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From: James 1:19-27

Doers of the Word, Not Hearers Only

[19] Know this, my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear, slow to
speak, slow to anger, [20] for the anger of man does not work the righteousness
of God. [21] Therefore put away all filthiness and rank growth of wickedness and
receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

[22] But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. [23]
For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who ob-
serves his natural face in a mirror; [24] for he observes himself and goes away
and at once forgets what he was like. [25] But he who looks into the perfect law,
the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer that forgets but a doer that
acts, he shall be blessed in his doing.

[26] If any one thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives
his heart, this man’s religion is vain. [27] Religion that is pure and undefiled be-
fore God and the Father is this: to visit the orphans and widows in their affliction,
and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

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Commentary:

19-27. In the previous verse the sacred writer referred to the effectiveness of “the
word of truth”. Now he makes the point that although the Gospel has this effec-
tiveness, it is not enough just to hear it: we need to listen to it with docility (ver-
ses 19-21) and put it into practice (verses 22-27). Further on he will emphasize
this connection between faith and works (cf. 2:14-26).

19-20. These counsels occur frequently in the wisdom books of the Old Testa-
ment (cf., e.g., Proverbs 1:5; 10:19; Sirach 5:12-13; 20:5-8). To put doctrine into
practice one needs to listen to it with a good disposition (verse 21). The letter will
have more to say about prudence in speech (cf. 1:26; and especially 3:1ff).

“The anger of man does not work the righteousness of God”: a Hebrew expres-
sion meaning that someone who gives way to anger is not acting justly in God’s
eyes.

Anger is one of the “capital” sins (one of the “seven deadly sins”), capital be-
cause they lead to many other sins; anger leads particularly to the evil desire for
vengeance. Speaking of the effects of anger St. Gregory the Great explains that
it clouds one’s judgment when making decisions, makes it difficult to get on with
others, causes discord and makes it difficult to see where the truth lies. More-
over, “it deprives one of righteousness, as it is written, ‘The anger of man does
not work the righteousness of God’ (James 1:20) because when one’s mind is
not at peace, one’s critical faculty is impaired and one judges to be right what-
ever one’s anger suggests” (”Moralia”, 5, 45). This sin is avoided by the practice
of the virtue of patience, of which St. James spoke a few verses earlier (cf. 1:2-4;
also 5:7-11).

21. “First he calls”, St. Bede comments, “for the cleansing of mind and body from
vice, so that those who receive the word of salvation can live in a worthy manner.
A person who does not first turn his back on evil cannot do good” (”Super Iac. Ex-
positio, ad loc”.).

To listen docilely to the word of God one needs to try to keep evil inclinations at
bay. Otherwise, pride—deceiving itself with all sorts of false reasons — rebels a-
gainst the word of God (which it sees as a continuous reproach for a habit of sin
it is unwilling to give up).

22-25. Sacred Scripture frequently exhorts us to put the word of God into prac-
tice: “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like
a man who built his house upon the sand” (Matthew 7:26; cf., e.g., Ezekiel 33:
10-11; Matthew 12:50; Romans 2:13; James 2:14-26).

The comparison of the man looking into the mirror is a very good one: the word of
God is frustrated unless it leads to examination of conscience and a firm resolu-
tion to mend one’s ways. Those who are doers of the word will be “blessed”; our
Lord says the same thing when He describes as blessed those who “hear the
word of God and keep it” (Luke 11:28).

St. James’ counsels in this passage are a clear call for the consistency a Chris-
tian must seek at all times. Bl. John Paul II comments: “These are very serious,
very severe statements; a Christian should always be genuine, should never be
content with words alone. The mission he has received is a delicate one: he
should be leaven in society, light of the world, salt of the earth. As time goes by,
the Christian becomes more and more aware of his commitment, and the difficul-
ties it entails: he discovers he has to swim against the tide, he has to bear wit-
ness to truths which are absolute, yet invisible; he has to lose his earthly life in
order to gain eternity; he needs to feel responsible not just for himself but also
for his neighbor — for whom he should light the way, and edify and save. How-
ever, he realizes that he is not alone in all this [...]. The Christian knows that not
only did Jesus Christ, the Word of God, become man to reveal saving truth and
redeem mankind; He has also chosen to stay with us on earth, mysteriously re-
newing the sacrifice of the Cross by means of the Eucharist and becoming spiri-
tual food for the soul and accompanying it on its journey through life” (”Homily”,
1 September 1979).

25. “The perfect law, the law of freedom”: that is, the good news brought by
Christ, who has made us children of God (cf. John 1:12; 1 John 3:1ff) and set us
free from every kind of servitude, both that of the Old Law (cf., e.g., Galatians 2:4
and 4:21ff...) and subjection to the devil, to sin and to death.

It can also be regarded as a law of freedom because when man obeys it he is ex-
pressing his freedom to the fullest degree (cf. John 8:31ff), and he is happy in this
life and will be blessed in the next (cf., e.g., Psalm 1:1ff; 119:1ff). Thus, when a
person sins and turns his back on this law, he becomes not a free man but a
slave: “Such a person may show that he has acted according to his preferences,”
St. Escriva explains, “but he does not speak with the voice of true freedom, be-
cause he has become a slave of his decision and he has decided for the worst,
for the absence of God, where there is no freedom to be found.

“I tell you once again: I accept no slavery other than that of God’s love. This is be-
cause, as I have told you on other occasions, religion is the greatest rebellion of
men, who refuse to live like animals, who are dissatisfied and restless until they
know their Creator and are on intimate terms with Him. I want you to be rebels,
free and unfettered, because I want you—it is Christ who wants us!—to be children
of God. Slavery or divine sonship, this is the dilemma we face. Children of God or
slaves to pride, to sensuality, to the fretful selfishness which seems to afflict so
many souls” (”Friends of God”, 37-38).

26-27. St. James now gives some examples of what doing “the word of truth”
(verse 18), that is, the Gospel, means—controlling one’s tongue, being charitable
and not letting oneself be stained by the world.

The Old Testament often refers to widows and orphans as deserving of special at-
tention (cf. Psalm 68:5; 146:9; Deuteronomy 27:19), and the first Christians made
arrangements for the care of widows in the early communities (cf. Acts 6:1ff; 9:39;
1 Timothy 5:3ff). Concern for widows and orphans is included in the works of mer-
cy (”by which the temporal or spiritual wants of our neighbor are relieved” (”St.
Pius X Catechism”, 943), which our Lord will take into account at the Last Judg-
ment (cf. Matthew 25:31-46).

“World” here has the pejorative meaning of “enemy of God and of Christians” (cf.
also 4:4; and other passages of Scripture, e.g., John 1:10; 7:7; 16:8-11; Ephe-
sians 2:2; 2 Peter 2:20); one needs to be constantly on the alert to avoid conta-
mination...

“God and the Father”: this is the literal meaning of the Greek. In New Testament
Greek the term “God” when preceded by the definite article normally means not
the divine nature but the person of the Father. In this case by adding the words
“and the Father” St. James does not mean another, distinct Divine Person: he is
simply making explicit the meaning of the term “the God”. It could also be trans-
lated by the paraphrase “before Him who is God and Father”.

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.