The Christian and the Word of God
James 1:19-25

            The past twenty-two years of pastoring churches has left me continually thinking about the subject of hearing the Word of God. After preaching I have often wondered if what I spoke out of the Scriptures was heard. My vantage point from the pulpit allows me to see the expressions on faces and the brightness or dullness of the eyes during a sermon. But I cannot read men's hearts; so that I realize even at times when I have wondered whether a person has heard the Word, indeed he has. With others, I was most certain they heard, but in reality their minds were focused on other things.

            We are given clear instruction on what is necessary to make the most of our time with the Word of God. Those who view the hearing of the Word as a mere religious duty or an unprofitable exercise or something to be done with to go on to more important things, will probably not find much value in the proclamation of Scripture. Those who believe they already know everything the Bible has to say will certainly not profit either. There are others who do not believe the Bible has much to say to them, so they give it only scant attention. But I would submit to you that if we were going to make any measure of progress in the Christian faith it will not happen apart from the hearing, receiving, and applying of God's Word in our lives.

How does a Christian move from the realm of theoretical Christianity into practical, daily Christian living? James has no concern for theory without corresponding application. The Christian life should be lived to the fullest in every aspect and corner of our lives. But this cannot be accomplished apart from the Word of God.

            Central to our declarations as evangelicals, and particularly as Southern Baptists, is our belief in the Scripture. We love the Word of God and believe in its infallible authority over all of life. But the danger we run is that of becoming professionals at hearing the Bible taught while failing to apply it to all of life. Biblical Christians are not those who only love and believe the Word, but also practice it.

            Just as James had the intense concern that Christianity be lived in the practical issues of life, so should we as we concern ourselves with God's Word. How are we to do this?

 

I.  Be attentive to the Word   vv. 19-20

            After pulling back the curtain of the secret working of God in regeneration by the instrument of the word of truth-or the gospel-James makes practical application for our continuing in this truth. His terms, "the word of truth," "the word implanted," "the word," and "the perfect law of liberty," all point to both the written Word and that which is proclaimed. These early believers lived in an era in which they depended especially on the proclamation of the Scripture, for they may have had some portions of the Old Testament, but the New Testament canon was still being developed. The oral transmission of the Word and its exposition by the pastors, teachers, and elders of the church, was certainly a priority for these believers.

            The three-fold instruction offered in verse 19 helps us to see what is necessary to truly hear the Word of God: "But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger."

 

 

            1. Hearing the Word

            The Christian is first exhorted to "be quick to hear." The imperative verb shows that James is not giving suggestions for the church but divine commands. With the issue of the Word spoken of in verse 18 and then clearly explained again in verses 21-25, we are safe to interpret James' words at this point to have some reference to the Christian and his hearing the Word of God. He is not just offering a quaint Jewish proverb for hearing and speaking. He is referring to the whole posture of the Christian toward the ministry of God's Word. The beginning of the verse seems to infer, 'in light of your regeneration by the word of truth, you are to be quick to hear the Word'.

            If we are going to get anything from the Word, it must begin with being able to hear the Word. You might say, 'Well it goes without saying that everyone present today hears the Word being read and spoken'. While we might assume that this would be true, in actuality, it is not the case. For even as I am speaking and even as the Word of God was read earlier, some have not really heard anything that was said. Yes, they heard words read or spoken, but there was not conscious meaning in those words.

            Those of you with computers have had the experience of putting in a new program and before you can proceed you are supposed to read an innocuous text of legalese telling you what your limitations are on the program, what the manufacturer's rights are, etc. I must say, I have quickly skimmed through many of these but I cannot tell you their contents. I read but did not hear.

            We too can be guilty of the same thing in Bible reading. We can go through the ritual of following our Scripture for the day but once we have finished we could not tell anymore about the text than before we started. As we read, our minds were busily at work thinking on the tasks before us or the activities of the day.

            So James reminds us, "be quick to hear." We must seek to overcome the barriers to hearing the Word. For instance, the fact that we are busy people often gets in the way of hearing the Word. We do not slow down long enough either physically or mentally to truly hear the Word. The immersion of our minds in what the media offers us often keeps us so distracted and encumbered that we have no consciousness of hearing the Word. We might also have the attitude that life is to be entertaining, so that if the reading of Scripture does not contain entertainment, we do not listen. It seems that we have forgotten the exhortation given in Psalm 46:10, "Be still, and know that I am God."

            Kent Hughes offers some excellent pointers on helping us be "quick to hear":

1) We must work at truly listening to others. Listening requires an intense interest in the other person....

2) We must limit our exposure to the visual media. If we do not control our time, the media will! And if they do, they will impair our ability to hear.

3) We must read God's Word, and that involves more than advancing a bookmark. It means "listening" as we read.

4) We must slow down and take time to listen, perhaps praying Samuel's eager words, "Speak, for your servant is listening" (I Samuel 3:10).

5) We must prepare for worship and the hearing of God's Word [James: Faith that Works, 65].

 

 

 

 

            2. Hindrances to hearing

            Obviously, there are some hindrances we face in hearing the Word. The next two statements of his triad of counsel help us to see the hindrances: "be...slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God."

            The seemingly strange command, "be...slow to speak," makes perfect sense when we realize that the early gathering of believers was more often than not in people's homes or in informal settings. Rather than the structured time of worship to which we are more accustomed, their worship and teaching times may have been in an atmosphere of coming and going within the home setting. Consequently, as someone was speaking concerning the Scriptures, if someone else had an opinion, he chimed in to offer his thoughts; then another did the same thing, until finally the whole process was so interrupted and disconnected that they failed to grasp the message of the Word. While we see numerous examples of Paul using a dialogue approach to teaching, this went beyond dialogue into disruption. For it seems that many were speaking in order to gain attention for themselves without carefully weighing their words or thinking before speaking.

            We enjoy discussing the Scripture in our Bible study classes and Wednesday night classes. This has proved to be an exceptional way for us to learn. But there is a danger that James' warns of in giving so much attention to what you will say that you fail to hear what has been spoken. I'm sure that all of us have had that experience! So our text serves to warn us to be slow to speak. Speak, yes indeed, but make sure that in the process we are not just thinking of the cleaver turning of phrases in our minds so that we fail to hear what has been spoken and miss truth penetrating our minds.

            The next statement appears to be even more out of place: "be...slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God." "Anger" [Greek orge] refers to a deep-seated anger. As I jotted my notes while studying the text, I wrote down the question in my margin, "Why the stress on anger?"  I realized that in many ways, this is one of the most practical things that James has written. For anger is one of life's most common sin problems. What happens to you when you are dealing with anger? Will you be attentive to what anyone else is saying, whether it has to do with the Word or the weather? Anger distracts the thoughts, focusing on plotting and calculating some type of revenge or getting even or nursing the open wounds. Anger prevents the mind from a true sense of reverence in hearing the Word proclaimed. And without a sense of reverence for the Word, we obviously cannot profitably hear. So rather than listening with a view to submitting to the truth of Scripture, anger deflects what is being spoken or read to thoughts of getting even.

            Perhaps you have complained of not getting anything out of the Bible or out of a sermon or Bible study. Could it be that the reason has nothing to do with what was spoken or read, but with your own unwillingness to deal with your anger? Hughes warns, "an angry spirit is never a listening, teachable spirit" [p. 66].

 

II. Be receptive of the Word   v. 21

            But James takes matters one-step further. Not only are we to hear the Word but we are to receive the Word as that which is planted and rooted deeply in our lives. "Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls." Notice that first the crowd in the heart must be cleared.

 

            1. Crowded heart

            The "therefore" helps to clue us in that the focus of James' instruction in verses 19-20 ties in with the issue of the believer's relation to the Word of God. Again, he is extraordinarily practical by pointing out what must be addressed in our lives if we are going to make the most of our relationship to the Word. James tells us that there are some things we must put aside. There term is used elsewhere for 'removing soiled clothes'. That is quite fitting in light of what James states, for he tells us, "putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness." As one writer put it, James undercuts the whole theology of perfectionism in this statement. For the implication is that even as a believer, we still have sins that do affect us for we are still living in the same bodies with the same minds and same backgrounds. We have a new, recreated nature that gives us the capacity to follow after the Lord and to deal with sin. Nevertheless, there must be some struggles and strong effort put forth along the way through the grace and strength given by the Lord to deal with sins. We are not to put our minds and energies into neutral as Christians.

            The words he uses, "all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness," remind us that there are some things we may be harboring that hinder our receiving the full impact and usefulness of God's Word in our lives. Goodspeed translates "all filthiness" as "everything that soils you," while Weymouth offers, "all that is vile" [quoted by C. Vaughan, The Bible Study Commentary, 37]. The root of the word was used in medical terminology to refer to 'wax in the ear'. Blanchard points out, "When James tells us to get rid of all moral filth he means anything that stops us hearing, receiving and understanding God's Word" [John Blanchard, Truth for Life, 85]. The next phrase conveys the idea of the 'excessive wickedness that remains in your life after your conversion'. "The thought then is that sin," writes Vaughan, "though renounced by Christians, is not entirely vanquished in them. There may be some wickedness remaining, like a bad "hangover" from preconversion days, as one commentator puts it" [p. 38].

            The implication is quite clear: if the Word of God is not relevant and precious to us, we need to do some housecleaning! If it has lost its sweetness in our lives or delight in our thoughts, then there are some sins that need to be put aside so that we might receive the Word.

 

            2. Right posture

            Along with dealing with excessive sins that remain in our lives we are also told, "in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls." The posture called for is humility or gentleness or meekness. It is a humble attitude that bows to the authority of the Lord spoken through his Word. It is the willingness to follow after whatever he commands. This stands in contrast to the "anger of man [that] does not achieve the righteousness of God." The Christian is to pursue righteousness as a way of life, but it does not happen when he seethes in anger. For in so doing, the Word does not root itself deeply with its penetrating, purifying effect. But to "receive the word implanted" is to welcome the Scripture in your life. Vaughan says, "To receive the word in the fullest sense is to so open the inner self to the influence of God's Word that its truth is transfused into the heart" [p. 36].

            Luke used the same term, "receive," in describing the Bereans who "received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily" (Acts 17:11). Paul used it of the Thessalonians who "received it [that is, the proclamation of the gospel] not as the word of men, but as what it really is, the word of God" (I Thes. 2:13). We have already noted that the Lord uses "the word of truth" to regenerate us. Now James emphasizes that the Christian has a continuing relationship with the Word of God, so that it is to be continually rooted deeply in his life. It is the sanctifying effect of the Word (John 17:17) that continually applies the glories of the gospel in the believer's life and eventually takes him into the presence of the Lord. In this sense, it is "able to save your souls." Here James takes a forward look to help us understand the certainty of the Word of God's effect in our lives. So get out your spiritual hoe and dig out the pesky weeds of sin that are evident in your life, so that the roots of the Word of God might grow stronger and deeper in your life.

 

III. Be obedient to the Word   vv. 22-25

            We live in a day in which Bible study has almost taken on a recreational tone. By this I mean that there are multitudes that will listen to people teach the Word, albeit sometimes there are questionable things taught! But many among the multitude have no concern for obeying what they have heard. This is where James shows his most practical side in relationship to the Word. We must hear the Word, receive it roots and all, but not for simply academic or recreational purposes. The Word of God is not to be a hobby for us. We are to treat it as the very Word of the living God that reveals God himself and his ways to us, that shows us his will, that directs our steps, that answers our questions about life and relationships, that explains to us how we are to live in light of the gospel.

 

            1. The command stated

            James calls for action! "But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves." Here he states the command and then explains it in the following verses. The command is simple to understand. Christians are to hear the Word of God, whether in personal Bible reading or study, in Sunday School, in worship services, in other settings with a view toward obedience. Anything other than this is self-deception, which implies that the Christian deceives himself through false reasoning. If you think that you cannot profit from the Word or that you have already heard what has been taught and there's nothing more for you to learn, then you have miscalculated and misjudged to your own harm. That is what he means by "not merely hearers who delude themselves."

            The act of doing refers to developing a pattern or habit of life by which you give attention to following what God's Word teaches. The present tense of the verb demonstrates that this is a life-long process. We cannot reach a point where it is okay to slack up on our obedience. We cannot let our spiritual guard down.

            James is not minimizing hearing the Word. We must hear; but we must do more than hear. Hearing is the starting point to be culminated by our faithful obedience. Alec Motyer offers a well-put illustration of what James is commanding.

We deceive ourselves when we mistake the part for the whole. It is only part of our fruitful use of the Word of God to hear it and receive it, but it is a part on which we might unduly preen ourselves: "I spent fifty minutes this morning reading the Bible-and I can remember what I read. It was a super, uninterrupted time." And James would say, "Well done! But now, what about obeying the word you read? Have you actually changed your mind so that you now hold to be true what you learnt in the word? Have you (and are you) re-directing your imagination and your eyes and your thoughts so as to live according to the standards of the word? Are your relationships different, as the word instructed you they should be?"-and so he could go on. We must be doers of the word [The Message of James, 70].

 

            2. The command illustrated and applied

            To help us grasp what he is saying, James uses a common experience we all have. "For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was." You can imagine yourself peering into the mirror and scrutinizing yourself. But strangely, you walk away from the mirror and pay no attention to the fact that part of breakfast is still on your face and that your hair was not groomed and that your clothing needed adjusting. You look in the mirror, see yourself as you are, but walk away and do nothing about it. That is the same reality that happens when we look at ourselves in the mirror of the Word, see ourselves for what we are, but fail to make the applications necessary for change. We can hear the Word over and over-or look into its mirror and see ourselves over and over. But we are not just to hear-or look-but to take action according to the truth revealed by the gracious power of the Holy Spirit.

            The next picture is of one who looks at himself in the mirror of the Word but takes action. "But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does." Here is a different story. This man "looks intently at the perfect law," that is, he bends over the mirror to examine the minute details he sees in it. He peers upon the Word from every angle. His look at the Word is for the intention of action (the same word was used of Peter stooping over and looking into the Garden tomb). Certainly, his mind will be enlarged, but he looks for more than that. He views the Word as "the perfect law of liberty," that is, he sees it as freeing rather than encumbering. He recognizes that "If the Son has set you free, you are free indeed" (John 8:37). He glories in living by the God-liberating truth of Scripture. His response is to "abide by it," to continue in the Word as a faithful servant. He is not out for recreational Bible reading. He knows that he is faithful as a Christian only to the degree that he lives as a Christian; and the key to doing so is his relationship to the Word of God. It is this man, James declares, who "will be blessed [or happy] in what he does."

 

Conclusion

            What is your attitude toward the Word of God? James does not offer anything profound or new. He puts it quite simply though: hear the Word, receive the Word, and apply the Word. There are no hidden secrets to living the Christian life. If you are a believer, then hear, receive, and obey.

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be explicitly approved by South Woods Baptist Church.

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy:

Copyright South Woods Baptist Church. Website: www.southwoodsbc.org. Used by permission as granted on web site. Questions, comments, and suggestions about our site can be sent here.