Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

James 1:27

James 1:27. Pure religion and undefiled. Pure and undefiled may almost be regarded as synonymous terms, the one expressing the idea positively, and the other negatively. Not, as some arbitrarily think, ‘pure' referring to the inner, and ‘undefiled' to the external life. There may be a reference here to the frequent washings and purifications which characterized the Jewish worship.

before God and the Father; in His view, who looketh not so much at the out ward appearance as at the heart. The Father is added to express the relation of God to us, as one of paternal love.

is this consists in this. James does not here give an enumeration of all the parts of religious service, but mentions only two chief points active benevolence toward the afflicted, and careful avoidance of the impurities of the world; these, he observes, and not certain ceremonial observances, are the outward forms in which real worship manifests itself.

to visit the fatherless and the widows. There is a probable reference here to ‘before God and the Father;' before Him who is the Father of the fatherless and the God of the widows.

in their affliction. No kind of religious service or worship paid to God can be of any value, if it violate the royal law of charity. The fatherless and the widows are mentioned as examples of the afflicted. But along with this active benevolence toward the afflicted there must be combined personal purity.

and to keep himself unspotted. Personal purity which, like the delicate pupil of the eye, shrinks from the very approach of everything which defileth, which garrisons the heart with holy affections to keep out those which are polluting, which maintains a conduct above suspicion, and which abstains from the very appearance of evil, is acceptable in the sight of our God and Father, and shall be rewarded with the manifestation of His glory: for, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.'

from the world. By the ‘world' is here meant not merely earthly things so far as they tempt to sin, or worldly lusts, but the world as the enemy of God, the rival of God in the human heart; all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:14). Christians, by being born again by the word of truth, are separated from the world they are a peculiar people. But still, so long as they live in the world, they are exposed to its temptations and liable to be defiled by its pollutions. They must carefully avoid that friendship of the world which is enmity with God (James 4:4).

Continues after advertising

BibliaPlus

Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

James 1:27

Old Testament

New Testament