James 1:22
Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves.
Be doers of the word
The phrase "Be doers" is a call to action, derived from the Greek word "ποιηταί" (poiētai), which implies not just performing an action but embodying it as a way of life. In the historical context of the early church, this was a radical departure from the prevalent religious practices that emphasized ritual over genuine transformation. The "word" here refers to the teachings of Christ and the Scriptures, which are meant to be lived out in daily life. This aligns with the conservative Christian perspective that faith must be evidenced by works, as true belief naturally results in action.

and not hearers only
The term "hearers" comes from the Greek "ἀκροαταί" (akroatai), which refers to those who listen passively. In the ancient world, many would gather to hear public readings of Scripture, but James warns against stopping at mere listening. The historical context suggests that James was addressing a community familiar with oral tradition, where hearing was the primary means of receiving information. However, he emphasizes that hearing without action is insufficient. This reflects the conservative Christian view that intellectual assent to faith is incomplete without corresponding deeds.

Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves
The word "deceiving" is translated from the Greek "παραλογιζόμενοι" (paralogizomenoi), which means to mislead or delude oneself through false reasoning. This self-deception is a critical warning, as it implies a disconnect between belief and practice. In the scriptural context, James is cautioning against a superficial faith that lacks substance. The conservative Christian perspective underscores the importance of integrity and authenticity in one's spiritual life, where self-deception is seen as a grave danger that can lead to spiritual stagnation or regression. The call is to examine oneself honestly and ensure that one's faith is active and alive, manifesting in tangible expressions of God's love and truth.

Persons / Places / Events
1. James
The author of the epistle, traditionally identified as James, the brother of Jesus and a leader in the early Jerusalem church. He is known for his practical approach to faith and emphasis on living out one's beliefs.

2. Early Christian Communities
The recipients of the letter, likely Jewish Christians scattered outside of Palestine, facing trials and needing encouragement to live out their faith authentically.

3. Jerusalem
The central hub of early Christianity and the location where James played a significant leadership role.
Teaching Points
Active Faith
True faith is demonstrated through action. Hearing the word is not enough; it must be lived out in daily life.

Self-Deception
Merely listening to the word without acting on it leads to self-deception. Believers must examine their lives to ensure their actions align with their professed beliefs.

Integration of Word and Deed
The Christian life requires an integration of belief and practice. The word of God should transform our actions and decisions.

Continuous Growth
Being a doer of the word is a continuous process. Believers should strive for ongoing growth and maturity in their faith journey.

Community Accountability
Engaging with a community of believers can provide support and accountability in living out the teachings of Scripture.
Bible Study Questions
1. What are some practical ways you can be a "doer" of the word in your daily life?

2. How can you guard against self-deception in your spiritual walk, ensuring that you are not just a hearer of the word?

3. Reflect on a time when you heard a biblical teaching but struggled to put it into practice. What steps can you take to bridge that gap?

4. How does the teaching in James 1:22 relate to Jesus' parable of the wise and foolish builders in Matthew 7:24-27?

5. In what ways can your church community help you live out the principles found in James 1:22?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Matthew 7:24-27
Jesus' parable of the wise and foolish builders emphasizes the importance of putting His words into practice, similar to James' exhortation to be doers of the word.

Romans 2:13
Paul also highlights that it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified, aligning with James' message.

Luke 11:28
Jesus blesses those who hear the word of God and obey it, reinforcing the call to action found in James.
The Law of the New LifeT.F. Lockyer James 1:19-27
Before Sermon, At Sermon, and After SermonC. H. Spurgeon.James 1:21-22
How We May Hear the Word with ProfitThos. Senior, B. D.James 1:21-22
Moral Hindrance to the Reception of the TruthR. Wardlaw, D. D.James 1:21-22
Of Preaching, Hearing, and Practising the Word of GodJoseph Trapp, D. D.James 1:21-22
Preparation of HeartC. Deems, D. D.James 1:21-22
Receiving the WordT. Manton.James 1:21-22
Reception of the Gospel with MeeknessS. Estwick, B. D.James 1:21-22
The Bible and Human SoulsHomilistJames 1:21-22
The Engrafted WordCanon Liddon.James 1:21-22
The Engrafted WordHomilistJames 1:21-22
The Engrafted WordG. Everard, M. A.James 1:21-22
The Engrafted WordW. M. H. Aitken, M. A.James 1:21-22
The GospelHomilistJames 1:21-22
The Ingrafted WordC. Deems, D. D.James 1:21-22
The Reception of the Divine WordJohn Adam.James 1:21-22
Ways of Treating the WordW. Arnot, D. D.James 1:21-22
Doers and Non-DoersW. D. Horwood.James 1:22-25
Doers, not Hearers OnlyJohn Adam.James 1:22-25
Doing the WordR. Turnbull.James 1:22-25
Duty of HearersJoseph Marsh.James 1:22-25
Hearers and DoersC. Jerdan James 1:22-25
Hearing and DoingJ. T. Whitley.James 1:22-25
Hearing and DoingS. Cox, D. D.James 1:22-25
Hearing and DoingA. Plummer, D. D.James 1:22-25
Hearing and DoingJ. S. Macintosh, D. D.James 1:22-25
Hearing and DoingT. Manton.James 1:22-25
Hearing and DoingA. Raleigh, D. D.James 1:22-25
Hearing with the ConscienceIsaac Walton.James 1:22-25
Hearing Without DoingE. Blencowe, M. A.James 1:22-25
Hearing Without MendingJames 1:22-25
Knowledge and DutyCanon Duckworth.James 1:22-25
Living the PreachingJames 1:22-25
Man's GlassH. Melvill, B. D.James 1:22-25
Necessity of Adding Doing to HearingT. Hannam.James 1:22-25
Profitless HearingJ. T. Tucker.James 1:22-25
Self-Deceit of Those Who are Hearers But not Doers of the WordBp. Mant.James 1:22-25
Self-Deception of HearersM. F. Sadler, M. A.James 1:22-25
Self-RealizationProf. F. Paget.James 1:22-25
Standing Before the MirrorA. S. Patterson, D. D.James 1:22-25
The Danger of Mistaking Knowledge for ObedienceArchdeacon Manning.James 1:22-25
The Divine MirrorJas. Noble, M. A.James 1:22-25
The Due Receiving of God's WordBp. Brownrig.James 1:22-25
The Looking-GlassC. H. Spurgeon.James 1:22-25
The Word a Mirror and a LateW. Pulsford, D. D.James 1:22-25
The Word of WordsU. R. Thomas.James 1:22-25
Two Sorts of HearersC. H. Spurgeon.James 1:22-25
People
James
Places
Dispersion
Topics
FALSE, Blinding, Deceive, Deceiving, Delude, Deluding, Delusion, Doers, Hearers, Ideas, Imposing, Listen, Mere, Merely, Message, Obedient, Prove, Says, Selves, Themselves, Yourselves
Dictionary of Bible Themes
James 1:22

     8166   theology
     8239   earnestness
     8241   ethics, basis of
     8454   obedience, to God

James 1:21-23

     1690   word of God

James 1:21-25

     8351   teachableness

James 1:22-24

     5159   hearing
     5165   listening
     5864   futility

James 1:22-25

     5959   submission

James 1:22-26

     5943   self-deception

Library
February 28. "Count it all Joy" (James i. 2).
"Count it all joy" (James i. 2). We do not always feel joyful, but we are to count it all joy. The word "reckon" is one of the key-words of Scripture. It is the same word used about our being dead. We do not feel dead. We are painfully conscious of something that would gladly return to life. But we are to treat ourselves as dead, and neither fear nor obey the old nature. So we are to reckon the thing that comes as a blessing. We are determined to rejoice, to say, "My heart is fixed, O God, I will
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Fourth Sunday after Easter Second Sermon.
Text: James 1, 16-21. 16 Be not deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. 19 Ye know this, my beloved brethren. But let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20 for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

George Buchanan, Scholar
The scholar, in the sixteenth century, was a far more important personage than now. The supply of learned men was very small, the demand for them very great. During the whole of the fifteenth, and a great part of the sixteenth century, the human mind turned more and more from the scholastic philosophy of the Middle Ages to that of the Romans and the Greeks; and found more and more in old Pagan Art an element which Monastic Art had not, and which was yet necessary for the full satisfaction of their
Charles Kingsley—Historical Lectures and Essays

October the Eighteenth Unanimity in the Soul
"A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." --JAMES i. 1-8. If two men are at the wheel with opposing notions of direction and destiny, how will it fare with the boat? If an orchestra have two conductors both wielding their batons at the same time and with conflicting conceptions of the score, what will become of the band? And a man whose mind is like that of two men flirting with contrary ideals at the same time will live a life "all sixes and sevens," and nothing will move to purposeful
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

May the Fifth Healthy Listening
"Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only." --JAMES i. 21-27. When we hear the word, but do not do it, there has been a defect in our hearing. We may listen to the word for mere entertainment. Or we may attach a virtue to the mere act of listening to the word. We may assume that some magical efficacy belongs to the mere reading of the word. And all this is perverse and delusive. No listening is healthy which is not mentally referred to obedience. We are to listen with a view to obedience,
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

An Address to the Regenerate, Founded on the Preceding Discourses.
James I. 18. James I. 18. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. I INTEND the words which I have now been reading, only as an introduction to that address to the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, with which I am now to conclude these lectures; and therefore shall not enter into any critical discussion, either of them, or of the context. I hope God has made the series of these discourses, in some measure, useful to those
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration

On Patience
"Let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." James 1:4. 1. "My brethren," says the Apostle in the preceding verse, "count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations." At first view, this may appear a strange direction; seeing most temptations are, "for the present, not joyous, but grievous." Nevertheless ye know by your own experience, that "the trial of your faith worketh patience:" And if "patience have its perfect work, ye shall be perfect and
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

On Charity
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." 1 Cor. 13:1-3. We know, "All Scripture is given by inspiration
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

Loving Advice for Anxious Seekers
However, the promise is not to be limited to any one particular application, for the word, "If any of you," is so wide, so extensive, that whatever may be our necessity, whatever the dilemma which perplexes us, this text consoles us with the counsel, "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God." This text might be peculiarly comforting to some of you who are working for God. You cannot work long for your heavenly Lord without perceiving that you need a greater wisdom than you own. Why, even in directing
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 13: 1867

All Joy in all Trials
Beginning with this word "brethren," James shows a true brotherly sympathy with believers in their trials, and this is a main part of Christian fellowship. "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." If we are not tempted ourselves at this moment, others are: let us remember them in our prayers; for in due time our turn will come, and we shall be put into the crucible. As we would desire to receive sympathy and help in our hour of need, let us render it freely to those who are
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 29: 1883

The Days of the Week
JAMES i. 17. Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is neither variableness, nor shadow of turning. It seems an easy thing for us here to say, 'I believe in God.' We have learnt from our childhood that there is but one God. It seems to us strange and ridiculous that people anywhere should believe in more gods than one. We never heard of any other doctrine, except in books about the heathen; and there are perhaps not three people
Charles Kingsley—The Good News of God

Sermon on a Martyr's Day
Of three sorts of spiritual temptation by which holy men are secretly assailed; to wit: spiritual unchastity, covetousness, and pride. James i. 12.--"Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him. ALL our life (says Job), so long as we are upon earth, is full of struggle and temptation, insomuch that this life is not called a life by the Saints, but a temptation. When one temptation is over,
Susannah Winkworth—The History and Life of the Reverend Doctor John Tauler

The Sixth Petition Corresponds as we have Observed to the Promise of Writing the Law...
The sixth petition corresponds (as we have observed) to the promise [26] of writing the law upon our hearts; but because we do not obey God without a continual warfare, without sharp and arduous contests, we here pray that he would furnish us with armour, and defend us by his protection, that we may be able to obtain the victory. By this we are reminded that we not only have need of the gift of the Spirit inwardly to soften our hearts, and turn and direct them to the obedience of God, but also of
John Calvin—Of Prayer--A Perpetual Exercise of Faith

The Deepest Need of the Church Today is not for any Material or External Thing...
The deepest need of the Church today is not for any material or external thing, but the deepest need is spiritual. Prayerless work will never bring in the kingdom. We neglect to pray in the prescribed way. We seldom enter the closet and shut the door for a season of prayer. Kingdom interests are pressing on us thick and fast and we must pray. Prayerless giving will never evangelise the world.--Dr. A. J. Gordon The great subject of prayer, that comprehensive need of the Christian's life, is intimately
E.M. Bounds—Purpose in Prayer

Biographical Preface.
"The Church! Am I asked again, What is the Church? The ploughman at his daily toil--the workman who plies the shuttle--the merchant in his counting-house--the scholar in his study--the lawyer in the courts of justice--the senator in the hall of legislature--the monarch on his throne--these, as well as the clergymen in the works of the material building which is consecrated to the honour of God--these constitute the Church. The Church is the whole congregation of faithful men, in which the pure word
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Antecedents of Permanent Christian Colonization --The Disintegration of Christendom --Controversies --Persecutions.
WE have briefly reviewed the history of two magnificent schemes of secular and spiritual empire, which, conceived in the minds of great statesmen and churchmen, sustained by the resources of the mightiest kingdoms of that age, inaugurated by soldiers of admirable prowess, explorers of unsurpassed boldness and persistence, and missionaries whose heroic faith has canonized them in the veneration of Christendom, have nevertheless come to naught. We turn now to observe the beginnings, coinciding in time
Leonard Woolsey Bacon—A History of American Christianity

The Puritan Beginnings of the Church in virginia ---Its Decline Almost to Extinction.
THERE is sufficient evidence that the three little vessels which on the 13th of May, 1607, were moored to the trees on the bank of the James River brought to the soil of America the germ of a Christian church. We may feel constrained to accept only at a large discount the pious official professions of King James I., and critically to scrutinize many of the statements of that brilliant and fascinating adventurer, Captain John Smith, whether concerning his friends or concerning his enemies or concerning
Leonard Woolsey Bacon—A History of American Christianity

The Neighbor Colonies to virginia-Maryland and the Carolinas.
THE chronological order would require us at this point to turn to the Dutch settlements on the Hudson River; but the close relations of Virginia with its neighbor colonies of Maryland and the Carolinas are a reason for taking up the brief history of these settlements in advance of their turn. The occupation of Maryland dates from the year 1634. The period of bold and half-desperate adventure in making plantations along the coast was past. To men of sanguine temper and sufficient fortune and influence
Leonard Woolsey Bacon—A History of American Christianity

Directions to Church-Wardens, &C.
CHURCH-WARDENS are officers of the parish in ecclesiastical affairs, as the constables are in civil, and the main branches of their duty are to present what is presentable by the ecclesiastical Jaws of this realm, and repair the Church [1] . For the better information of Church-wardens as to those particulars, which they are to present, [2] articles are to be given them extracted out of the laws of the Church, according to which they are to make their presentments, Can. 119. They are obliged twice
Humphrey Prideaux—Directions to Church-Wardens

Theological Controversies and Studies
(a) Baianism. Schwane, /Dogmengeschichte der neuren zeit/, 1890. Turmel, /Histoire de la theologie positive du concile de Trente au concile du Vatican/, 1906. Denzinger-Bannwart, /Enchiridion Symbolorum/, 11th edition, 1911. Duchesne, /Histoire du Baianisme/, 1731. Linsenmann, /Michael Baius/, 1863. The Catholic doctrine on Grace, round which such fierce controversies had been waged in the fifth and sixth centuries, loomed again into special prominence during the days of the Reformation. The views
Rev. James MacCaffrey—History of the Catholic Church, Renaissance to French Revolution

The Downfall, 1616-1621.
The dream of bliss became a nightmare. As the tide of Protestantism ebbed and flowed in various parts of the Holy Roman Empire, so the fortunes of the Brethren ebbed and flowed in the old home of their fathers. We have seen how the Brethren rose to prosperity and power. We have now to see what brought about their ruin. It was nothing in the moral character of the Brethren themselves. It was purely and simply their geographical position. If Bohemia had only been an island, as Shakespeare seems
J. E. Hutton—History of the Moravian Church

Knox and the Book of Discipline
This Book of Discipline, containing the model of the Kirk, had been seen by Randolph in August 1560, and he observed that its framers would not come into ecclesiastical conformity with England. They were "severe in that they profess, and loth to remit anything of that they have received." As the difference between the Genevan and Anglican models contributed so greatly to the Civil War under Charles I., the results may be regretted; Anglicans, by 1643, were looked on as "Baal worshippers" by the
Andrew Lang—John Knox and the Reformation

Whether Sacred Doctrine is a Practical Science
Whether Sacred Doctrine is a Practical Science We proceed to the fourth article thus: 1. It seems that sacred doctrine is a practical science. For "the end of practical knowledge is action," according to the philosopher (2 Metaph., Text 3), and sacred doctrine is concerned with action, according to James 1:22: "Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only." Sacred doctrine is therefore a practical science. 2. Again, sacred doctrine is divided into the Old and the New Law, and the Law has to do with
Aquinas—Nature and Grace

Wherefore Let this be the First Thought for the Putting on of Humility...
42. Wherefore let this be the first thought for the putting on of humility, that God's virgin think not that it is of herself that she is such, and not rather that this best "gift cometh down from above from the Father of Lights, with Whom is no change nor shadow of motion." [2172] For thus she will not think that little hath been forgiven her, so as for her to love little, and, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and wishing to establish her own, not to be made subject to the righteousness
St. Augustine—Of Holy Virginity.

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