Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to James · About this commentary
Religion That Is Pure
James 1:26-27
26 If anyone among you thinks himself to be religious while he doesn’t bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is worthless. · WEB
The word for religion appears six times in Scripture and three of them are here, and what it is made to mean is startlingly small.
The noun in these two verses is a specific one — outward religious observance, the practice rather than the belief. It occurs six times in Scripture, and three of those are in this pair of verses.
Verse 26 gives the failing case, and the test is again the tongue. A man who considers himself religious and does not bridle his tongue has a religion that is worthless, and the middle clause is the sharpest: he deceives his heart, which is the same self-deception as the mirror three verses earlier James 1:22. The bridle image will return twice in chapter 3 James 3:2–3.
Verse 27 then defines the passing case, and the definition is the surprise. Given an opportunity to specify doctrine, ritual, or spiritual experience, the letter names two things.
First, visiting orphans and widows in their affliction. The verb is not the word for donating but for going to see — the same word used of God visiting his people. In a society where both groups had no legal standing, they were precisely the people from whom nothing could be gained.
Second, keeping oneself unstained by the world. The two halves hold the letter's balance: engagement without absorption, going out to the afflicted and not taking the world's measure of them back.
What the verse does not say is that this is all religion is. It says this is what pure religion looks like when you look at it.
settled What this mark means