Gospel Light Christian Church Thru-The-Bible Series (29.4)

The General Epistle of James

James Chapter 1:27 - Read this Bible passage once through before referring to the notes below.

v27 The second tell tale sign of a vain religion is when the tongues of men are not bridleth. When the tongue is not bridleth, the evil from the tongue is not restrained.  When people openly criticise others with the objective of making themselves look good or wiser, that religion is vain.

What the tongue says is a direct reflection of what the heart feels. That’s why Christians are asked to be slow to speak.  Be careful what you speak.  In a vain religion, a man deceives himself, making himself look like someone with his detracting words, when he is actually nobody. 

So what is the pure and undefiled religion before God?  It is characterised by two things.  First, compassion and charity, to the fatherless and widows in their affliction. We are to visit them. Visiting is here used to signify all manners of reliefs that we can give to them.  The fatherless and widows are specifically mentioned because they are generally neglected or oppressed.  

Secondly, pure and undefiled religion is to keep yourself unspotted from the world. John comprises all that is in the world, which we are not to love, under three heads: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; and to keep ourselves unspotted from all these is to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. 

Now it is easier said than done, to keep oneself unspotted from the world.  Many people are known to have fallen due to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and/or the pride of life.  The first person to fall in this manner was Eve, in the Garden of Eden.  Have you any similar experience?

Notice that these 2 activities, to visit those in affliction and to keep oneself unspotted are to be done before God, not before men. That is the true mark of a pure and undefiled religion.  It has nothing to do with showmanship, for showmanship is to be done before men. 

Pure and undefiled religion is always God-ward.  The moment a religion turns its eyes away from God towards men, that religion ceases to be pure and undefiled.  Are you turning your eyes towards the Lord?  When you visit the fatherless and widows, the reliefs that you give to them, are you doing so because of God, or are you doing it to please men?  It behoves us well to check ourselves and see if we are walking in that pure and undefiled religion.

James Chapter 2:1-3 - Read this Bible passage once through before referring to the notes below.

Introduction

This chapter is one of the most misunderstood passages in the whole Bible.  From here comes the heretical teaching that salvation is by works.  This is in direct opposition to the Biblical truth that salvation is by the grace of God through faith, without works. If salvation is by works, then nobody can be sure of salvation, for how can one ever be sure that one’s work is acceptable to God?  Yet the Bible says we can know that we are saved (1Jn 5:13). No, this chapter is not about how to be saved.  Rather it is about the evidences of our salvation.

This chapter addresses the question of how to recognize faith, not how to obtain faith.  Heb 11:1 defines faith this way: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  So how can you tell whether you or someone else has faith?  James gives three indicators whereby faith can be manifested.  First, there must be no partiality, no prejudice, because faith destroys prejudice.  Secondly, faith is demonstrated by actual deeds of mercy. Lastly, faith is manifested by a controlled tongue, for which James devoted the whole of the next chapter on this topic.

Partiality condemned

v1-3  The first thing we need to note is that this chapter is addressed to believers, for James here calls them my brethren.  Lest there be some misunderstanding that he is addressing his brethren in the flesh, he goes on to mention about our Lord Jesus Christ. So it is addressed to brethren in the Lord, or as we will call them, believers in the Lord. This sets the tone for the rest of the chapter – James is addressing saved people, and so he is not dealing with how to get saved, for they are already saved. 

The opening verse of this chapter can be confusing, but the context is clarified in the subsequent verses. My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.  The verse is not telling us not to have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ; rather the context is that the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ is not to show respect of persons. Consider Acts 10:34, Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.

It is interesting that James should describe our Lord as the Lord of glory.  The glory of the Lord is available to all classes of people, and so true Christianity is therefore inconsistent with display of partiality towards people.  He goes on to give an example of an obviously rich man and a poor man appearing before the assembly. How should both be treated?  Now we need to understand that this assembly is not referring to a worship service.  Rather it is referring to a court of some kind where complaints are made and judgments passed.  This is evident is verse 4, where the reference is made to those who show partiality becoming judges of evil thoughts.

How does one show partiality in the assembly?  By asking the rich man to take a good seat while asking the poor to stand or take an inferior seat.  This outward display of prejudice is here condemned as something believers should not have.