Christians: Self-Deceived or Blessed?

In this passage, James speaks of two types of people: those who are self-deceived and those who are blessed. Self-deceived people are those who are hearers of God’s word but not doers of it. Blessed people are those who hear and do the word of our eternal King.

The key verse in this epistle is James 1:22: “Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” In the previous section, James told us to put away all moral filth and abounding evil, and in humility to receive the implanted word, which is powerful to save our souls.

Now in verse 22, James explains what it means to receive the word of God. It means to hear and do it—not hear and ignore it. To ignore the word of God is to deny the confession we made, “Jesus is Lord.” If Jesus is our Lord, we will be his obedient servants.

The Self-Deceived

James says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (v. 22). Those who hear the word and do not do the word are deceiving themselves. This is true of many people in churches today.

Most so-called Christian churches are not authentic; they are synagogues of Satan, because they do not preach the true gospel. The one holy universal apostolic church, which Jesus Christ is building, exists throughout the world. Yet even such visible churches where the gospel is preached are mixtures of true born-of-God believers and those who are rabble, such as the rabble we read about in Exodus 12:38: “Many [rabble] went up with them, as well as large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds” (see also Num. 11:4). Rabble are those who hear the word, but, being unregenerate, do not do it.

The King commands true believers: “Be doers of the word.” Yet many people hear the word and refuse to do it because of their false reasoning. Thus they deceive, not others, but themselves and their families. They sit in judgment of the Bible. For example, there are the higher critics who deny the divine authorship of the Bible, which the Scripture attests. They with their fallen reason reject all miracles and the deity of Christ. This is a manifestation of their total depravity.

Then there are those who accept the Bible facts but refuse to do what the word tells them to do. They separate, de-link, what God has joined together, meaning they separate faith from works, hearing from doing, love from labor, justification from sanctification, doctrine from life, and Savior Jesus from Lord Jesus.

In this passage, James is teaching what his brother Jesus taught about the necessity to do the word: “Everyone who hears these words of mine and [does them] is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matt. 7:24). Jesus also said, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46).

Those who merely hear the word are orthodox, but theirs is a dead orthodoxy. They deceive themselves because they refuse to throw out all moral filth from their lives. They want to follow Jesus, but they also want to live the old life of sin. This is because there is much pleasure in sin. So they confess Christ and are baptized. They join the one true church and agree to abide by the biblical rules of the church. They have family devotions and regularly attend worship services. They hear the word preached by the true ministers of the gospel. But there is no fruit, no change in their lives.

Such people live a life of self-deception. They are hearers, but not doers of righteousness. To them, the Lord will say on the last day, “I never knew you. Away from me, you doers of evil!” (Matt. 7:23). They are doers of anomia, lawlessness. They will say “Amen” to the covenant of the Lord but ignore its stipulations. Such self-deceived people will experience the covenant curse.

The emphasis in this passage is on doing. So the words “doer” or “doing” appear four times. Those born of God will put off all moral filth and do the word of God with divine ability. God’s word is powerful. Jesus said, “My word is spirit and my word is life” (see John 6:63). Paul said, “The gospel . . . is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16).

The Holy Spirit enables those born of the Spirit not only to hear but to do the word of God. A tree is known by its fruit. If a person is hearing but not doing, we can conclude that person is not saved; he is not born of God. Such people are fooling only themselves, not others.

We read about such hearers throughout the Bible. For example, King Saul heard the word, but he failed several times to do it, and he and his children were killed on the mountains of Gilboa. Saul had heard the truth from the prophet Samuel: “But Samuel replied: ‘Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.’” A disobedient person is demon-possessed. Saul disobeyed God. Thus, Samuel proclaimed, “‘Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king’” (1 Sam. 15:22–23).

Judas also heard the word—in his case, directly from Jesus. But Judas did not do the word. He betrayed Jesus and later killed himself. So also Ananias, Sapphira and Demas proved themselves to be self-deceived people who heard the word but did not do it.

James likens those who hear the word only to a man who in the morning wakes up and looks into a mirror in which he sees clearly his ugly, dirty, and disheveled face. But he does nothing to clean up his face and body—no brushing of teeth, no shaving, no showering, no combing of hair. He quickly dresses and goes off to work. Such a person is a crazy, scary sight, and people may make crude remarks about him in the workplace. The knowledge that the mirror gave him did not profit him at all.

The story is told of a witch doctor who watched a missionary shaving himself, looking in the mirror. The witch doctor looked at the mirror and saw his own face. He demanded that the missionary sell him the mirror. The witch doctor took the mirror, threw it down, stepped on it several times, and destroyed it. Then he said, “There! It won’t be making faces at me anymore.”

A mirror will show us our outside problems, and we normally do something about the information we get from the mirror. It is impossible to imagine anyone today living without the use of a mirror. Some people carry mirrors with them wherever they go and look at them several times a day.

James says those who merely hear the word but do not do it is like the man who carefully looked at the mirror but failed to act upon knowledge the that the mirror supplied. He looked at it and saw his dirty face, but went away quickly and forgot right away how his face looked. Paul says that such people are “always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth” (2 Tim. 3:7).

The Blessed Man

Then James says, “But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does” (v. 25). In contrast to the man who only hears the word, there is the blessed man who hears and does what God speaks in the word. The mirror only reveals our external flaws. But the mirror of the word reveals our heart condition. Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9). Jesus said, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Matt. 15:19).

The true believer stoops down and looks into the mirror of the word to understand clearly what the will of God is. He, like the young Samuel, cries out, “Speak, Lord, your servant hears to do your will.”

The hearing-only person looks carefully at the mirror, sees his problems, and yet fails to do anything about it. He quickly goes out and immediately forgets how dirty his heart looks. He is a sight for others to behold. He is a dirty Christian and brings shame to the church and to Christ.

But the doer of the word, being a true believer, not only looks carefully into the Bible, but also listens carefully to the word preached by the minister. Such a person abides in the word and perseveres in it. He exercises his mind to understand it, meditates upon it, appropriates it, and delights in it. He eats the word, which is the bread of life for his soul. He does not forget what he heard; he remembers it. The word abides in his heart and guides him in the doing of it.

The “word” here means the whole Bible, as Peter tells us: “Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles” (2 Pet. 3:1–2). Paul says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16–17). James calls it the perfect law of freedom. It is perfect because it is the word of God, who is perfect. It is perfect because it is flawless: “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul” (Ps. 19:7). It is without error: “Let God be true and every man a liar” (Rom. 3:4). It is the absolute, infallible word. It is the only authority for doctrine and life. It tells us how we must live.

No man can contradict God’s word and not be judged by God. No government can abrogate it. It is the only authority for the church. No pope or pastor can add to it or subtract from it without experiencing divine wrath. It is the law as interpreted by Christ. It is the whole Bible that reveals Christ as our Savior and Lord.

The Lord Jesus Christ came to fulfill the whole Scripture for our salvation. It is the law that gives us freedom—freedom from the wrath of God; freedom from sin and guilt; freedom from the world, the flesh, and the devil; and freedom from death eternal. So Paul writes, “Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2). He also says, “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life” (Rom. 6:22). Jesus said to the Jews who believed him, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31–32). The psalmist proclaims, “I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts” (Ps. 119:45).

A true believer will be quick to listen. He wants to look carefully into the perfect law of liberty, the whole Bible. He studies it and delights in it. (PGM) He does not forget it. He dwells in the word, and the word dwells in him.

Jesus said to the unbelieving Jews, “Nor does [God’s] word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent ” (John 5:38). But to his disciples he declared, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. . . . If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love” (John 15:7, 10). He also said, “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. . . . If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:21, 23). He also stated, “[My Father] cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. . . . I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:2, 5). We are to produce fruit, more fruit, and much fruit, as a result of hearing and doing God’s word.

The true believer, then, when he hears and understands the word, will run to do it. Jesus spoke about this difference between those who only hear and those who do the word: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. . . . Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and [does them] is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. . . . But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand” (Matt. 7:21, 24, 26). Elsewhere we read, “As Jesus was [speaking], a woman in the crowd called out, ‘Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.’ He replied, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it’” (Luke 11:27–28). John says in his first epistle, “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18).

The one who is a hearer only may hear the minister and listen to his parents and teachers, but will refuse to do what they say. That is because he does not believe the word. He does not mix the word with faith, as the writer to the Hebrews says: “For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith” (Heb. 4:2). Such people do not believe because they are unregenerate.

Unlike the one who hears only to forget and fails to obey God, the true believer hears carefully, as a servant under authority. He mixes the word with faith and does the word with joy. James calls such a person poiêtês ergou (a doer of work). Paul says the Thessalonians are such doers: “We continually remember before our God and Father your work [of] faith, your labor [of] love, and your endurance [of] hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 1:3). Faith works, love labors, hope endures. And to the Ephesian church he wrote, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:10). To the saints in Philippi Paul exhorts, “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Phil. 2:12–13).

Jesus told his disciples to hear and do. He commissioned them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:18–20). The Bible never tells us to hear and not do. God has united hearing and doing, faith and works.

By faith the justified Abraham sacrificed Isaac by God’s command (Heb. 17–19). “By faith Moses left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who was invisible” (Heb. 11:27). Read the entire chapter of Hebrews 11. By faith, these people did something. Only those who do the word of God are blessed, especially in their doing the word of God, James says. It is a serious error to teach that a person needs merely to give mental assent to the facts of Christianity to be saved. True saving faith is a gift of God. The believer entrusts himself to Christ and is justified by faith. Such saving faith works and proves the reality of one’s prior salvation.

So the believer who has no good works is cursed and self-deceived. He is a false Christian, a shame to the church. He deceives himself, not the pastor or God’s true church. Such a person’s destiny is destruction, as we read in Matthew 25:46.

But the doer of the word shall be blessed in his doing. God desires orthodoxy and orthopraxy, justification and sanctification. “He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need” (Eph. 4:28). Or look at Ephesians 5:8: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.”

The apostolic doctrine demands the obedience of faith. Paul writes, “Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith” (Rom. 1:5; see also Rom. 6:17).

We must all make certain who our father is. It is either the devil or the heavenly Father. So Jesus said, “The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one” (Matt. 13:38). There is no true autonomy. It is a deception. You may say, “I do my thing my way. I am a free person. I act on my own initiative.” No, no, no. Everyone who disobeys God is a child of the devil. There is no true autonomy. Either one obeys his heavenly Father or he obeys the devil. The doer of the word of God alone shall be blessed, says James. He shall be blessed in this age and in the age to come. In Deuteronomy 28:1-2 we read, “If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God.” And Jesus said, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (John 13:17).

Application

In light of the difference between those who merely hear the word and are deceived, and those who do it and are blessed, consider the following:

1. Has God given you new birth? James 1:18 tells us, “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth.” This is fundamental—God must give us divine nature, “the life of God in the soul of man,” as Henry Scougal said.
2. Are you are a hearer only who quickly forgets the word?
3. Those hearers of the word who forget what they heard and do not do the word will be judged more severely on the day of judgment.
4. Does the word of God govern your personal life, married life, family life, work life, economic life, and worship?
5. Do you hide behind the theology of the false teachers who say, “Jesus does not have to be your Lord, only your Savior”? Do you base your confidence only on mere mental assent to the facts of Christianity?
6. Do you believe what Scripture says, “Without holiness, no one shall see God” (Heb. 12:14)?
7. If you are a doer of the word, rejoice! You will be blessed, says James.
8. And if you are a hearer only, I have good news for you also. Repent of your sins, call upon the name of the Lord, and he will save you. God saves everyone who calls upon his name.

May God help us to look into his word humbly and prayerfully, that we may be enlightened by the Holy Spirit to learn how we should then live. May we not be deceived hearers only, but may we be doers of the word, that we may be blessed, both in this life and in the life to come.