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James 1:27 – Why Is This Pure Religion?
God tells us what is pure and undefiled religion: James 1:27 – Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
The question needing asking is, “Why are these criteria pure and undefiled religion?” I would like to suggest three reasons regarding the first part concerning widows and orphans:
First, God has always, in both covenants, stressed that the “haves” take care of the “have-nots.” This is seen in the OT command of gleaning: Leviticus 19:9 – “When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the very edge of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10) You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreign resident; I am Yahweh your God.
Second, the physical poor are a metaphor for us being spiritually poor: Matthew 5:3 – 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” We need to see ourselves as destitute before God and needing rescuing. As Tim Keller said, too many view themselves as “middle-class in spirit.” How we view ourselves spiritually must affect how we view the physical poor. What they are, we are.
Three, among God’s many definitions is “God is love” (read 1 John 4). Loving means giving. It is impossible in God’s explanation of love, which is exemplified in John 3:16, to love without giving. Purity in religion is pure due to love.
All three reasons contribute to understanding pure religion. That word, “religion”, is a nasty word today as some contrast spiritual as better than religious. Religion literally means “to bind back.” That means when we practice pure religion, we begin by understanding we needed to be bound back to God because we lost, with nothing to add to Him. It become corrupted to mean “outward acts.” James does not throw away “religion.” He purifies it once again. Just as we have nothing to contribute to God, that’s how we are widows and orphans. In most centuries, they have nothing to add society. However in God’s society they are lifted up as part of what pure religion is (James 1:9-10). How’s our religion?
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