James 1:26-27: Pure Religion and Undefiled
2024-06-08
You have heard it said by many in these times, “I’m spiritual, not religious.” You have may also heard that Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship. We need to check those concepts at the door, and forever put them out of our minds. The upcoming pair of verses dismiss these ideas as folly. You can and must be both spiritual and religious. Christianity is both a religion and a relationship. In fact, true religion comes from true relationship with Jesus Christ. True religion is defined for us now in these neglected verses.
James 1:26
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. (James 1:26)
Here, we consider someone who seems to be “religious.” The assumption is that it means religious in a good way. He knows his Scripture, he shows up to church, and does all the normal things you would think a Christian to do. However, we notice he does not control his speech. He says a bunch of off-color remarks, he snaps at people with unkindness, and at times his speech does not match his profession. This is who we are talking about here. We cannot call this man properly religious because of this.
We will talk more about taming the tongue in the future. However, much of our “swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath” section mentioned various proverbs that are appropriate. “He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him” (Proverbs 18:13). “A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards” (Proverbs 29:11). “Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him” (Proverbs 29:20).
This misguided speech comes from a misguided heart. You can tell something is amiss. You can tell that the source of words is not “from above.”
I think many of us could look inward and see that we are not always right in this area. I need this introspection. In my younger years, it was all about producing shock value by saying absurd things to get attention. Without looking into that perfect Law of Liberty, we will act like our old selves.
Notice how the man with the unbridled tongue “deceiveth his own heart.” He’s not religious. He is not completely receiving the engrafted Word. He is not completely looking to Jesus. There is a secret stronghold in his life that he has not given to the Lord.
Notice the even stronger statement, “this man’s religion is vain.” Your entire service is negated and vain. You see how one wrong thing spoils everything. A little leaven will leaven your entire lump. If such a small member can ruin all your service and testimony, how much more should we practice the short but important verse, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)? Pray and confess often, until Jesus’ cross has subdued it all in your life.
James 1:27
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. (James 1:27)
So what is pure religion? It is clean, without spot, and without tarnish. The word “undefiled” reinforces this. Jesus Christ is perfect. If we abide in Him, His perfection will show. The Lord Jesus Himself said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). We will fall short, but we keep getting up and getting right with Him.
Real religion includes the bridled tongue. The Spirit introduces two more here. Let us look at these.
First is “To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.” The word “visit” is only translated once in another way: “Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business” (Acts 6:3). Here, the phrase “look ye out” is our word. The widow and orphan need someone to look out for them. We need to search out those who need help.
We spoke about widows before. There, we saw how these women had lost their source of income when their husbands died. It is bad enough to lose someone you love. But how will they help themselves? This is their “affliction.” We also saw how young widows should remarry and old widows should have their children or nephews take care of them. If all else failed, there was help from the church when meeting certain qualifications.
This is a nice summary of how things should work, but there are myriad different situations where the formula may not work. When in doubt, we help those who are unable to help themselves.
As we saw when looking at the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus focused on those who were poor, hungry, and wept for sorrow. “And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh” (Luke 6:20-21). He cared about those who lacked, and when He works through us, we will have that same attitude.
The other attribute of pure, undefiled religion is “to keep himself unspotted from the world.” The Bible says, “the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19). Returning to the Sermon on the Plain, we read, “Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets” (Luke 6:22-23).
The world hates God’s people. The world nailed our Lord to the cross. This is why we will discuss in detail later that “the friendship of the world is enmity with God” (James 4:4).
Because a bridled tongue, supporting the weak, and remaining unspotted from the world are three main traits of undefiled religion, James returns to all these topics later in his letter.
What is the end of this matter? Be like the Lord! Be religious by being what He wants us to be.