In James 1:21-22 God's Word presents a three-fold instruction for the transformation of our spiritual character unto the righteousness of Christ. First, we are instructed to repent of all our sinfulness. In the opening portion of James 1:21, the instruction is given, “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness.” Second, we are instructed to receive God's Word with meekness. In the closing portion of James 1:21, the instruction is given, “And receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.” Third, we are instructed to respond unto God's Word with obedience. In James 1:22 the instruction is given, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
The third of these instructions is presented, not only as an instruction concerning what we ought to do, but also as an admonition concerning what we ought not to do. We are to be faithful doers of God's Word, but we are not to be hearers only of God's Word. In fact, this admonition against being hearers only extends from James 1:22-24. Grammatically, this passage can be divided into three parts.
1. The imperative about our responsibility – “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only.”
2. The illusion about which we must beware – “Deceiving your own selves.”
3. The illustration about the hearer only – “For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.” |
