NOTES for Jam 1:16-27
16 Do not err, my beloved brethren. |
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. |
18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. |
19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: |
20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. |
21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. |
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. |
23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: |
24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. |
25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. |
26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. |
27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. |
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One might say that James calls for self-control. But he notes that every good deed has the Creator as its source. Human strength alone is therefore insufficient; overcoming our own weaknesses rests on the strength He gives.
When reflecting on the words that human anger does not produce God’s righteousness, it is very easy to drift into reasoning like this: “Yes, unrighteous anger does not—but righteous anger is another matter...” Then any violent emotional outburst can readily be presented as an expression of righteous anger, because I am fighting for truth and justice!
But James speaks of all human anger. Even when anger is justified, it is dangerous to let it guide our actions, and not only because in the heat of the moment we can do a great deal of damage. When we give in to anger, we consent to be ruled by unenlightened human passions that have escaped the control of reason. This means that at that moment we are not measuring our actions against the will of God.
Other notes
For Jam 1:19-27
19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: |
20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. |
21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. |
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. |
23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: |
24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. |
25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. |
26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. |
27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. |
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