James 1:21-25: Whoso Looketh into the Perfect Law of Liberty
2024-06-08
James 1:21
Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. (James 1:21)
Our Lord’s brother tells us to “lay apart” certain evils. The word is used elsewhere, being translated “laid down,” “cast off,” “put off,” “putting away,” and “lay aside.” It is used of garments being laid down at Saul’s feet so the men could slay Stephen. We are clothed with sins and wickedness. We need to change clothes and put on Christ.
“The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light” (Romans 13:12). We are clothed in works of darkness; but we need the armor of light.
Consider Ephesians 4:22-25. The word is used twice here. We need to put off the old man and all that corresponds with him and put on the new man. The old man is corrupt with evil lusts. It is not redeemable. We need to take off that “clothing” and trash it and burn it. We now need to put on the new man and all that corresponds with him, which is true holiness and righteousness.
How do we do this? “...renewed in the spirit of your mind.” In our mind, we must by faith receive that life in Christ that is the new man. The old man has already been crucified on the cross with Christ. The new man is already ours. We must accept this by faith.
Then, if we have put on the new man, we also put on more that is related to him, which is “putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.” Christ is truth; therefore, we put on truth when we put on the new man and put off lies.
Consider Colossians 3:8-11. We put off specific sins of vengeance, blasphemy, and evil speaking. However, here the apostle says that we “have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man.” This is a completed action. So we can see that by being saved we have put off the old and put on the new. However, as we walk with Him, we are commanded to keep putting off the old and putting on the new.
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). Here, we lay apart or put off “every weight, and the sin.” We discussed this previously. It is not just sin we want to put off; it is anything that distracts us from the Lord and the racecourse He has set for us.
“Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:1-2). Again, we see that we lay aside these specific sins and exchange them for the Word of God so that we can grow.
When we get to James 1:21, the meaning is no different. We put off one thing and put on another. There is the old man and his attributes that we remove and trash, and there is the new man with attributes that we put on, keep putting on, receive, and embrace. The attributes of the old man listed in this case are “all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness.” Let us look at each.
The word for filthiness is only used once, here. A related word is also used in this epistle in James 2:2, being translated “vile”: “For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment” (James 2:2). We will discuss the specifics of this verse later. But here, vile clothing is contrasted with a gold ring and goodly apparel. Clearly, we are setting up a stark contrast. The nicest, richest, trendiest stuff with the most disgusting, nasty stuff that you want far from you, hopefully in a trash dumpster.
The old man only has filthiness associated with him. Our old nature cannot be improved; it is enmity with God. It is filthy, and I am filthy and disgusting apart from Christ. It is vileness. Imagine being clothed with an outfit completely covered with dung. You want to put it off right now. You do not even want that in your washing machine. It must be burned and trashed.
Let us look at the phrase “superfluity of naughtiness.” The word “superfluity” is translated elsewhere as “abundance,” all of which are used positively. The word for naughtiness is “evil,” “wickedness,” and “maliciousness,” and “malice” being the most used translation. When we think of malice, we think of doing something with the motive to harm another. We naturally protect ourselves and do so at the expense of others. It is far from our use of the word “naughtiness” today, where we use it of children doing bad things and trying to minimize that rebellion with a touch of “cuteness.”
Now I much prefer the word “superfluity” over “abundance,” for it gives us such a better picture of ourselves. I keep seeing the words “super” and “fluid” in this word. There is an overabundance of malice in us. It flows from us without any stop. There is a bottomless pit of evil that gushes from us. We wonder at the cascade of wickedness that seems to keep falling from an inexhaustible source. Apart from the grace of God, this is us; this is our old man. This is what we want to put off. This is the garment we want to exchange. It must be crucified, and amen, it has been.
But for what do we exchange these characteristics? Of the new man, we want this: “the engrafted word.” We must receive this Engrafted Word.
“Engrafted” is the word that means the Word has been planted in us already. Recall that “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures” (James 1:18). The seed of the Word of God was planted, and up came new life in this new plant of the new man. We already have the Word in us. We now must receive it. We must willfully embrace Him. The engrafting is justification, or our being born again. The receiving is sanctification, or our growing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are to receive the engrafted Word “with meekness.” This is humility. We know this is a good trait. But why is it of utmost importance here? Because the engrafted Word is His power used by the Spirit to work in us. This is from God and not from us. We can trust in Him, and then somehow start believing that the resulting goodness produced in us is something we can take credit for. No! No goodness comes from within us; the only thing we produce is filthiness and naughtiness from ourselves. Anything good that comes from us is really because we trust in that engrafted Word to produce the fruit. He must increase and I must decrease.
The engrafted Word is that “which is able to save your souls.” When we see something of our salvation being incomplete or in the present tense, the word “save” is being used to mean sanctification. Of course, the Word saved us from the penalty of sin, but it was not yet engrafted. Now that the Word is engrafted, it is currently saving us or delivering us from the power of sin. The new man is associated with the Word of the Gospel, Jesus Christ, that saved us. We must exchange and continue to exchange the filthy garments for the power of the engrafted Word.
In Paul-speak, this verse could be said, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:11).
James 1:22
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. (James 1:22)
This engrafted Word is not meant to lie dormant. We very much like to hear the Word of God, but do we also like doing the Word of God?
Consider Ezekiel 33:29-33. The prophet preached to people about the upcoming destruction of their land. Ezekiel seemed to bring in quite the audience. Perhaps he was happy with the turnout. However, the LORD filled this son of man in on what is going on in their minds and what they do. “...they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.” And again, “...they hear thy words, but they do them not.” Because of this, the impending destruction was not avoided.
Consider John the Baptist’s preaching in Matthew 3:5-12. Multitudes from Judea and the surrounding areas were coming to hear this man preach. They were convicted and confessed sins. John saw the lip service and called it out. It is not enough to inwardly repent; our actions should reflect that repentance. “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance” (Matthew 3:8). If we are plants with the engrafted Word, we must beware, because, “And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire” (Matthew 3:10). Fruit unto righteousness is what is expected of us, having been saved from the wrath to come.
Consider also Jesus’ conclusion to His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:24-27. Notice that both categories of people “heareth these sayings of mine.” The difference is in “and doeth them” versus “and doeth them not.” The doers were saved from the storm. They were able to withstand in the evil day. The non-doers were met with great destruction. Doing the Word is essential when your storms come and whether you will survive or not. Did not both houses provide shelter, shade, and protection? They may have looked the same on the outside, but the foundation was revealed when the storm came.
The apostle Paul also made sure that being a doer of the Word was a part of discipleship for every Christian. “But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance” (Acts 26:20).
Notice being “hearers only” was the same as “deceiving your own selves”? If we are idle, it is because we have not received the engrafted Word. The Spirit is the most active Spirit. If we are idle, we are not trusting Him. He moves us into His service. Previous examples also show how hearing only caused destruction to them.
James 1:23-24
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: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. (James 1:23-24)
Here, the Spirit through James gives more elaboration on the hearer-only. It is like someone looking in a “glass” or a mirror. Another usage is here: “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). The mirror, in this case, only reveals details to the viewer “darkly.” There is some obscurity when looking into those ancient mirrors, unlike what we have today. If the mirrors were the same then as they were in Moses’ day, they were bronze. “And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the lookingglasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation” (Exodus 38:8).
Here in 1 Corinthians 13:12, the apostle Paul used the example to compare what we know now in this present age with what we will see upon the Lord’s return. John the apostle put it this way: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).
Now with James, the looker in the mirror did not get a good view of what his natural face looked like. It was a little helpful maybe, but it was limited. The memory of such obscurity faded as he walked away.
The hearing-only man did not get a good picture of his natural face. He forgot that he was Filthy Naughtiness Superfluity. He did not get a good picture of his depravity and his need for the Lord to work in him. He thought hearing was enough and went on his way.
Consider 2 Peter 1:5-10. We see that the apostle challenges the readers that with their faith they should add certain attitudes and actions. With those things added to faith, they will “neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” What of those who lack them? “But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins” (2 Peter 1:9).
Can you see how this is sort of the same? The one who is inactive is legally blind, being severely nearsighted. And he forgot that he was purged of his old sins. Can it be that if we are inactive that we would forget that we are sinners that were purged?
There was a proverb I was taught in an otherwise horrid college class that goes like this:
I hear, and I forget;
I see, and I remember;
I do, and I understand.
As we are actively “doing” the faith, we learn much more about how to be Christlike. We learn to trust Him not only in severe trials of faith but also in the daily mundane tasks. We trust Him with all because filthiness and naughtiness do not accomplish the things of God, even in the mundane.
James 1:25
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. (James 1:25)
We return to our theme of “source”: “from above” or elsewhere. The previous verses are from the otherwise source. Now, we receive the “from above” source. To receive the riches of the Lord in heaven above to be a doer of the word, we look “into the perfect law of liberty.” What is the perfect Law of Liberty? It is the same as the engrafted Word. But what is that really? Well, it cannot be the same as the Mosaic Law. Is it some other thing we need to do? No. Maybe it is the Gospel and the Lord’s commands? Closer yet. We ask not “what,” but “who.” The Law of Liberty, the Engrafted Word, is Jesus.
Consider John 7:1-6. The Law did nothing but condemn. But in Christ, we were crucified with Him, and joined to Him. We can serve in the newness of life being unified with Him. This new Law of Liberty set us free from the old so we can bring forth fruit to God rather than death fruit.
Recall that to be saved, we “look and live.” “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). The people could look at the bronze serpent and be saved from the serpent’s venom. Now, we look at the Son of Man lifted up to be saved from the serpent of Eden’s venom.
But we dare not take our eyes off the Son high and lifted up once He delivered us from harm. We cannot stop looking into that perfect Law of Liberty. This Law is not to be discarded with the mirror of natural self we spoke of in previous verses. To receive from above we must not stop looking at this Law, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In John-speak, the phrase “and continueth therein” would be “abiding in Christ.”
Let us return to the analogy of the mirror. “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). Looking into the glory of the Lord as a mirror transforms us. Another reason to never look away... we want Him to conform us into His ways that we might be fruitful to Him. Now here is the helpful mirror, one that allows us to see perfectly and also transforms us into what we ought to be.
And here is the glorious thing, when we continue in the Law of Liberty, or abide in Christ, “he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” Notice how it is written here. The looker-on “being not” forgetful, but a doer. This is a participle. If you are truly looking into Christ, you are doing the work. They are inextricably linked. You cannot have one without the other. Let me emphasize again, if you are looking and continuing in Christ, it is not that you will eventually get around to doing the work of Christ. You are doing the work of Christ immediately. And this is not some nice-to-say positional or theoretical doctrine afar off. You are physically involved in the work right now. If you are not, you are not looking at and continuing in the Law of Liberty.
But notice what else: “this man shall be blessed in his deed.” Not only is the looker-on and continuer a doer in some mediocre sort of way. He is blessed in work. He must be, because the work is not his. It is the life of Christ in him doing the work. We might say it is a superfluity of blessing straight from the Lord.