James 1:22

‘But be you doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves.'

James is very conscious of the danger of hearing and not doing. He had previously been like this himself, and he had seen among the Jews how easy it was to be a hearer in the synagogues every Sabbath and yet not be a doer. He had seen it also among the Pharisees. He does not want this repeated among the new Israel. So he calls on them not only to be hearers of the word which is proclaimed to them, as those who have received the truth, but also to be doers of it. They must be like the wise man who built his house on a rock, who heard and did the word of Jesus, and not the foolish man who built his house on sand and heard but did not do (Matthew 7:24). For they must recognise that if they hear but do not do they are deluding themselves about being a Christian. The message is a very important one. The New Testament as a whole has no place for those who hear but do not do. As Jesus Himself said, ‘Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord' and do not do the things which I say?' (Luke 6:46, compare Luke 11:28).