This is one of my favorite passages in the Bible although I have several. When I first studied this verse I was using the NIV version of the Bible so today, I'm going to use it for our Victory Call. Are you seeing how practical the Book of James is? I love it. Fellow sojourner-I believe as we meditate on these verses this week we will be challenged and greatly impacted by their truth.
James 1:22-25 (NIV) Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it-not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it-they will be blessed in what they do.
Commentary:
"be doers. The fact that James calls professing believers to be 'doers,' rather than simply to do, emphasizes that their entire personality should be characterized in that way...deceiving. Lit. 'reasoning beside or alongside' (as in 'beside oneself'). This word was used in mathematics to refer to miscalculation. Professing Christians who are content with only hearing the Word have made a serious spiritual miscalculation."
"observing (looks). A forceful Greek word meaning to look carefully and cautiously, as opposed to taking a causal glance. Mirror. First-century mirrors were not glass but metallic, made of bronze, silver - or for the wealthy - gold. The metals were beaten flat and polished to a high gloss, and the image they reflected was adequate, but not perfect..."
"forgets what kind of man he was. Unless professing Christians act promptly after they hear the Word, they will forget the changes and improvements that their reflection showed them they need to make."
"perfect law. In both the OT and the NT, God's revealed, inerrant, sufficient, and comprehensive Word is called 'law'...The presence of His grace does not mean there is no moral law or code of conduct for believers to obey. Believers are enabled by the Spirit to keep it ...liberty (freedom). Genuine freedom from sin. As the Holy Spirit applies the principles of Scripture to believers' hears they are freed from sin's bondage and enabled to obey God..." [The MacArthur Bible Commentary by John MacArthur pgs. 1884-1885]
Blessings,
Diane
Diane Hunt is the Director of Addiction Recovery and Development at America's KESWICK. In addition to her Keswick responsibilities which keep her busy, she loves to read, write and teach, travel and laugh with her grandchildren. Diane has been married to her husband John over 26 years. She has 2 children, 3 grandchildren, 3 step-children, and 7 step-grandchildren.
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