James 1:21, commentary and pictures

Lay apart all moral impurity and overflowing wickedness as the preparation for receiving the implanted word of truth planted in the heart. That word must be received with meekness, in childlike humility with self emptied and surrendered and the heart opened as a learner before God. Receiving it means more than professing faith or merely hearing, but learning and practicing its instruction as doers of the word who continue therein. Taken into a willing heart and brought into the life, that engrafted word is able to save the soul, giving spiritual life and strength, cleansing from defilement, and lifting even the most degraded to become sons of God. Humbly received, it sanctifies through the Spirit, purifies from selfishness, brings victory over self and temper, and changes the beholder into the image of Christ in a life of obedience and good works.

Words and Chapter Setting

Wherefore calls for laying apart all filthiness as moral impurity and uncleanness, with all superfluity of naughtiness as overflowing abundance of wickedness and evil and sin, as the preparation for receiving the word. This putting away of sin and turning from iniquity is required before the word planted within can be humbly accepted. Hearing without this laying aside and without obedience leaves defects of character seen and then forgotten, with failure to reform and continuance in one's own way, which is self-deception.

The word to be received with meekness is the implanted, engrafted word of truth planted in the heart. When truth is thus received it becomes implanted in the heart as the engrafted Word, whose authority is to govern human passions and inherited or cultivated tendencies to wrong. By that word of truth God begets believers as firstfruits.

That engrafted word so implanted is able to save the soul and has power to save those who receive it. It must be believed and appropriated to oneself, as taught in the sixth chapter of John, and humbly accepted and received into the heart. Meek reception is not pretension and assertion but is shown in good works that reveal the binding claims of God's law and Christ's power to keep from transgression, in keeping His commandments without finding them grievous, and in doing the will of God instead of being cut off in disobedience.

The verse belongs to the practical instruction of the whole first chapter of James, especially James 1:16-27. The chapter is to be read carefully and prayerfully from first verse to last, with clear understanding of the Scriptures and of personal responsibility, and with heed to self and doctrine. Its principles are God's great remedy for diseases of body and soul and God's health-reform prescription, to be brought into the daily life and heeded day by day. Those who so bring it into life gain victory over self, temper and inclinations with the will brought into conformity to God's will, clear the King's highway so as not to be weighed in the balances and found wanting, walk carefully and prayerfully with promise of direction in all their ways, and triumph at last with the overcomers in an experience of God's salvation.

Meek Humble Reception

Meekness is the most precious fruit of sanctification, wrought by the Holy Spirit as sanctifier, which softens and subdues the heart, molds the disposition, brings thoughts into obedience to Christ, and gives the mind fitness to receive the implanted word. When meekness presides there is continual waiting upon God with submission of the will to Him, the understanding grasping every divine truth and the will bowing to every divine precept without doubting or murmuring. Those who receive with meekness become teachable learners, with prejudice, preference and self-will subdued so that eagerness to learn opens communion with Christ.

Receiving the word with meekness means the humility of a little child, falling upon the rock and being broken, dying to self, being fully emptied of self with every false god cast out, and welcoming the word as light of the mind to be practiced. It means surrendering self-righteousness and laying every human attainment and capability at the foot of the cross, counting all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. The heart is opened to the word as Lydia's heart was opened, and the receiver sits as a learner at the feet of Jesus like Mary. The language of the meek is never boasting but prayerful listening, saying Speak Lord for thy servant heareth like Samuel, What saith my Lord unto his servant like Joshua when called from honor to childlike direction, and Lord what wilt thou have me to do like Paul at his conversion.

Receiving the word requires prizing the Bible above all else because in it the will of God is revealed, learning from it the object of creation and the means to attain it, how to improve the present life wisely and secure the future life, as no other book can satisfy the questionings of the mind or cravings of the heart. It means taking Thus saith the Lord and searching earnestly and prayerfully and persistently as for hidden treasure, while the Holy Spirit makes application of the truth revealed on every page, with the heart fully committed to God. Through such deep searching the word gives wisdom unto salvation and becomes the soul's needed food for spiritual strength, growth, steadfastness in self-denial, and success in spiritual warfare. The word is to be received as divine authority for faith and as the standard by which every doctrine and opinion is tested, through wisdom and power beyond the human that softens and subdues hard hearts so men may know the truth and teach it as it is in Jesus, with understanding built into the very existence.

Receiving the word means listening to what God actually says through His delegated servants and obeying the counsels given, yielding one's own way and preconceived opinions and bringing the soul up to the light of the standard of God's word with truth in the inward parts. It means being willing to learn truth from others, giving up fault-finding, jealousy and complaining, and undergoing thorough conversion to a well-ordered godly life. Closing the heart to God's workmen because they do not agree with one's ideas rejects the opportunity to receive the saving word, and retaining one's own habits and practices without surrender to Christ shows the word has not been truly received, for hearing the preaching and prayers of others cannot take its place. Merely wanting liberty and peace of mind is not enough, for without inward reception there is no real victory and the soul choosing darkness and keeping away from the light will be overcome when the enemy assaults.

Receiving the word with meekness requires guarding against human ideas and maxims treated as essential, for success in spiritual warfare and wisdom unto salvation depend on that reception. God's word gives plain guidance as a haven and tower of strength for safety, so that those who follow it need not go astray unless they let hereditary or cultivated tendencies lead them toward wrong. Hearing aright means listening as for life, purifying the heart from selfishness, proclaiming the gospel in its simplicity, and seeking the Pearl of great price. It requires guarding against the deceptions of Satan and refusing the suggestions of those departed from the faith who have given heed to seducing spirits.

Doing Not Merely Hearing

To receive the engrafted word able to save the soul is to do more than profess faith or merely hear, it is to learn its lesson and practice it, to live by its instruction, to turn from iniquity and to continue therein, and the one who so continues is blessed in deed. Laying aside all moral impurity and overflowing wickedness is the preparation for that meek reception, for the word is received only when it is obeyed and not merely heard, while the hearer who does not act deceives himself. The doer looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, seeking to be like Christ the Pattern by asking how Jesus would act under similar circumstances and conforming conduct to His example, keeping the commandments of God as a transcript of His character.

The word is a moral mirror and the perfect law of liberty that converts the soul, exposing defects of character and revealing what God requires. The one who hears but does not obey sees what the word reveals, then forgets the impression, fails to reform, and continues in his own way. Such forgetting is self-deception, for the word calls for a life of obedience and not for hearing alone.

Reception is shown by being swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to wrath, by bridling the tongue and restraining speech, and by turning from iniquity. It stops cherishing hostility toward fellow believers, and stands against evil speaking, bitterness, unjust suspicion, and thoughts that defile. Feeding on the word gives life and cleanses the soul from such defilement, and meekness enables its possessor to control a rash and impetuous temper, so that those naturally sour or hasty put forth earnest daily effort for self-control until what is unlovely and unlike Jesus is conquered.

Reception is further shown by pure and undefiled religion in visiting and caring for the fatherless and widows in their affliction, by keeping oneself unspotted from the world, and by a life that is good and does good.

Saving and Sanctifying Power

Received into a willing heart and brought into the life, the word of truth has saving power to make a person wise unto salvation. Those who search it deeply find that wisdom, for it is the soul's needed food giving spiritual strength and growth. By obtaining a knowledge of God's word and giving heed to it with meekness, men may rise from the lowest depths of degradation to become the sons of God, the associates of sinless angels. In it the will of God is revealed, men learn the object of creation and the means by which that object may be attained, how to improve the present life wisely and how to secure the future life, and no other book can satisfy the questionings of the mind or the cravings of the heart. Its judicious ministry can lead people to salvation, for when the Holy Spirit works in the heart the person is raised to a holier standard and becomes a transforming influence on others.

The word gives life and cleanses the soul from defilement, standing against unjust suspicion, evil speaking, bitterness, and thoughts that defile others when it is fed upon. Its authority must govern human passions and inherited or learned tendencies to do wrong, and those who follow its plain guidance need not go astray unless they let hereditary or cultivated tendencies lead them toward wrong. Taken in with the understanding and the whole heart and built into a person's very existence as foundation and finisher of faith, it humbles at the footstool of mercy and separates from every corrupting influence. Hidden in the heart it helps keep from sin, and it is a source of strength and refuge, a haven and tower of strength and safety in which safety may be found.

Receiving it with meekness is the condition for success and steadfastness in spiritual warfare and self-denial, helping a person resist Satan's deceptions and assaults, withstand evil, and stand firm in conflict. This requires guarding against human ideas and maxims treated as essential, and goes with purifying the heart from selfishness. Without this inward reception into the heart there is no real victory, and when the assaults of the enemy come the soul will be overcome.

As the Holy Spirit continually unfolds truth to the heart, humble reception belongs to a life emptied of self and cleansed from moral and spiritual defilement, with self fully emptied and every false god cast out. Then the Spirit works within, faith works through love and purifies the soul, producing righteousness and the fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control. Those so taught of God and imbued with His Spirit experience the sanctification of the Spirit while spiritual things are enjoyed and all glory is given to God for revealing truth.

The engrafted word is able to save souls only when it is heard aright and received with active, living faith. Hearing aright means listening as for life, purifying the heart from selfishness, proclaiming the gospel in its simplicity, seeking for the Pearl of great price, and guarding against the deceptions of Satan and the suggestions of those departed from the faith who give heed to seducing spirits. As in Noah's day his appeals were God's voice speaking through him, and the people were unwilling to hear and receive that word with living faith so destruction came upon them, while had they heeded and received it they would have been saved, for it is active faith that makes the gracious promise of any avail.

Transformed Life and Witness

Salvation through the implanted word requires victory over self, temper, and inclinations, with the will brought into conformity to God's will and its authority governing human passions and inherited or cultivated tendencies to wrong. That life of obedience works out the righteousness of Christ as those who press forward are helped under His discipline, with thoughts, plans, motives, and principles brought into line with His will and ways. Receiving the word in this way means giving up fault-finding, jealousy, and complaining, being willing to learn truth from others, and allowing it to take root to restrain from crime and wrongdoing in thorough conversion and a well-ordered godly life. Closing the heart to God's workmen because they disagree with one's ideas rejects the opportunity to receive that soul-saving word, which is a source of strength and refuge and is able to save the soul.

Receiving the word brings inward self-examination and cleansing instead of judging others, rather than being occupied with earthly things and breathing the atmosphere of earth, opening the way to true communion with the risen Saviour. It proves whether Christ is in the heart, receiving His examples and lessons so that He is enshrined in the heart in the place God desires, with beholding Him bringing change from character to character by the Holy Spirit. Impurity in thought or practice obscures spiritual vision so that righteousness is not discerned, but purity gives sight to contemplate and delight in the character of God in Christ Jesus, and without such holiness no one shall see God.

Meek reception is not pretension and assertion but good works that reveal the binding claims of God's law and the power of Christ to keep from transgression, leading to doing the will of God instead of being cut off in disobedience. The doer looks to Christ the Pattern, asking in perplexity how Jesus would act under similar circumstances and conforming conduct to His example, keeping the commandments of God as a transcript of His character without finding them grievous. Receiving belongs with doing, for the law and perfect law of liberty reveal what God requires and converts the soul, and those who continue therein as doers are blessed in deed. Such reception means humbling oneself before God, surrendering one's own righteousness, and welcoming the principles of Christ's character so they can shape the life.

The word must be received and planted deeply in the soul, believed and appropriated to oneself as taught in the sixth chapter of John, where it becomes an abiding, controlling principle built into one's very existence. Taken in with the understanding and the whole heart as the foundation and finisher of faith and as life itself, it fills with grace, humbles at the footstool of mercy, and separates from every corrupting influence. Those taught of God and imbued with His Spirit accept it as the man of their counsel, speak Christ's words, and share it with wisdom, earnest interest, and living faith. In conversation and deportment they give evidence of daily conversion to the principles of truth, becoming the light of the church and of the world, a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men, a transforming influence raising others to a holier standard, in whom God is glorified.