James 1:23

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

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

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:23

Beholding his natural face in a glass - This metaphor is very simple, but very expressive. A man wishes to see his own face, and how, in its natural state, it appears; for this purpose he looks into a mirror, by which his real face, with all its blemishes and imperfections, is exhibited. He is affected with his own appearance; he sees deformities that might be remedied; spots, superfluities, and impurities, that might be removed. While he continues to look into the mirror he is affected, and... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:23

Verse 23 23He is like to a man. Heavenly doctrine is indeed a mirror in which God presents himself to our view; but so that we may be transformed unto his image, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18. But here he speaks of the external glance of the eye, not of the vivid and efficacious meditation which penetrates into the heart. It is a striking comparison, by which he briefly intimates, that a doctrine merely heard and not received inwardly into the heart avails nothing, because it soon vanishes... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - James 1:19-27

EXHORTATION read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - James 1:19-27

Deeds, not words. 1. The right spirit for the Christian is the receptive ; ready to hear, and to receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is to be as the seed falling on the good ground (comp. Matthew 13:3 , etc). A heathen philosopher has noted that man has two ears and only one mouth ; showing that he should be more ready to hear than to speak. 2. A receptive spirit is not alone sufficient. Action must follow. Holy Scripture is a mirror, in which a man may see... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - James 1:19-27

The law of the new life. "Ye know this, my beloved brethren;" viz. that ye have been begotten again by God. But now, from this vantage-ground, he presses the necessity of a consistent life. They have espoused, by God's grace, a new ideal of character and conduct; let their whole life show forth its power. This is the topic of the whole passage, and it divides itself very naturally into the related subjects of—meekness, self-knowledge, and practical religion (see Punchard, in Bishop... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - James 1:22-25

Hearers and doers. The writer has said in James 1:21 that the wise hearer is a " receiver " of the Word, and he now proceeds to emphasize the fact that he is also a "doer" of it. " Receiving " represents the root of the Christian life, and "doing" indicates its fruit. I. THE INJUNCTION . ( James 1:22 ) Very many hearers of the gospel are not sufficiently upon their guard against the dreadful danger of being " hearers only." Some, when the service is over, seldom think... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - James 1:23-24

Illustration from life, showing the folly of being led astray. His natural face ( τὸ πρόσωπον τῆς γενέσεως αὐτοῦ ); literally, the face of his birth. The expression is an unusual one, but there is no doubt of its meaning. In a glass ; rather, in a mirror , ἐν ἐσόπτρῳ : cf. 1 Corinthians 13:12 , δἰ ἐσόπτρου . The mirror of burnished brass. read more

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