James 1:22-25 But be you doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.… I. By "the Word" we are to understand that which was delivered to mankind by the inspired messengers of God, and is transmitted to us in the books of the Old and New Testaments. In this it hath pleased the Most High God to declare His mind, and to reveal to us both Himself and His will. How men deceive themselves by being not doers of the Word, but hearers only. 1. They deceive themselves in supposing that what they do is acceptable to God, and conducive to the honour of His name. Wherefore do you hear the Word of God but that you may become acquainted with His will? And what is His will, but that you may become "doers of His Word, and not hearers only"? And if you neglect to do it, are you not acting in direct opposition to His will? and is not this directly contradictory to the very purpose for which you hear? And if you can persuade yourselves to think otherwise, are you not "deceiving yourselves," and mocking and affronting, instead of serving and honouring, God? 2. If you do no good, be assured that you can receive no good from such hearing as this. Is a man at all the better for hearing of an advantageous bargain unless he makes it? Is a man at all nearer his journey's end for knowing the way thither unless he proceeds in it? 3. But the evil rests not here. For they, who are "hearers only, and not doers of the Word," are so far from being placed by their knowledge in a better condition, that they are indeed placed in a worse. To have heard the will of God is a high aggravation of their crime in not doing it. It is to rebel against the light. (Bp. Mant.) Parallel Verses KJV: But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.WEB: But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves. |
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