It may seem obvious that when God issues commands, laws, statues, and precepts he expects them to be observed.  When God says to us “You shall not murder,” what is left wanting in the way of clarity as to our duty?  Surly it is universally understood that we are being required to not murder.  The laws of God have sufficient clarity to communicate our duty with respect to them.    The command itself, the imperative, implies that obedience is expected.  Inherent in God’s law is the expectation of obedience to that law.  It is almost trivial to point this out, for this is true by definition.  A law is nothing if it does not legally bind its subject to some duty, be that positive or negative.  Any point of revelation that does not imply a necessary response on the part of the recipient is not considered a law properly speaking.  When God says that, “God is one,” or “I am the LORD your God,” he is certainly giving revelation, but there is no inherent obligation imposed on the hearer in this statement, though it be true.  This is not to say that indicative statements like these cannot be involved in a legally binding obligation, only that in themselves, through their nature and content, they do not call for a legal response.  Adding to the indicative statement, “I am the LORD your God,” the command, “You shall have no other gods before me,” involves the indicative in the fulfillment of the imperative.  The command, “have no other gods before me,” is unintelligible without knowing what God it is who is demanding absolute allegiance which information we gather from the indicative.  So we clearly see that the mere proclamation of God’s will carries with it the understanding that obedience is required. 

 

If the law is clear, what can be added to the law of God that would ensure its obligations are followed?  If I tell someone God requires them to not murder, my meaning is sufficiently communicated.  Yet, there are instances in the Scriptures where the law is supplemented as if it were not sufficient to communicate its expectation of obedience.  In various places throughout the Scripture, to the typical class of the commandments of God, is added a second class of commandment which are unique in that they regard or refer to the original commandments.  This second class of commandments bind us to no new duties, because they are nothing other than a reiteration of the implied duty to obey the first class of commandments.  It is evident from the clarity of the law that under normal circumstances it would be redundant to command someone to obey that which is commanded.  If I want to communicate to someone God’s will to not murder, I shouldn’t have to say, “God commands you to obey His command to not murder.”  I should simply say “God commands you to not murder.”  It is thus evident that we are not under normal circumstances.  For this very “redundancy” was deemed by God, in his infinite wisdom, a necessary step in dealing with those whom he binds under his will.  I can see no other way to take James’s words than as an expression of this very redundancy. 

 

                “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”  James 1:22

 

James understands the “word” to contain the original law which God binds us to perform.  That he has understood the “word” in the sense of a law or commandment is evident because he expects that it would lead to “doing.”  That is, whatever commands the “word” imposes on us are to be obeyed.  This is corroborated by verse 25 when in his analogy of the mirror he explicitly states that it is the perfect law we gaze into.  The original “word,” or commandment in this sense may be for example “You shall not murder.”  Then James communicates a second level of command expressed in the imperative “be”.  So the command that James is most immediately issuing the people of God is to “be” something.  “You be such and such a person, Christian.”  What we are obligated to be is a doer of the word, or in other words, we are to be obedient to the commandments contained in the word.  In this is the aforementioned redundancy.  God has already given us commandments in his word like “You shall not murder.”  However, here we have a second commandment which is telling us to obey the first commandment.  “Do what you were commanded,” or “I command you to be a doer of that which you have been commanded.”  

 

Now, when I say that God engages in “redundancy” this is not to be understood in any pejorative sense.  As I mentioned before it has pleased God in his holy wisdom to remind us often and to goad us along in those duties which he wishes us to perform (see Romans 15:15, II Peter 1:12, Jude 17).  However, let us look more closely at the circumstances that give rise to the need for this situation.  Our text, after giving us the positive command to be “doers,” adds the negative command to not be “hearers only.”  This negative command gives us insight into the corruption that gives rise to our situation.  Had James told us “be doers, but not hearers,” it would be a simple case of exchanging righteous behavior for unrighteous, the active faith for the contemplative faith.  However, he adds the adverb “only,” which tells us it is not a matter of simply exchanging the good for the bad.  Rather something good is to be supplemented with some further good.  For to say, “don’t be hearers only,” implies that we, in fact, ought to be hearers, only much more.  We might want to further clarify that what is good in hearing is only good when the doing is added.  The activity with which our negative command is concerned is not in itself negative.  We ought to be hearers of the word!  It is a good and righteous thing to tarry long with the word of truth, reading it, studying it, discussing it, meditating on it, praying it, singing it, memorizing it, and hearing it preached and read aloud.  This is abundant in many places throughout the Scriptures as taught by Moses, “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.” (Deuteronomy 6:7-9); by the Psalmist “Blessed is the man who…his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:1,2) ; and in countless places by the Prophets, “Hear the word of the LORD, O house of David!” (Jeremiah 21:11); and it is no less emphasized by the apostles, “Until I come devote yourself to the pubic reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.” (I Timothy 4:13); and of course modeled by Jesus, “After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking questions.” (Luke 2:46).  We must understand that hearing the word of God is necessary and commendable. 

 

Now what does the forgoing discussion tell us about the situation which gives rise to command to obey commands?  Let us now look to the final phrase of our text.  James makes it clear that instances where people hear the word but fail to do it arise from self-deception.  But what is the nature of this deception?  If we look to the immediate context, it becomes clear.  Throughout this section James is dealing with people who are under the delusion that they have attained true religion through some isolated principle of religious practice.  In 19-20 James warns against being quick to anger, offering the justification that the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires.  Why else would he have to offer this justification unless he suspected his readers were under the delusion that anger and indignation against sin or sinners aligned them with God’s righteousness?  In other words they have deceived themselves by thinking of themselves as righteous insofar as they despise sin, though in reality they have failed to attain the righteousness God requires.  However, it is not as though they were pursuing something intrinsically sinful but they were deceived though a misapplication of something that is in itself good, presumably anger against sin.  Anger is not prohibited but it is governed by an appropriate pattern of conduct.  We are to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and then if warranted anger is an option, it is only to be arrived at slowly, deliberately, and meekly.  This same offender, he who will “not bridal his tongue,” is commented on again in verse 26 where all of our suspicions are confirmed.  He has, according to this verse, indeed deceived himself into thinking that he is religious though his religion is worthless. 

 

So let us draw the parallels between “hearing the word” and “anger” that we might suggest their relation to self-deception.  Both, in and of themselves are good, as we have demonstrated.  And in this lies the subtlety of the deception.  It is not as though they have pursued some blatant and outrageous sin which would be obvious to all.  Rather they have selectively pursued some Scriptural duty and then convinced themselves that the whole sum of religion was to be found in that narrow area of piety.  When we feel the pressure of guilt associated with failing to do or perform God’s law, we can always sooth the sting, however deceptive the remedy is, by reminding ourselves of how valiantly and thoroughly we have executed God’s command to hear, meditate on, and study God’s law.  It is like applying a soothing eye salve which cools our irritation but blinds us in the process, distorting our vision and preventing us from dealing with the true source of the irritation. 

 

So now we must now return to the heart of the matter.  Failing to do God’s will when we know what that will is, is ungodly because we are breaking the commandment to obey his commandments.  Again this may seem trivial, prima face, but the fact that God has so often followed this pattern of command should sober us to the reality of its seriousness and give us pause to consider if we have not been deceived at this point ourselves.  Consider the many times God follows the pattern, “Law One: do such and such a thing.  Law Two: obey law one.”  For example, “And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them” (Deut. 4:1), “Be…careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you” (Joshua 1:7), “You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently” (Psalm 119:4).  Since God has pursued this pattern of command we are doubly culpable if we do not obey.  We are not only breaking the precept, but also the command to obey the precept. 

 

May God give us the grace to be doers of the word and not merely hearers!

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In the professional medical opinion of my nurse, I am "A fine specimen of a man."  Melanie corroborated this, but she was laughing when she said it.