James 1:19-27 Bible Study Notes

Bible Study Notes - James 1:19-27

We continue our study in the book of James, a New Testament book of wisdom.  James encourages the Jewish Christians of the first century with practical methods and means of persevering in the Christian faith despite the persecution they suffer.  In our study, we glean from his practical advice and appropriate these principles to our twenty-first century contexts. 

This week’s passage centers upon “Listening and Doing.”  Some of my friends suggest that we “learn to listen and listen to learn.”  I often share this axiom with my children.  Not surprisingly, they insist that they have heard everything that I tell them.  Yet, I still discover several details that they leave undone when cleaning their rooms, completing their homework and finishing other family chores.  Therefore, I correct them by saying that listening correlates with action; the degree to which they really heard my instructions and understood them is equal to the degree to which they were able to carry them out.  In this week’s passage, James similarly inquires whether Christians really hear the Word of the Lord.  Our willingness and ability to live faithfully are most evident in our daily practice of Christianity.  As you study the passage, consider the following ideas and questions.

• In the nineteenth verse, James recommends three very practical relational skills: (1) be quick to listen, (2) slow to speak and (3) slow to become anger.  Sometimes, we rush to a solution before fully diagnosing the problem.  We also inadvertently offend friends and relatives with hasty advice and counsel before really grasping their pain and feelings.  If we listen more thoroughly, then we may avoid a lot of miscommunication.  Chances are we will ignite fewer “smart bombs.”  Lastly, many angry responses arise from “miscommunication” which we can neutralize with clarifying questions that arise naturally we listen wholeheartedly.
• “Anger turns off the light in the mind.”  Think of an episode when anger exploded a friendship.  What causes anger?  Why does anger feel so exhilarating?  Why does anger feel so empowering?
• In the twenty-first verse, James exhorts his readers to “get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent.”  Most regrettably, it is difficult to distinguish the values and practices of the Church from those of the secular world.  Let’s define “moral filth” and “evil.”  How do we practically avoid them?
• James advises that we “humbly accept the word planted in [us], which can save [us.]”  The extensive biblical illiteracy in today’s Church partially and perhaps significantly explains the inability to contrast the values and practices of Christians with average citizens.
• In the twenty-second verse, James offers that merely listening to the Word of God is insufficient to living a faithful and vibrant Christian life.  In fact, he reasons that the person who simply listens to the Word of God without applying its principles to his or her life engages in self-deception.
• He compares such a person to someone who looks in the mirror and immediately forgets his or her image.  He equates self-forgetting and self-deception with the aimlessness of failing to apply the truth of God’s Word.
• In the next couple of verses, James insists that tremendous blessings are found when one “looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom.”  How do rules and regulations yield liberty?  Let’s compare James with Paul.  Also, refer to Psalm 119.
• James 1:26-27 offers one of the most significant definitions of “good religion” in the Bible.  Respectable religion requires “a tight rein on the tongue.”  Otherwise, a believer engages in self-deception and practices a “worthless” faith.  Again, the believers to whom James writes do not have an equivalent of CHCC in their daily lives. 
• James proceeds to characterize “religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless.”  Practically speaking, believers who adhere to this type of religion share resources and extend compassion to orphans and widows in their distress.  Moreover, they acquire self-discipline and learn daily to abstain from the pollution of the world.