Verse 21: Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.
James now advances his line of reasoning for the believer’s need to develop Christ-like characteristics. He states that we are to put aside the baser qualities of our lives that fail to reflect the glory of God. Putting aside is one word in the original Greek. It means to renounce these immoral attributes, and to do so at once and never to practice them again. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews basically conveys the same lesson using the identical Greek word, translated ‘lay aside’:
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. (Hebrews 12:1; emphasis added)
Therefore, two traits are to be put aside. First, ‘all filthiness.’ The Greek word has the root meaning of dirt or filth. But it also has a figurative connotation “in the ethical field [of] moral uncleanness, vulgarity.”1 Most scholars believe that this is referring to any evil conduct considered as disgusting or offensive,2 especially that of an immoral sexual nature pertaining to lustful impurity.
Second, we are to put aside ‘all that remains of wickedness.’ The KJV translates this phrase ‘superfluity of naughtiness,’ which obviously doesn’t communicate the same way today as it did 400 years ago. So what is ‘wickedness?’3 It denotes “evil in a moral sense meaning wickedness of heart, life, and character.”4 This is the evil disposition towards others which James will discuss in the next chapter. The Apostle Paul enumerates some of these evil traits, again using the same Greek word as James—‘put them all aside’:
But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. (Colossians 3:8)
In writing to Titus, Paul singles out both the filthiness and wickedness which we are to put aside from our lives:
For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. (Titus 3:3)
It is instructive to note the use of the word “all” by both James and Paul, for all means all. We are not commanded to put aside some of these evils, but all of them.
Upon our compliance to put aside all filthiness and wickedness, we are now commanded to receive with an attitude of humility the Word implanted. This command appears to be a contradiction, for how are we to receive ‘the Word’ that has already been implanted? If we already possess ‘the Word,’ why do we have to receive it? This is where the Greek grammar helps us. The word ‘receive’ is in the middle voice which is reflexive meaning that we are to receive something for our benefit.5 James is telling us that we are to embrace and implement ‘the Word’ that has been divinely implanted in us at the moment of our salvation with all the potentialities of spiritual blessings and empowerment.
What is this ‘Word implanted’? In verse 18 it is described as the ‘Word of truth,’ which had its inception as the powerful gospel message. And we should never overlook the fact that the truth of the gospel is just the beginning of our salvation experience. The gospel Word which saves us is implanted within us for all eternity. But the essence of what is implied by the word ‘implanted’ is that the Word isn’t meant to remain within us idly—it is to germinate, like a plant taking root, it is to grow. So, our receiving this Word implanted should be demonstrated by an enthusiastic and methodical study of God’s Word, not just reading the Word, but examining, analyzing and meditating on the precepts of the Word of truth.
How was this Word implanted? The text seems to imply that this implanting of the Word was accomplished in the believer by another, i.e. the Holy Spirit. If the Word is a reference to doctrine, then it follows that we are to humbly receive the Spirit’s moment-by-moment guidance without resistance.
And finally, James states that the reception of God’s Word is ‘able to save your souls.’ This word ‘saves’ does not always refer in Scripture to salvation from eternal damnation. There are variations for the definition of this term: To save, deliver, make whole, preserve safe from danger, loss, destruction.6 The Word of truth—the gospel—not only saves from eternal damnation those who accept Christ as their Savior, but that Word implanted at salvation has the power to deliver and keep the believer from sin that damages the soul. This requires that the believer be committed to the intake of God’s Word, which is the growth pattern and the source of motivation for a dynamic Christian life (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
This is what the apostle Paul meant when he commanded for believers to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12b). This work requires the daily routine of Bible study. The learning and implementation of the doctrines of His Word, plus the total reliance upon the power of the Holy Spirit enables the believer to produce divine good which glorifies Christ.
[1] Arndt, W., Gingrich, F. W., & Bauer, W. (1957). A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 745.
[2] Barnes, Albert (2005) Notes on the New Testament, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, James 1:21.
[3] Kakía in the Greek [κακία]
[4] Zodhiates, S. (2000). The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, G2549.
[5] Wallace, D. B. (1996) Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the Greek New Testament, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, p.419ff.
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