2438.—"Pure Religion and Undefiled."
By Editor
2438.—"Pure Religion and Undefiled." Please explain James 1:27, especially last clause. F. It seems to us that that verse is very plain, "Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." This of course is the human side of religion. It is that side of religion of which the apostle is talking, that phase of religion which has to do with our neighbors and our duty toward them. What is meant by the "world" is well represented in James 4:4 and in 1 John 2:15-17. Whatsoever mingles with the world becomes stained by it. One can not handle coal without becoming blackened. One can not come in contact with the world and partake of its spirit, its aims, its ambitions, without becoming soiled thereby. The figure is of the white robe of Christ's righteousness spotted by contact with the evil of the world. He who has true and undefiled religion will continue to walk in the righteousness of Christ, to stand fast in the liberty wherein Christ has made him free. Gal. 5:1.