(a) Explain James' advice, be "doers of the word and not hearers only," and show how he elaborated on it. (b) In what two ways can someone live up to this s...

Answer Details

(a) James' advice to be "doers of the word and not hearers only" (James 1:22-25)

James warns believers not to deceive themselves by merely listening to the word of God without acting on it. To hear the word and do nothing about it is self-deception, for the true purpose of hearing is obedience. A person who only hears but does not obey gains no lasting benefit from the message.

James elaborates the point with an illustration: such a hearer is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror, observes himself, then goes away and immediately forgets what he looked like. The word of God functions as a mirror that reveals a person's true spiritual condition, but the careless hearer forgets the reflection the moment he turns away and so makes no correction.

By contrast, the one who looks intently into the perfect law of liberty (the gospel) and continues in it, being not a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts, will be blessed in what he does. James further insists that true, undefiled religion is expressed in action: bridling the tongue, visiting orphans and widows in their affliction, and keeping oneself unstained by the world (James 1:26-27).

(b) Two ways a person can live up to this standard

1. Practical charity and service: By caring for the needy, the orphans, the widows and the afflicted in the community, thus putting the teaching of love into concrete action rather than mere profession.
2. Self-control and holy living: By bridling the tongue, controlling anger, keeping oneself unpolluted by worldly vices, and obeying God's commands daily, so that conduct matches confession.