James Chapter 1 — Commentary on Verse 21

    Therefore,getridofallmoralfilthandtheevilthatisprevalent,andhumblyaccepttheword planted in you, which can save you.

    The apostle, having spoken about the power of the Word, and that it should be heard willingly and without a contradicting spirit, and having shown the evil of anger, returns to his main exhortation.

    Lay aside all wrathful affections, he says, that you might be more fit to welcome the Word with an honest and meek heart, for your comfort and salvation. In the verse there is a duty to acceptthe word. To help you achieve this, getridofallmoralfilth. This duty is to be performed humbly, with submission to the word planted in you. The motive is, which can save you.

    Therefore. That is, because anger is such an obstacle to the righteousness that God requires; or it may refer to the whole context.

    Get rid of. The word implies that we should put it off as an unclean garment. The same metaphor is used by the apostle Paul in Ephesians 4:22, “Put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires”; and in Colossians 3:8, in a similar case, “But now you must rid yourselves of … anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language.”

    All moral filth. The word is sometimes used for the filthiness of ulcers, and also for the nastiness and filth of the body through sweating. Here it is used to stir up greater abomination against sin, which is elsewhere called “dirt from the body” (1 Peter 3:21). Some suppose the apostle is referring to lusts that are most beastly. But either the sense must be more general to imply all sin, or more particularly restrained to filthy and evil speaking, or it does not fit the context.

    Theevilthatissoprevalent. This may be translated “the overflowing of malice.” It indicates scoffing. See 1 Peter 2:1, to which James might be alluding, as he wrote after him. Beza translates it, “the excrement of wickedness.” Some think it alludes to the refuse from the sacrifices in the Kedron valley. Most take it generally for that abundance of evil and filthiness that is in the human heart.

    Accept. This word is often used for the appropriation of the Word. Accept means to make more room for it in your hearts. Thus 2 Thessalonians 2:10 says, “they refused to love the truth.” Faith is expressed in this way: “all who received him” (John 1:12).

    Humbly. That is, with a teachable mind, with a modest, submissive spirit.

    Thewordplanted. Some refer this to reason, others to Christ, but this is absurd. This word shows the purpose and fruit of listening—that the Word may be planted in us. The apostle shows that by the industry of the apostles, the Word was not only propounded to them but rooted in them by faith. A similar metaphor is used elsewhere: “I planted … but God made it grow” (1 Corinthians 3:6). This metaphor is also used in Colossians 1:6, “this gospel is producing fruit and growing.”

    Whichcansaveyou. That is, as it is accompanied with divine grace; the Gospel is “the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).

    Yoursouls (KJV). That is, yourselves—souls and bodies. Salvation is attributed to the soul, as it is the principal part of the whole. In other passages the same manner of expression is used: “the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:9). So Matthew 16:26 says, “forfeits his soul”—that is, himself. In such forms of speech the body is not excluded, because it always follows the state of the soul.

    Notes on Verse 21

    Note1. Getridof. Before we come to the Word there must be preparation. Instruments must be tuned before they can make melody. Solomon says, “Guard your steps when you go to the house of God” (Ecclesiastes 5:1). Christ says, “Consider carefully how you listen” (Luke 8:18). Come prepared. Let me say one word by way of caution and another by way of direction.

    (1)      By way of caution:

    a.      Do not exclude God from your preparations. The very dispositions of the spirit are from God.

    b.      Though you cannot get your hearts into the condition you desire, trust God: “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). The help that is absent to sense and feeling may be present to faith. You do not know how God may come to you. The eunuch read and did not understand, and God sent him an interpreter (see Acts 8). It is not good to neglect duty out of discouragement; this is to commit one sin in order to excuse another: see Jeremiah 1:6 and Exodus 4:10-11.

    (2)      By way of direction: the heart must be purged, faith exercised, repentance renewed, weaknesses reviewed, God’s glory considered, and the nature, grounds, and ends of the ordinances weighed in our thoughts. There must be enough preparation to make the heart reverent. God must be served with a joy mixed with trembling. The heart is never right in worship until it is gripped by awe of God: “How awesome is this place!” (Genesis 28:17). Such preparation will settle the spirit in a heavenward direction. David says, “My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast” (Psalm 57:7)—that is, composed in a heavenly and holy frame. Engage in preparation that will make you humble and hungry. Grace is usually given to the hungry soul: “He has filled the hungry with good things” (Luke 1:53).

    Note 2. Christian preparation mainly consists in getting rid of evil frames. Weeds must be rooted out before the ground is fit to receive the seed: see Jeremiah 4:3. A filthy spirit and the pure holy Word do not mix. Those who do not turn from their sins are unfit listeners. There is an extraordinary vanity in some people, who will lay aside their sins before some solemn duties but intend to return to them later. What can people who come in their sins expect from God? Their state denies their worship. God will have nothing to do with them.

    Note3. Getridof. Take it off as a rotten and filthy garment. Sin must be left with utter detestation: “you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, ‘Away with you!’” (Isaiah 30:22). Sin is often expressed as an abomination. It is so to God; it should be so to us.

    Note4. All. We must not get rid of some sin, but all sin. So in Peter the particle is universal: “all malice” (1 Peter 2:1); and David says, “I hate every wrong path” (Psalm 119:104). When we hate sin as sin, we hate all sin. The heart is most sincere when the hatred is general. The least sin is dangerous and in its own nature deadly and destructive. We read of some who have been devoured by wild beasts, lions, and bears, but also of others who have been eaten up by vermin, mice, or lice. Pope Adrian choked on a gnat. The least sins may undo you. Christ speaks of a little leaven.

    Note5. Moralfilth. Sin is moralfilth; it sullies the glory and beauty of the soul and defaces God’s image. This expression is often used. Consider “contaminates body and spirit” (2 Corinthians 7:1). Not only gross wickedness, such as comes from human lusts, is called moralfilth, but such as is more spiritual—unbelief and heresy. Original corruption is given this name. “What is man, that he could be pure?” (Job 15:14). People are greatly mistaken when they think sin is an ornament, for the Spirit of God calls it dung and excrement. But more especially I find three sins called moral filth in Scripture:

    (1)      Covetousness, because it debases the spirit of man and makes him stoop to such indecencies as are beneath humanity.

    (2)      Lust, which in Scripture is called filthiness or the sin of uncleanness (see 1 Thessalonians 4:7), because it makes a man submit his desires to animal happiness, which is sensual pleasure.

    (3)      In this passage, anger and malice are called moralfilth. We take pleasure in such, but it is only filthiness.

    So, all that has been said encourages us to resist sin, to detest it as a defilement. It will darken the glory of our natures.

    Note6. Theevilthatissoprevalent. There is a great deal of wickedness to be purged from the human heart. As there is salt in every drop of the sea, so sin is in everything that is framed within the soul. In the understanding there are filthy thoughts and purposes; there sin begins. In the will are filthy tendencies, and the affections mingle with filthy objects. The memory retains nothing but mud and filthiness. The conscience is defiled and stained with the impurities of our lives. The whole body is an instrument of filthiness. Second Peter 2:14 says, “with eyes full of adultery” (the original says “full of the adulteress”). The tongue betrays the rottenness of the heart in filthy language. How we bless God that there is “a fountain … to cleanse them from sin and impurity” (Zechariah 13:1). Certainly conversion is not easy work—there is such a mass of corruption to be set aside.

    Note7. Accept. Our duty in listening to the Word is to receive it. In the Word there is the hand of God’s bounty, reaching out comfort and counsel to us; and there must be the hand of faith to receive it. In receiving there is an act of the understanding, apprehending the truth and musing on it. So Christ says, “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you” (Luke 9:44).

    Note8. Humblyaccept. The Word must be received with all meekness. Christ was anointed to preach good news to the meek (see Isaiah 61:1). The main purpose now is to show what this meekness is. Consider its opposites. Since the fall graces are best known by their opposites. This meekness excludes three things:

    (1)      An angry fierceness, in which people rise in a rage against the Word. When they are admonished, they revile. Deep conviction often provokes fierce opposition: “The word of the Lord is offensive to them” (Jeremiah 6:10).

    (2)      A proud stubbornness. People scorn to set sail before the truth; and though they cannot maintain their opposition, yet they persist in it. (3) A contentious wrangling. This is found in men who have undisciplined thoughts. The psalmist says, “He instructs sinners in his ways. He will guide the humble in what is right and teaches them his way” (Psalm 25:8-9). Out of all sinners, God takes the meek sinner for his scholar. Camero observes that the Scriptures are so written that those who want to know can know, and those who have a mind to argue may take offense and perish through the rebellion of their own reason. For, says Camero, “God never intended to satisfy men of a stubborn and perverse wit.” And Tertullian observed the same: “God has so disposed the Scriptures that those who will not be satisfied will be hardened.” Our Saviour Christ says in Mark 4:11-12 that “To those on the outside everything is said in parables so that ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving.’” As a just punishment for willful blindness and hardness, those who do not want to see will not see. When the heart is humble and obeys a truth, the mind is soon opened to accept it.

    Secondly, I will show what meekness includes:

    a.      Humility and brokenness of spirit. There must be meekness before grafting. Gospel revivals are for the contrite heart: see Isaiah 57:15. The broken heart is not only a tamed heart but a tender heart, and then the least touch of the Word is felt.

    b.      A teachable spirit. “The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace loving” (3:17). The servants of God come with a mind ready to obey; they wait to discover their duty: “Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us” (Acts 10:33). Perverse opposition will be your own ruin. Luke 7:30 says, “The Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God’s purpose,” but this was “for themselves”; that is, it was to their own loss. So Acts 13:46 says that you “do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life.” Disputing against the Word is a judgment on yourself. It is as if, in effect, you said, “I do not care for God or for all the grace and glory that he gives me.”

    Note9. The Word must not only be understood by us but planted in us. This is God’s promise: “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33); that is, he will enlighten our minds to understand his will and will frame our hearts and affections to obey it. Then we shall not only know about our duty but have the inclination to do it. This is the true grafting. See, then, that the word is grafted in you. You will know it in this way:

    (1)      If it is grafted, it will be “producing fruit” (Colossians 1:6); it will spring up in your conversation.

    (2)      The graft draws all the sap from the stock to itself. All your affections, purposes, cares, thoughts will serve the Word: see Romans 6:17.

    Note10. The Word in God’s hand is an instrument to save our souls. It is sometimes called “the word of truth,” at other times “the word of life”; one notes its quality, the other its fruit. It is called “the power of God” (Romans 1:16) and “the arm of the Lord”: “Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” (Isaiah 53:1). The Gospel is a saving Word; let us not despise its simplicity. Gospel truths should not be too plain for our mouths or too boring for our ears. “I am not ashamed of the gospel,” says the apostle, “because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).

    Note11. The main preoccupation of a Christian should be to save his soul. This is put forward as an argument for listening to the Word. It will save your souls. Usually our greatest concern is to gratify the body. Man is part angel, so to speak, and part beast. Why should we please the beast in us rather than the angel? In short, your greatest fear should be for the soul, and your greatest concern should be for the soul. Your greatest fear: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body … be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). So your greatest care—riches, and splendor in the world—these are the conveniences of the body; and what good will they do you when you come to be laid in the cold, silent grave? “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). It is only a sorry exchange to give the eternal welfare of the soul for a temporary reward from the world. “For what hope has the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?” (Job 27:8). Many ungodly people rise early, go to bed late, and eat the bread of sorrows. Oh, that we were wise enough to consider these things, that we would make it our business to provide for the soul, to clothe the soul for another world, that we would wait on God in the Word, that our souls may be furnished with every spiritual and heavenly excellency, that we may not be “found naked,” says the apostle in 2 Corinthians 5:3.

    Note12. Those who have received the Word must receive it again. Even if it was grafted in you, receive it so that it may save your souls. God has planned it to be a means not only of regeneration but of salvation. So until we come to heaven, we must have its help. Those who live above ordinances do not live at all, spiritually speaking. The Word, though it is an immortal seed, needs constant care and watering.