When I was in the fourth grade, I was promoted to the Junior Department of the Sunday School of First Methodist Church in Siler City. We had an opening assembly and then we fourth graders went off to our small classroom. There, on the front wall, was a large poster. It read: “Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only.” Now, that presented a new word: “doers.” Mrs. Dellinger said it meant “Don’t just sit there; do something.”
Charles B. Williams (Translation in the Language of the People) says it means “obeying this message.” James Moffatt (A New Translation) interprets “doers” as “act on the word.” The Twentieth Century New Testament translates it: “Put that Message into practice.” Eugene Peterson (The Message) renders it “Act on what you hear.” (James 1:22)
James is pretty clear on what it is we hear from God. In James 1:27, he spells it out as caring for the needy and not becoming worldly. (“Not becoming worldly” does not mean we do not get involved in the world; it means we do not make our decisions by worldly values; we make our decisions by God’s values.)
I suppose it is not very good Bible study, but sometimes I read between the lines to take a guess at what was going on when the writer took pen in hand. James is writing to a scattered group (James 1:1), but he has evidently heard that there are those within the community who were running off at the mouth, insulting others, using foul language, blabbering without thinking. Note how in this week’s text he writes about the speech of the believer: verse 19 (“be slow to speak”), verse 26 (“bridle your tongue”). James makes a point that faithfulness is measured both in what we do and in what we say (and don’t say).
I know a fellow who says that the Letter of James is so practical and down-to-earth that the writer seems to be just “one of the boys.” Therefore, he has decided to give the author a nickname; he calls him “Saint Jimmy.” Jimmy or James—this is indeed instruction and conversation that applies to daily life. That is both the comfort and challenge of these verses.
