James 1 - The Wisdom Of The Brother Of JesusSample

‘Religion’ is not a dirty word?

Not taking control of our speech, says James, calls into question the quality of a person’s faith. James has some very strong things to say about the power of words later in the letter (3:1-12). Here in the introduction, he just wants to flag that not reining in the tongue shows our religion to be ‘worthless’.

Having said what religion isn’t, James then describes what true religion is. And he does so in no uncertain terms. The religion God “accepts as pure and faultless” is crystallized in the twin duties of caring for the world’s poor and avoiding the world’s perversions.

Caring for the poor

‘Orphans and widows’ were the classic underprivileged in James’ day. They had few rights, very little power and no status at all. Without any social welfare in the Roman empire, they were frequently impoverished. Pure religion, says James, redresses this: it ‘looks after’ the needy in an effort to ease their ‘distress’. 

Economic pollution

Pure religion also keeps “oneself from being polluted by the world.” James does not mean the ‘sex, drugs and rock-and-roll’ kind of worldly pollution. He almost certainly means the socio-economic perversions of society. The expression ‘the world’ has very clear financial connotations later in the letter: James 4:1-3, for example. Finally, immediately after 1:27 is what appears to be a deliberate example of economic ‘pollution’. Starting at 2:1, James begins to talk about favouritism toward the rich.

In short, contributing to the poor of society and avoiding the socio-economic pollutions of society are the expressions of faith God considers pure and faultless. James will have a lot more to say about all this as the letter unfolds.

Poverty in the New Testament and now

The Bible simply assumes we will contribute to the poor. The New Testament texts are plentiful (Matt 19:21; Luke 11:41; 12:33; 19:8; Acts 9:36; 10:4; 24:17; Rom 15:26; 2 Cor 8-9; Gal 2:10; 1 John 3:17) and the Old Testament ones are countless. 

There is no controversy over this issue in the Bible, no fear that Christian welfare might take away from our mission (to proclaim the Word of Truth). There is simply an understanding that one of the most basic ways in which we are to love our neighbour is to relieve the plight of the destitute. The mission of the church is to preach the gospel of Christ but the church that goes about this mission is to be characterized by Christ’s compassion for the needy.