James 1:27

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.

Some commentators make a big point of saying that James was here contrasting Christian behavior with external acts of religion, such as taking the Lord's supper; but this is not the case at all. Christianity also includes doing that, and everything else that Christ commanded. As Jesus put it in the Great Commission, "teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:18-20). The true Christianity does not attempt to avoid this requirement imposed by the Son of God himself.

Again, in this verse, there is evident the influence of the teachings of Jesus Christ. As Lenski noted, "It seems as though James has in mind Matthew 23:14; Luke 20:47, where is mentioned the hypocritical Pharisees who devoured widows' houses and for a pretense made long prayers."[59]

Lenski also pointed out that certain rationalists point to this passage as teaching their kind of religion: "Just do good and lead a clean moral life; the rest doesn't matter."[60] This is just as reasonable, however, as making Paul's "saved by faith" to mean "saved by faith alone." In both cases, the synecdoche is ignored. James did not here limit true religion to concern for the fatherless and the widows, but he made these two to be a figure including the totality of Christian obligation. Still, implicit in such a synecdoche is the fact of charity to widows and orphans being a vital and necessary part of Christian service.

And to keep oneself unspotted from the world ... The meaning of this was accurately presented by Zerr, thus: "`Unspotted from the world' means to be free from the vices commonly practiced by mankind."[61]

[59] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 560.

[60] Ibid., p. 561.

[61] E. M. Zerr, op. cit., p. 244.