Bible Study Library

Dear Disciples:

In this lesson, James will shine the light on sin in my life, your life. Why do we sin? Why – after trying and praying and trying some more – do we continue to give into temptation?

To fully grasp James’ message, we did an exercise in “end-forward analysis.” We started at the end of the section and interpreted James’ teaching toward the beginning. You’ll find that makes this complete message clearer.

1:26-27
James lists three components of a pure religion that God accepts. You can use these to determine whether God accepts the religion you practice.

God accepts your religion if you:

1. Take care of people who are facing trials — he uses the example of widows and orphans (v. 27)
2. Remain unpolluted by the world (v. 27)
3. Control your tongue (v. 26)

Are these components of your life?

• Do you regularly take care of needy people?
• Do you shun natural values and natural thinking?
• Do you use your tongue to gossip, cuss, slander, lie, spew out angry words, etc?

If you really want to know why you have trouble overcoming sin in your life, this is the first place to start. Check your own religion against James’ measuring rod here.

James pushes the envelope a little further in v. 26 when he says that
     A Loose Tongue = Self-Deception

His point is simply that if you cannot control your tongue, you are deceiving yourself about how acceptable your own religion is to God.

1:25
Living a moral life, says James, results in God blessing your activities. Conversely, you can’t expect God to bless your activities if you are living an immoral life.

What does it take to live a moral life?

1. Looking intently into the “perfect law that gives freedom”
2. Continually doing this so you don’t forget what you’ve learned
3. Doing what you’ve learned

Side Note: The word intently here is a translation of the Greek word parakupto (parakuptw) and means leaning forward to examine something closely. It is the same Greek word used to describe Peter, John, and Mary bending over to look into Jesus’ empty tomb and examine His burial cloths in Luke 24:12, John 20:5, and John 20:11!

1:23-24
If you simply hear or read the Word but do not do what it says, it’s like looking into a mirror, walking away, and forgetting what you look like!

The Word, you see, doesn’t just teach us about God. It teaches us about ourselves – our tendencies and natural inclinations. Modern educators realize that instructing isn’t enough. For something to “stick,” people must be instructed and then given opportunities to apply what they’ve learned in a way that changes them from the inside out. Modern educators have learned what James wrote – that you must first listen to the Word and then apply it to your life.

Otherwise, the Bible has just been a good read, and those promptings of the Holy Spirit in your life have just been good ideas.

1:22
If that is what you do – learn God’s will but don’t apply it – you are deceiving yourself.

Yep, that’s the second “self-deception” James mentions. We’ll get a third one in a moment.

1:21
Moral filth and evil are everywhere, James says. It sure is no different today! You need to get rid of it in your own life by humbly accepting God’s Word.

He planted that Word in you in order to save you.

1:19-20
What moral filth is James thinking of here? The answer may surprise you. It is anger. In our society, anger is socially acceptable, even expected… taken for granted. Few people today would think of Anger when you say “moral filth.”

But remember, God destroyed His creation by the flood because violence had gotten to be so bad:

Genesis 6:13 - “So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.”

1:17-18
God gave us birth through “the Word of truth.” He did this so that we would become a kind of “firstfruits” of His creation.

Firstfruit. There’s a deep significance in that word which may be lost on modern Christians.

• In the Old Testament, God’s people weren’t allowed to pick the first produce from a tree or grain for 3 years because it provided the purest seed for reproducing.
• In the fourth year, they were to sacrifice the first of their produce to God as the finest of their produce (Lev 19:23-24).
• Priests were allowed to eat this sacrificed first fruit, but they were to “eat it as something most holy” (Num 18:10-11).

So, when James says God planted the Word in us so that we would become His firstfruits, he is saying that God gave us birth through the Word in order to make us pure, holy, and acceptable to Him.

1:17
Every gift in your life that is from God is “good and perfect.” On the other hand, anything that is not from God is not good and perfect and anything that is not good and perfect must not be from God.

The lesson here is simply to be honest about the “stuff” in your life.

• What is truly from God? If it’s not good and perfect, it’s not from Him.
• What should we ask God for in our prayers? Nothing that is worldly or imperfect
• What should be our attitude toward the not-so-good and imperfect things in our lives? We should realize we probably achieved them on our own. They didn’t come from God.

1:13-16
So we still have that same burning question we started with: “Why do we sin? Why – after trying and praying and trying some more – do we continue to give into temptation?” James answers that explicitly in these verses.

First, to be clear, God never tempts you to sin. You cannot blame God for putting you in a tempting situation. You must accept that temptation is coming from your natural desires, not from God (v. 13-14)

Next, look closely (remember intently?) at the progression in vv. 14-16:

1. Your evil Desire “drags you away.” The Greek word translated “dragged away” is a fishing term, exelko (exelkw). It describes a fishing lure being dragged through the water in order to attract a fish.
2. You are then “enticed.” This is another fishing term in Greek, deleazo (deleazw). It describes a fish actually biting the lure.
3. Your Desire then becomes pregnant – it “conceives.” What impregnated the Desire? You did, when you bit the lure.
4. Your pregnant Desire gives birth to Sin.
5. Your Sin becomes pregnant and “gives birth to death” (a strange phrase!)

Notice closely:

• Your Pregnant Desire isn’t Sin, it’s the mother of Sin.
  You can abort Sin before it’s born, even after you’re tempted. You do that by looking intently into the Word and applying what you’ve learned.
• Your Pregnant Sin isn’t Death, it’s the mother of Death.
  You can abort Death before it’s born, even after you’ve sinned. You do that by allowing God to make you His firstfruit sacrifice by giving you birth through the Word of truth.

Thinking otherwise – blaming temptation on God, confusing temptation with sin or giving up hope when you’ve sinned – James calls that self-deception, too (v. 16).

Pulling It All Together
Let’s now pull together the full message of James 1:13-27.

James draws out three forms of self-deception:

1. Self-Deception #1: Misunderstanding Temptation and Sin
   Believing that temptation comes from God, feeling hopeless to resist temptation, or giving up hope after you’ve sinned (vv. 13-16)
2. Self-Deception #2: Misunderstanding The Purpose Of God’s Word
   Believing that learning God’s Word is adequate without applying it to your life (vv. 17-25)
3. Self-Deception #3: Misunderstanding Religion God Accepts
   Believing that your religion is acceptable to God even though you don’t control your tongue (vv. 26-27)

Regarding Self-Deception #1, your sin comes from you being lured by your evil desires and you biting the bait. When you do this, sin eventually happens, and death is the end result.

Regarding Self-Deception #2, God saves you through the Word as it is applied to your life. God will bless the things you do if you continually look intently into the Word and then apply the things you learn to your life.

Regarding Self-Deception #3, if you want God to accept your religion you must have control over your tongue, take care of people who are facing trials, and refuse to be polluted by the world.