Lesson for April 22, 2020
Christian Integrity
Application of Bible Doctrine
Many believers have heard the verse found in James 1:22 to be doers of the Word and not hearers only. But few really know what it means. I think the most common explanation is that it means to engage in some overt “Christian” activity. What we are going to learn is that it does not mean that at all. In order to understand what it means, must consider the context in which we find these verses. James was writing to a group of Jewish believers who had been scattered throughout the region. It is significant that these are believers. Therefore, the Book of James was not written to explain salvation. It was written as a guide for the Christian life.
James 1:19-25, “This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.”
James 1:19-20, “This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; or the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.”
The Greek word here for anger is “orge,” which is a reference to the mental attitude sin of anger. Any sin, including this one, takes you out of fellowship with God resulting in the inability to learn the Word of God. The Greek word for man is “aner.” Normally the word used for man in Greek is “anthropos,” which is a general term. “Aner,” on the other hand, is a word used for a nobleman or nobility. The reason this is important to note is that before you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior you were “anthropos” – just part of the human race. Upon faith in Christ you became “aner” – nobility or Royal Family of God. You are no longer simply God’s “creation,” you are now God’s child. Therefore, what we have in this verse is a believer (aner) out of fellowship with God. This believer hasn’t lost his/her salvation (we know that’s impossible). So, it’s talking about a believer who has committed a mental attitude sin. So, the mental attitude sin of anger by a believer (aner) does not achieve the righteousness of God.
The Greek word for righteousness refers to just or fair dealings. It is a reference, therefore, to divine production or producing the righteousness of Christ in your life. We have studied the two types of production found in I Corinthians 3:11-15. Production done under the control of God the Holy Spirit is called gold, silver and precious stone. Production done under the control of the sin nature is called wood, hay and straw. I Corinthians 3 says that all production will be evaluated by fire (a representation of the judgment by Jesus at the Judgment Seat of Christ). When the fire of judgment is applied to gold, silver and precious stone, it purifies them. When the same fire is applied to wood, hay and straw, it burns them up. Once again, we are talking about believers, NOT unbelievers. The good that we produce as believers is either divine good or human good.
Human good is not part of the plan of God for believers. When we attempt to replace divine good with human good, we are missing the entire point of our spiritual life. There is nothing wrong with human good unless we substitute it for divine good. For example: The Bible says, “if a man thirst, give him a drink.” If we fulfill this mandate trying to gain a reward from God, then we have done it for the wrong reason (from the control of the sin nature) and it is wood, hay and straw (human good). If, on the other hand we do this because of the character of Jesus Christ residing in us (from the control of the Holy Spirit) then we have produced gold, silver and precious stones (divine good). (Matthew 10:42; Romans 12:20; II Timothy 1:9; Hebrews 6:1)
Verse 21- “Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.”
This verse tells us how to correct the problem of being out of fellowship due to mental attitude sinning. The word thereforeshould be translated “because of it,” – because of the information in the previous verse. Then we have the Greek word for putting aside, “apotithemi,” which is a compound word meaning to put off soiled garments. It is another way of saying, “get back into fellowship.” Confess your sins, examine yourself, lift up holy hands, make straight paths and take off those dirty clothes are all synonyms for getting back into fellowship. In other words, you can’t produce divine good when you are out of fellowship, so get back in fellowship.
All filthiness is the Greek word “ruparia” and is used for pollution. This pollution is anger, as we saw in the previous verse. It’s talking about pollution of the soul, your mental attitude. All that remains is the Greek word “perisuo” and means to overflow. Wickedness is “kakia” in Greek and means evil. So when we put them together we have, “because a believer with unconfessed mental attitude sin/sins cannot produce divine good, he/she should get back into fellowship and lay aside the pollution in his/her thinking and the overflow of evil in his/her mind.” And receive the Word is our next phrase. Receive is the Greek word “dechomai” and means to embrace. Its usage in Greek is a term for an intimate embrace, an embrace with love. So what James is saying is to embrace the Word of God, to love the Word of God and to have an intimate relationship with the Word. This phrase is in the imperative mood, which means that it is a command. Therefore, it is God’s will for each of us to embrace His Word.
The word humility is the Greek word “prautes” and is another word for grace in your soul. Humility means teachability and a respect for God and His Word. This is a reference to the grace function of the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Then we have the word implanted. Implanted is the Greek word “enphutas” and means to plant somewhere. God’s Word is to be implanted in the mind of the believer, who has gotten back into fellowship, isolated and removed certain mental attitude sins, and is now embracing the Word of God under the grace function of the filling of God the Holy Spirit.
Which is able to save your souls is the last part of this verse. The Greek word for save is “sozo,” but it is not talking about eternal salvation, since you’re already saved. It’s talking about the deliverance of your soul. So, it’s the implanted Word that has become a part of your thinking that can deliver you from ANYTHING. This is not talking about a mere academic knowledge of God’s Word. This means that you have studied, learned and believed what the Word of God is teaching. You have learned it to the point that it has so become a part of your thinking that Divine Viewpoint Thinking is now your norm and standard, not Human Viewpoint Thinking. But it says it is able to deliver you, which is still only potential.
Verse 22 – “But prove yourselves doers of the Word and not merely hearers, who delude themselves.”
So far in verses 21-22 we have, “Because believers with unconfessed mental attitude sin/sins cannot produce divine good, they should get back into fellowship and lay aside the pollution in their thinking and the evil in their mind and embrace the implanted Word of God under the grace function of the control of God the Holy Spirit, which has the potential to deliver them from anything.”
Again, I want to emphasize that we only have a potential to this point. The only way that the Word of God is going to be able to deliver you is if you apply it! This is what is meant by being a doer of the Word and not a hearer only!
But be ye doers are the Greek words “ginomai” plus “poietes” and mean to become a doer. Word is the Greek word “logos” and is a reference to the Word of God or divine viewpoint. A doer is an applier of the Word. If it goes no further than hearing, it is useless. Where does application take place? It takes place in your thinking.
The Greek word for hearers is “akroates” and it means to listen. The meaning should be clear, listening to God’s Word is not enough. The last phrase of this verse, “deceiving your own selves” means to defraud yourselves. The Greek word for delude is “paralogizomai” and it means to defraud or to self-deceive in one’s mind.
Verses 23-24, “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.”
Anyone can listen to Bible doctrine. Some will understand it and still fail to be doers because doing it requires more than mere academic knowledge of God’s Word. Academic knowledge must be converted to spiritual knowledge by faith (believing the doctrine) before it can be applied, which is what is meant by being a doer. Believers who take in doctrine and understand it academically but do not believe it and apply it are hearers.
Here we have an analogy of a nobleman (believer) looking in the mirror and thinking about himself. All of us have some idea as to how we look in the mirror. But no matter what you look like, when you walk away from the mirror and begin doing something else, you can easily forget how you look. The word looks means to give some very serious thought. The word does not mean just a glance; it means to look at yourself thoughtfully and to be able to memorize your own features. Memorizing your own features by looking in the mirror is like the doctrine in the soul. Bible doctrine is literally a mirror into the soul. If you stop looking into “the mirror of the Word of God,” you forget who you are as an advancing believer, which leads to reversionism. And the road to recover is a difficult one.
James is saying that if you stop after you learn the doctrine you are a hearer only. This means you know it and you could repeat it to someone. You can’t use them (apply them) but you can parrot them. Why can’t you use them? The answer is because they are not yet spiritual knowledge.
Failing to believe the Bible doctrine that you have learned academically or failing to apply the doctrine you have converted to spiritual knowledge means you are merely a hearer, not a doer. Remember that the rate of learning Bible doctrine must always exceed the rate of forgetting, if you are going to be a consistent doer of the Word.
Verse 25. “But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does.”
Looks is the Greek word “parakupto,” which means to stoop down to examine something from its immediate source, to concentrate, to gaze intently, to look into something with great intensity. It is a perfect word to describe the positive volition of a believer. This verb is used in Luke 24:12 for Peter stooping down and looking intently into the empty tomb of Jesus. Peter uses the same verb himself in I Peter 1:12 for angels bending down and concentrating on mankind in the Angelic Conflict.
The Word of God is described not by the word mirror this time but by “the perfect law of liberty.” The word perfect is the Greek word “teleios” and means something that is complete. The word law is used to describe God’s Word. What James is referring to is the complete revelation of God to mankind as it was at the time of his writing, and as it would further come to be as one complete book called the Bible.
The law of liberty is referring to the perfect law. When Jesus said in John 8:32, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free,” He was referring to the truth of the Word of God (Bible doctrine). This freedom begins with spiritual freedom at salvation and has the potential to continue if a believer advances to spiritual maturity. Abides by it is the Greek word “parameno” meaning to continue. This continuation is to be a believer consistently examining the perfect law (God’s Word) and consistently applying it. If believers will do this, they will become doers of the Word and not hearers only. And, according to James, this believer will be an effective doer and be blessed in the doing of it (divine production).
Our prototype Jesus Christ, as deity, is omniscient. He never needs to learn anything because He has always known all things. Bible doctrine is the very mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:16) But in His humanity, He was a person who needed to learn doctrine in the same manner as we do. Jesus was also a perfect child and subjected Himself to the authority of his parents and teachers. (Luke 2:46-52)
Jesus continually used the doctrine that He had learned to sustain Him throughout the trials and tribulations of life. When attacked by others, He applied the doctrine and principles of the Word of God to endure the adversity. He also applied the doctrine He had learned to combat the tests from Satan. And He used the doctrine in His soul to teach others. (Matthew 4:1-11; John 5:16-39; 6:59-60; 7:16-24)
As believers, we are to follow Christ’s example of applying what we have learned. A believer who fails to go all the way with God’s Word, from study, to belief, to application is defrauding himself of the opportunity to have a victorious Christian life. If the Word of God is not changing your thoughts and actions, then you are not applying it properly.