James 1:22-27 NASB,NASB

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:22

But be ye doers of the word - They had heard this doctrine; they had believed it; but they had put it to no practical use. They were downright Antinomians, who put a sort of stupid, inactive faith in the place of all moral righteousness. This is sufficiently evident from the second chapter. Deceiving your own selves - Παραλογιζομενοι ἑαυτους· Imposing on your own selves by sophistical arguments; this is the meaning of the words. They had reasoned themselves into a state of carnal... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:23

Beholding his natural face in a glass - This metaphor is very simple, but very expressive. A man wishes to see his own face, and how, in its natural state, it appears; for this purpose he looks into a mirror, by which his real face, with all its blemishes and imperfections, is exhibited. He is affected with his own appearance; he sees deformities that might be remedied; spots, superfluities, and impurities, that might be removed. While he continues to look into the mirror he is affected, and... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:25

But whoso looketh into the perfect law - The word παρακυψας , which we translate looketh into, is very emphatic, and signifies that deep and attentive consideration given to a thing or subject which a man cannot bring up to his eyes, and therefore must bend his back and neck, stooping down, that he may see it to the greater advantage. The law of liberty must mean the Gospel; it is a law, for it imposes obligations from God, and prescribes a rule of life; and it punishes transgressors, and... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:26

Seem to be religious - The words θρησκος and θρησκεια , which we translate religious and religion, (see the next verse), are of very uncertain etymology. Suidas, under the word θρησκευει , which he translates θεοσεβει, ὑπηρετει τοις θεοις , he worships or serves the gods, accounts for the derivation thus: "It is said that Orpheus, a Thracian, instituted the mysteries (or religious rites) of the Greeks, and called the worshipping of God θρησκευειν threskeuein , as being a... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:27

Pure religion, and undefiled - Having seen something of the etymology of the word θρησκεια , which we translate religion, it will be well to consider the etymology of the word religion itself. In the 28th chapter of the 4th book of his Divine Instructions, Lactantius, who flourished about a.d. 300, treats of hope, true religion, and superstition; of the two latter he gives Cicero's definition from his book De Natura Deorum, lib. ii. c. 28, which with his own definition will lead us to a... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:22

Verse 22 22Be ye doers of the word. The doer here is not the same as in Romans 2:13, who satisfied the law of God and fulfilled it in every part, but the doer is he who from the heart embraces God’s word and testifies by his life that he really believes, according to the saying of Christ, “Blessed are they who hear God’s word and keep it,” (Luke 11:28;) for he shews by the fruits what that implanting is, before mentioned. We must further observe, that faith with all its works is included by... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:23

Verse 23 23He is like to a man. Heavenly doctrine is indeed a mirror in which God presents himself to our view; but so that we may be transformed unto his image, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18. But here he speaks of the external glance of the eye, not of the vivid and efficacious meditation which penetrates into the heart. It is a striking comparison, by which he briefly intimates, that a doctrine merely heard and not received inwardly into the heart avails nothing, because it soon vanishes... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:25

Verse 25 25The perfect law of liberty. After having spoken of empty speculation, he comes now to that penetrating intuition which transforms us to the image of God. And as he had to do with the Jews, he takes the word law, familiarly known to them, as including the whole truth of God. But why he calls it a perfect law, and a law of liberty, interpreters have not been able to understand; for they have not perceived that there is here a contrast, which may be gathered from other passages of... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:26

Verse 26 26Seem to be religious. He now reproves even in those who boasted that they were doers of the law, a vice under which hypocrites commonly labor, that is, the wantonness of the tongue in detraction. He has before touched on the duty of restraining the tongue, but for a different end; for he then bade silence before God, that we might be more fitted to learn. He speaks now of another thing, that the faithful should not employ their tongue in evil speaking. It was indeed needful that... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:27

Verse 27 27Pure religion. As he passes by those things which are of the greatest moment in religion, he does not define generally what religion is, but reminds us that religion without the things he mentions is nothing; as when one given to wine and gluttony boasts that he is temperate, and another should object, and say that the temperate man is he who does not indulge in excess as to wine or eating; his object is not to express the whole of what temperance is, but to refer only to one thing,... read more

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:22

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:23

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:25

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:26

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:27

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:22

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:23

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:25

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:26

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - James 1:27

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