James Expounds on Faith Volume 13

 Be Doers of the Word of God Part 1

James 1:22 But be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. KJV Note: NKJV=New King James Version

Deception is defined by our English dictionary as a misleading falsehood. This is the concept of the Apostle James very next discourse to us declaring that we should not just be comfortable, cozy, or content with just reading the Word of God, but we should also do what it says and refrain from doing what it condemns. This isn't within our 🧓 old man to have the willingness or the desire to do, therefore, as we wrote of in the previous study/commentary we need the Power of God the Holy Spirit working ⚒ in us and with us to energize and empower us to hear the Word of God and to do what it says, as the Apostle James here states for us with these words, "But be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." (James 1:22) (KJV). When someone else misleads you into falsehood, that's bad, but when you are your very own misleader, then that's worse, because you know better, yet refuse to 👂 listen and adhere to the truth of the Word of God. This is what we did regularly, radically, and routinely before we knew the 😍 love and grace of Christ Jesus our Lord, however, this should not be so now that we know and love Him, for we must remember His Words to us when He said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you." (John 14:15-18) (NKJV). Knowing that He has already come to us, we must not grieve Him, but when we do we must repent and turn our inner 👨 man and inner 👩 woman to Him, then and only then will be able to do the Word of God. The little English word 'doers' is translated by the Greek word poiētēs which means a performer or one who does something. The reading and studying of the Bible (the Word of God) is unlike doing the same with any other man written 📙 book because the Bible is Authored by God the Holy Spirit (3rd Person of the GodHead) through many different men and the Word of God comes with the Power of God, therefore, we have only ourselves to blame when we fail to let this Powerful Word engage us into action, for when we do so we bring blessings upon us and to us just as our Lord Jesus Christ declared with these words, "And it happened, as He (Jesus) spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, 'Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!' But He (Jesus) said, 'More than that, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!' (Luke 11:27-28) (NKJV). The Apostle already told us in verse 19 that we should be swift or prompt or ready to hear, that is, 👂 listening to what the Word of God declares to us, but when we 👂 listen only and do not act upon what we have heard or ignore it, then our 👂 listening is in vain or empty and will not produce any fruit in our own lives nor will it bring light to the countless souls who are still in darkness blinded by the devil and all of his 🤥 lies, as it is written, "But even if our Gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age (the devil) has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the Gospel of the Glory of Christ, who is the Image of God, should shine on them." (2 Corinthians 4:3-4) (NKJV). It is our mandate from our Lord Jesus Christ to be His ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20) here on the earth 🌎 while we are here and we can only do that by hearing and doing what the Word of God commands and the Apostle John expounds to us that what our Lord Jesus Christ calls us to is not something that causes us heaviness of soul, but to the contrary our souls are full, fabulous, and free when we are in obedience, as it is written, "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" (1 John 5:3-5) (NKJV). We see then that it is foolishness to us and folly for us when we don't do what the Word of God declares, but when we do we are overcomers through Christ Jesus our Lord who loves us and wants to see us live victoriously through Him. Amen!

Here is what Matthew Henry had to say of James 1:22, "We are taught what is to be done after hearing (James 1:22): But be you doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. Observe here, (1.) Hearing is in order to doing; the most attentive and the most frequent hearing of the word of God will not avail us, unless we be also doers of it. If we were to hear a sermon every day of the week, and an angel from heaven were the preacher, yet, if we rested in bare hearing, it would never bring us to heaven. Therefore the apostle insists much upon it (and, without doubt, it is indispensably necessary) that we practice what we hear. 'There must be inward practice by meditation, and outward practice in true obedience.' Baxter. It is not enough to remember what we hear, and to be able to repeat it, and to give testimony to it, and commend it, and write it, and preserve what we have written; that which all this is in order to, and which crowns the rest, is that we be doers of the word. Observe, (2.) Bare hearers are self-deceivers; the original word, paralogizomenoi, signifies men's arguing sophistically to themselves; their reasoning is manifestly deceitful and false when they would make one part of their work discharge them from the obligation they lie under to another, or persuade themselves that filling their heads with notions is sufficient, though their hearts be empty of good affections and resolutions, and their lives fruitless of good works. Self-deceit will be found the worst deceit at last." Here also is what Albert Barnes had to say of James 1:22, "Obey the Gospel, and do not merely listen to it. It is implied here, that by merely hearing the word but not doing it, they would deceive their own souls. The nature of this deception was this, that they would imagine that that was all which was required, whereas the main thing was that they should be obedient. If a man supposes that by a mere punctual attendance on preaching, or a respectful attention to it, he has done all that is required of him, he is laboring under a most gross self-deception. And yet there are multitudes who seem to imagine that they have done all that is demanded of them when they have heard attentively the word preached. Of its influence on their lives, and its claims to obedience, they are utterly regardless." Here lastly is what Dr. John Gill had to say of James 1:22, "And they are such, who spiritually understand it; gladly receive it; and from the heart obey it, and make a sincere and ingenuous profession of it; and who submit to the ordinances it directs to, and keep them as they have been delivered; and live, and walk, becoming their profession of it. The Arabic and Ethiopic versions read, 'be ye doers of the law'; and so one of Stephens's copies, as in Romans 2:13. Though the Word should be heard swiftly and readily, and received with meekness; yet it should not be barely heard, and assented to; but what is heard should be put in practice; and especially men should not depend upon their hearing, as if that would save them; this is deceiving your own selves; such as rest upon the outward hearing of the word will be sadly deceived, and will find themselves miserably mistaken, another day; see Luke 13:25. Arguments taken from hence are like the sophisms, paralogisms, and false reasonings of sophisters, which carry a fair show, and ensnare and deceive."

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…