Dialogue 40 — Forgetting Who We Are
So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. — James 1:19–27 (NKJV)
Wow. That’s incredibly blunt.
Yes, it is blunt. James now moves on to tell his readers the details of how they will be the firstfruits of a movement that will turn the world upside down.
And James’s teaching is anything but easy. He begins with keeping wrath in check.
I haven’t heard anyone use the word “wrath” in a while.
Yeah, it’s one of those words you see in the Bible, but not much elsewhere. It’s anger out of control. Wrath is bad, even when it’s righteous anger.
That makes this a great example of how sin can ruin anything. Righteous anger comes from our innate sense of justice. As such, it’s a good thing.
But our sinful nature can cause righteous anger to boil out of control—turning a good thing into one of the seven deadly sins.
Seven deadly sins? What are they?
They’re not actually listed in the Bible; they’re just classical definitions widely adopted in western Judeo-Christian culture long ago.
They are traditionally listed, in alphabetical order: envy, gluttony, greed, lust, pride, rage, and sloth.
Of course, that substitutes rage for wrath; they’re synonyms.
Anger out of control is obviously bad. I suppose anything out of control is bad. That’s reasonable.
“Therefore,” James continues, we must act like the people we’re supposed to be, laying aside wickedness and being doers of the word, not just hearers.
He’s really just reminding Christians of who we are.
James then makes a clever point; forgetting that you’re a Christian is as absurd as forgetting what you look like in a mirror.
Sounds like he’s mocking them.
Yes, and such strong language is justified. This “forgetting” not really forgetting; it’s faith that’s unserious. Remember, this all traces back to a pledge of fealty to Christ.
As I explained two days ago, loving God (which the first and greatest commandment) means obeying His commands. People who claim to be followers of Christ need to actually follow Him.
That’s kind of obvious.
James then gives two examples of Christian behaviors that we shouldn’t “forget”—controlling our tongue and ministering to the afflicted.
These are the hallmarks of Christianity that everyone knows about. I suppose I should say that they used to be the hallmarks.
Yes, but note that even in the first century, James needed to bluntly remind his readers of these things.
So, all this was never automatic.
Exactly. We’ve always needed preachers to preach. Christianity isn’t easy, and it’s silly to think that confessing Christ suddenly gives you some kind of super-power to behave perfectly.
These “hallmarks,” along with being slow to wrath and laying aside wickedness (and keeping oneself “unspotted from the world”), are of prime importance to the principal task of a Christian—glorifying God.
This sets the stage for the rest of the book, which fills in the essentials of the practice of Christianity. Some of James’s points will be hard to hear, and even harder to practice, but they’re foundational.
If they’re like what we’ve already read, they won’t be easy.
Right. More to come. See you tomorrow.
