James 1:27

‘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.'

James is here giving his own meaning to the Greek word translated ‘religion' which elsewhere indicated ‘following ceremonial requirements'. It is not intended to indicate the formation of a new religion. It is to be read in a similar light to Isaiah 58:5. Thus he is rather saying that in the eyes of One Who is both our God and Father such ceremonial requirements fall into the background besides our concern for the widows and fatherless and our being morally pure. That is true religion in God's eyes. In other words our main concern in what we do should not be the observance of religious ceremonial but the caring for those who are close to the Father's heart, the fatherless who have no other father and the widows who are their mothers. See Psalms 68:5 - ‘Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in His holy habitation'. Note that they are to be visited, not just tossed a few coins. It requires personal inconvenience. See Deuteronomy 27:19; Isaiah 1:17; and contrast Mark 12:40 which describes the way in which the Scribes visited widows.

‘Pure religion and undefiled.' There is a dig here against those who considered that they could keep themselves pure and undefiled through religious rites. But the problem there is that they are concerned with external purity. But God's people are to be concerned with the purity of the heart as revealed by God-likeness in their behaviour. That is how they will keep pure and undefiled.

‘To keep oneself unspotted from the world.' There is in fact only one way to keep ourselves unspotted from the world, and that is to set our minds on things above and look to the Lord of glory (James 2:1). But it is not recommending withdrawal from the world, only from its aims. For we are to go out into the world to help the widows and fatherless. This is thus simply turning us again to the perfect Law of liberty, and to the One Who can enable us to fulfil it. It is calling on us to be perfect as our Father in Heaven in perfect (Matthew 5:48) by showing love to the unlovely, by loving God with all our hearts, and by loving our neighbour as ourselves. It is to avoid the attitudes and aims of the world. See 1 John 2:15. For the need to be ‘unspotted' see 2 Peter 3:14.

And one of the things that is very characteristic of the world is respect of persons. We give great respect to the rich, to the powerful, and to the aristocratic. But James will now go on to point out that this respect of persons is heartily disapproved of by God Who requires that all be treated with the same love and respect.