James 1:26 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 1:26-27

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 1:26

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

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:26

Seem to be religious - The words θρησκος and θρησκεια , which we translate religious and religion, (see the next verse), are of very uncertain etymology. Suidas, under the word θρησκευει , which he translates θεοσεβει, ὑπηρετει τοις θεοις , he worships or serves the gods, accounts for the derivation thus: "It is said that Orpheus, a Thracian, instituted the mysteries (or religious rites) of the Greeks, and called the worshipping of God θρησκευειν threskeuein , as being a... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:26

Verse 26 26Seem to be religious. He now reproves even in those who boasted that they were doers of the law, a vice under which hypocrites commonly labor, that is, the wantonness of the tongue in detraction. He has before touched on the duty of restraining the tongue, but for a different end; for he then bade silence before God, that we might be more fitted to learn. He speaks now of another thing, that the faithful should not employ their tongue in evil speaking. It was indeed needful that... 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 1:26

Seem ( δοκεῖ ); seems to himself rather than to others; translate, with R.V., thinketh himself to be. Vulgate, Si quis Putat se esse. Religious ( θρῆσκος ) . It is difficult to find an English word which exactly answers to the Greek. The noun θρησκεία refers properly to the external rites of religion, and so gets to signify an over-scrupulous devotion to external forms (Lightfoot on Colossians 2:18 ); almost "ritualism." It is the ceremonial service of religion, the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - James 1:26-27

The true ritualism. These two verses enforce by an example what those immediately preceding illustrate by a simile. The words "religious" and "religion" denote external religious service—the body, or outward attire of godliness, rather than its inward spirit. The apostle indicates in these two sentences the "work" of which every one who truly "receives" the gospel is a "doer." I. AN EXAMPLE OF VAIN RELIGIOUS SERVICE . ( James 1:26 ) This statement points back to the... read more

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

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

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:26

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:26

The Pulpit Commentary - James 1:19-27

The Pulpit Commentary - James 1:19-27

The Pulpit Commentary - James 1:19-27

The Pulpit Commentary - James 1:26

The Pulpit Commentary - James 1:26-27

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