion is... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 1:22

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 Romans 2:13 and not hearers only ; though the word should be... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 1:23

But if any man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer ,.... The Arabic version here again reads, "a hearer of the law", and so some copies; not hearing, but practice, is the main thing; not theory, but action: hence, says R. Simeon, not the word, or the searching into it, and the explanation of it, is the root, or principal thing, אלא המעשה , "but the work" F16 Pirke Abot, c. 1. sect. 17. : and if a man is only a preacher, or a hearer, and not a doer, he is like unto a man... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 1:24

For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way ,.... He takes a slight glance of himself, and departs: and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was ; he forgets either his spots, blemishes, and imperfections; or his comeliness and beauty; the features of his face, be they comely or not: so a bare hearer of the word, who is not concerned to practise what he hears, while he is hearing, he observes some things amiss in himself, and some excellencies in Christ; but, when the discourse... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 1:25

But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty ,.... By which is meant, not the moral law, but the Gospel; for only of that is the apostle speaking in the context: this is no other than the word of truth, with which God begets men of his own will; and is the ingrafted word which is able to save, and of which men should be doers, as well as hearers, James 1:18 , and this is compared to a glass by the Apostle Paul, 2 Corinthians 3:18 , and the word here used for looking into it is the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 1:26

If any man among you seem to be religious ,.... By his preaching, or praying, and hearing, and other external duties of religion, he is constant in the observance of; and who, upon the account of these things, "thinks himself to be a religious man", as the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions render it; or is thought to be so by others: and bridleth not his tongue ; but boasts of his works, and speaks ill of his brethren; backbites them, and hurts their names and characters, by... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 1:27

Pure religion and undefiled ,.... That which is sincere and genuine, and free from adulteration and hypocrisy: before God and the Father ; or in the sight of God the Father of Christ, and all his people; that which is approved of by him, who is the searcher of hearts, and the trier of the reins of men, "is this": not that the apostle is giving a full definition of true religion; only he mentions some of the effects of it, by which it is known, and without which it cannot be true and... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - James 1:19-27

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:22-24

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:25

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:26-27

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 1:22

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 1:23

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 1:24

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 1:25

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 1:26

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 1:27

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