{"id":9755,"date":"2026-04-17T11:58:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T17:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=9755"},"modified":"2026-04-17T11:58:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T17:58:03","slug":"james-121-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=9755","title":{"rendered":"James 1:21-25"},"content":{"rendered":"

21\u00a0<\/sup>Therefore\u00a0lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word,\u00a0which is able to save your souls.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

22\u00a0<\/sup>But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

23\u00a0<\/sup>For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

24\u00a0<\/sup>for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

25\u00a0<\/sup>But\u00a0he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues\u00a0in it,\u00a0and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work,\u00a0this one will be blessed in what he does.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

filthiness (v.21) = moral impurity,\u00a0 moral dirtiness, with an emphasis on defilement<\/h3>\n

wickedness (v.21) = malice, ill-will toward others, a desire to injure<\/h3>\n

According the the King James Bible Commentary, the words “filthiness” and “wickedness” are “expressions of coarseness rather than immorality.”<\/h3>\n

meekness (v.21) = gentleness, humility, the opposite of pride<\/h3>\n

be doers (v.22) = tense is “continue being doers,” with the sense that it is a constant struggle<\/h3>\n

deceiving (v.22) = misleading by false reasoning, internal self-delusion<\/h3>\n

natural face (v.23) \u2014 the face he was born with<\/h3>\n

observes (v.24) = observes fully. This man is completely award of his flaws, but carries on in them anyway.<\/h3>\n

looks into (v.25) \u2014 bending forward for a closer inspection.<\/h3>\n

The heart that humbles itself before God’s Word (v.21), without questioning or murmuring, and that obeys its teaching (vs.22-25) is a heart that enjoys the sweetness of liberty (v.25); for there is no life so free as the life proper to the New Nature. \u2014 Williams, page 993.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/p>\n

There is to be, as a result of true faith, a laying aside of all filthiness, all superfluity of naughtiness; this is the same putting off of which we read in the Pauline Epistles (Colossians 3:9-10<\/span><\/a>, etc.). This putting off is not the working of the law, but it is the result of the implanted Word, which received in meekness, saves; it is both the means of true salvation and the working out of that salvation into results of righteousness. … What is the law of liberty? It is not the law of Moses … The perfect law of liberty is explained in the context. It is the Word of God by which the believer is begotten again, it is the implanted word, which teaches, instructs, guides, and directs; it is the life which flows from the new nature, subject to the Word of God. \u2014 Gaebelein, page 1128.<\/span><\/h3>\n

I appreciate Sadler’s point (below), relating this passage to the persecution these believers were facing.<\/h3>\n

Not only were they saved by the Word of God, they were to make an application of it in their lives. … It alone was able to deliver their souls from anger, bitterness, hatred, and the burning desire to retaliate against those who were persecuting them. \u2014 Sadler, page 54.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

continues (v.25) \u2014 Kingdom saints will have to continue in the faith to be delivered into the Millennium (Matthew 10:22<\/span><\/a>; 24:13<\/span><\/a>; James 5:11). \u2014 Grace, page 2197.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Those saved under grace are saved once for all. They cannot lose their salvation (Romans 8:38-39<\/span><\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

21\u00a0Therefore\u00a0lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word,\u00a0which is able to save your souls. 22\u00a0But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23\u00a0For if anyone is a hearer of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-james"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9755"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9756,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9755\/revisions\/9756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}