JAMES

In This Section:

JAMES 1:12, 1:13-15, 1:19-21, 1:22-25, 1:26-27

The author of James is considered to be the half brother of Jesus, and the brother of the writer of the epistle of Jude. James' epistle is a very practical, interesting, and controversial letter. The epistle is somewhat like Hebrews in that it is written with ethnic Israel in view. It is addressed to the 12 tribes of Israel who are dispersed abroad. "Abroad" is a geographic designation that James uses for the area outside of Palestine. Scholars are divided concerning whether the designation to being dispersed is because of an event, or simply because of where the various Jewish people happen to be scattered. The original Israelite dispersion occurred centuries beforehand because of Israel's sin, when 10 tribes were carried into captivity by the Assyrians in 721 BC. A remnant of these tribes returned to the land of Israel in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. The rest of the Israelite tribals that remained scattered, by the time of this epistle, are the people suggested to be who James is talking about. On the other hand, it has also been suggested that the dispersion could be a reference to the great harvest of Jews at the feast of Pentecost at Peter's preaching in Acts 2. Once the festival weeks were over, thousands of saved Israelites (representing the 12 tribes) from across the world, dispersed back to their hometowns. There was also the dispersion of persecuted Christian Jews that occurred directly after Stephen was martyred in Acts 8:1. This dispersion has been suggested to be what James has in mind. There was the later dispersion in AD 70, that occurred with the fall of Jerusalem, but James wrote this epistle before that dispersion (It is generally agreed that James epistle was written sometime between AD 45 and AD 62 when James died). It is safe to say that James is written primarily for the Christians of the 12 dispersed tribes of Israel, with unsaved Israelites in mind, who would be influenced by its content through the use of the epistle among the Israelite Christian communities in reaching out to their unsaved relatives and neighbors (see footnote 1 below). The primary destination of personal reception, and care, was intended for the hands of trusted, faithful, saved Jews (typically church leaders) who would get it, share it with others, and copy it.

One characteristic of James is that people who believe in the NEST, like to use certain sentences out of the epistle to support their theory. The reason why those who believe in the NEST see such sentences in James, is because James has a strong and colorful preaching style of rebuke, exhortation, and admonishment. Nevertheless, the sentences taken out of James to build the NEST, are explained contextually, grammatically, and theologically as not indicating that one can lose one's eternal salvation once one is actually saved.

JAMES 1:12

Coming into the epistle of James, we see that James starts out in the first 4 sentences saying that the Israelite people's faith gets tested, and they are not to be surprised, but happy, because the testing is for endurance. James says,

"To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings. 2 Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." (James 1:1-4)

At the outset, we recognize that the 12 tribes are addressed, but we know that not everyone among the 12 tribes can possibly be saved as most Jews among the 12 tribes rejected Messiah. Nevertheless, we notice that James calls them "brothers." Calling them "brothers" could be a general reference to James' Israelite ethnic identity. After all, referring to one another as "brothers," was a common Jewish practice of reference with fellow Israelites. More than likely, "brothers" is a reference to the brotherhood of the family of God as only exists in salvation, but has been given an intentional, and special meaning by James, in that he is writing specifically to his people, Israel, and not to Gentiles. We know that James' directive here in our passage is to saved Hebrews who are getting their faith tested in this world. The reason that we know this is to saved Hebrews, is because only saved people get the endurance, perfect result, and the lack of nothing from such testing. The unsaved among the 12 tribes, are not getting faith tested, because unsaved people do not have faith in Messiah. Further, if any Israelite dies rejecting the gospel, then that person remains lost forever.

Next, James tells these saved Israelites to ask for wisdom. Additionally, these saved Israelites must ask without doubting. If a man doubts, then he is like the surf of the ocean. The surf goes back and forth. It is tossed around by the wind. Next James references "brother" again, saying,

"But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; 10 and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. ... the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away." (James 1:9-11)

So, a brother who has humble circumstances should glory, and likewise a rich man is to glory in the humbling fact that he is born to die, and with his death all his pursuits and riches will disappear. We must give special attention to the fact that there is no reason to glory unless one is once saved in eternal spiritual salvation. Though not stated in 1:9-11, the rich man in James' instruction is a brother too. The only logical reason for the two financial classes of Christians to "glory" in their condition is because something better must await both of them in the afterlife in a once saved always saved orientation.

Now, we come into various sentences that people who believe in the NEST, like to use. The first one is verse 12,

"12 Blessed is a man who endures under trial; for once he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him." (James 1:12)

According to the typical interpretation by those who believe in the NEST, James means that perseverance is effort in enduring for God's seal of approval to be saved. Once the approval has been won through endurance, then God will give eternal life as the reward. It is the error of the humanistic philosophy of trying to be saved, contingent upon self-generated effort.

The NEST is wrong.

/1/
The first thing that we must notice about this passage is that losing salvation is not mentioned here. So this is a primary consideration, yet it is not the most important point.

/2/
The second thing we must notice is that perseverance and trials are mentioned here, and we have already seen, from the context, what James is talking about. Remember, James already mentioned them a few sentences earlier,

"2 Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance." (James 1:2-3)

So, we see that saved people, when under trial, actually have more endurance produced; therefor they are already blessed! In fact, they are to "consider it all joy." The more trials you get, (saved person) the more you will endure. It is a principle--the more testing of faith saved people get, the more endurance is produced.

/3/
This leads to the third observation, which is that the man has already been approved once and for all time, even before standing any test. This is an important point in James' encouragement here, because when James says,

"12 Blessed is a man who endures under trial;" (James 1:12)

he is not simply talking about any man. James is talking about saved men, and he is talking about saved Israelites who endure under trial with its perfect result, which, of course, is more endurance (cf. James 1:3).

/4/
This leads to the fourth point, which is the big why. Why is the saved Israelite blessed? The reason is because any time a saved man is standing the test in persecution as a saved man, he can, in the midst of all the pain and anguish, find hope in looking forward to receiving the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. This is the eternal security hope of all saved people, which leads to the fifth consideration.

/5/
The fifth consideration is that the crown of life is what comes after death to those who love Christ. The question we must ask ourselves at this point, is "Who loves Him?" The answer is "saved people love Him." This is why they are blessed. The crown of life is promised; as in, it is guaranteed, to those who are saved, because only those who are saved love Christ. James is giving an encouraging word here to saved Israelites who are getting beaten up for their Christianity. James is preaching the good news to Israelite Christians; namely, that trials and tribulations are temporal things to endure. Even though you go through the testing persecution that produces endurance, once you have stood the uncomfortable test, there is something better for you. It is the crown of life that everyone gets who loves Him! This is not, as is speculated according to the NEST, a statement of worry and concern that anyone who is in a saved state, can somehow turn against Christ and reject salvation. In fact, it is the very opposite. It is a clear statement of encouragement, hope, and assurance. This sentence does not remotely teach self effort to attain salvation, keep salvation secure through meritorious effort, nor is it teaching that one can lose one's eternal salvation.

JAMES 1:13-15

Continuing with James' flow from what has been covered in the previous section, we come into the next sentences that those who believe in the NEST, like to use. James says,

"13 Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death." (James 1:13-15)

According to the typical interpretation of some who believe in the NEST, James says Christians can get enticed and carried away from the salvation that they already have. It is claimed that this happens when lust has conceived, then it gives birth to sin, and then when a Christian sins, spiritual death and damnation results. This is the error of the false doctrine of sinless perfectionism, or eradicationism, and it is according to a false gospel which asserts that one must never sin to be saved.

As a first consideration, everyone sins. James sinned. Paul the apostle sinned. You sin. I sin, and everyone who believes in the false doctrine of the NEST sins; and will probably sin again unless they die first. This is why we need Christ as our atoning, and propitiating sacrifice. It is through Christ's sacrifice that we are forgiven by grace through faith. Of course, this fact is not some contrived fiction typically called "sloppy agape," or "greasy grace;" or some other knee jerk reactionary indictment toward those who understand God's grace under the New Covenant in Christ. God's grace includes the Lordship of His Son, where we follow His Lordship in repenting of our sins from moment to moment in obedience to Him. Nevertheless, when we are not obedient, then we are sinning, and when we are sinning in salvation, we are commanded to repent, yet at the same time, we have an advocate with the Father, as John says,

"My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins;" (1 John 2:1-2)

All of this gospel (good news) is for every one of God's children in Christ, by grace alone, through faith alone, through Christ's work alone. Ultimately, it is only when our old earthly bodies perish, and we are resurrected in glory, that we will be sinless.

Additionally, we really need to consider that if James is talking about actual "death" as a consequence of sin, then we would all be dead because all of us have accomplished sin. So we know that James must be talking about some other kind of death. James is speaking of death as the end of the progressive gloomy cycle, or generative end, if you will, of his analogy language, of first being seduced (or enticed) by one's own harlot, which is lust. Then the lust conceives, and then, the sin, like a baby, is birthed forth. James is clearly using a metaphoric illustration of the generative progression of the insidiousness of sin. "Death" is the metaphoric end of the life cycle. To further understand this, we must

A) look at James' analogy as actually an analogy;

B) look at James' whole analogy, and not just merely one piece of it.

James starts out the analogy by explaining that lust is something that gets pregnant. Unless we do not recognize the fact that lust is not actually something that gets pregnant, then we are going to misunderstand James' poetic language. Then James goes on into greater heights of metaphor, by explaining that "sin" is the matured embryo of the pregnant lust. In other words, it is the baby that is birthed. So again, if we do not recognize that sin is not something that lust actually gives birth to out of a birth canal, then we are not going to understand James' usage of metaphor, or we will foolishly not admit that James is using metaphor. Finally, in the progression, if we are not going to understand that death, as the end of the life cycle, is just as metaphoric in this analogy as conception and birth, then we will have completely missed the whole point. James' point is that God does not tempt us. God births us by His word, and gives us the crown of life. We tempt us. We are carried away by our own lust. Lust conceives. It gives birth to sin. When sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. The same progression is seen in the writings that those of the 12 tribes would be more than familiar with; for example, Proverbs 7:6-27, where we read similar poetic language about sin,

"10 Behold a woman comes to meet him, dressed as a harlot and cunning ... 21 With her many persuasions she entices him; with her flattering lips she seduces him. ... 23 ... he does not know that it will cost him his life ... 26 For many are the victims she has cast down, And numerous are all her slain. 27 Her house is the way to Sheol [meaning grave], Descending to the chambers of death." (Proverbs 7:6-27)

There is a poetic progression illustrated here; persuasion, enticement, seduction, and then the cost of life. In fact numerous are slain in this way. The point is that death is the metaphoric end. We find this type of illustrative teaching using "death" in other Proverbs that James' audience would be familiar with,

"In the way of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death." (Proverbs 12:28)

"The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, to turn aside from the snares of death." (Proverbs 13:14)

Such language is clearly common for Jews to read, and so we surmise that such language is not unusual for a Jewish writer like James, (who is writing to a Jewish audience, like all the 12 tribes), to use. The Old Testament, which James and all the 12 tribes are intimately familiar with, is filled with this "death" metaphor--particularly the Proverbs;

"As righteousness leads to life, so he who pursues evil pursues it to his own death." (Proverbs 1:9)

James 1:13-15 is a proverbial analogy to emphasize the fact that temptations come, then lust comes, then sin comes, and then the ruinous results come. So this passage is not saying that if you sin, you will die or lose your salvation as a consequence.

Sometimes people physically die as a consequence of their sinful actions, and it is not an analogy. It is reality, as for example, Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. God struck them dead for lying to the Holy Spirit. This reminds me of something that happened years ago when I was a young man working as a concierge in a hotel. I was on the night shift. We had a situation occur very early in the morning, where a man had died from a heart attack in one of the rooms. Come to find out, the distraught lady who had come to the desk to report the emergency was with the man when he died, but the problem was that she was not the man's wife. She was a prostitute. The sordid details concerning this incident were that the man was from another state and he had been away from his wife on a "business trip." The man was in the actual act of committing adultery with a prostitute when he had a cardiac arrest right in the middle of his sin. He was enticed by his own lust. Lust was conceived; it gave birth to sin, and when sin was accomplished, it brought forth actual physical death to the man. Sometimes the poetic analogy is demonstrated by more than metaphor, and an author like me ends up using it in a book, like this one, as his own analogy concerning the consequences of sin. On the other hand, as a pastor, I have seen people get involved in sin that did not lead to physical death, or spiritual death, but the sin led to emotional, and tumultuous death for the person and the person's sphere of influence. The bottom line is that James is saying:

A) don't blame your sin on God;

B) sin is bad, and the end result is bad, likened to death.

James goes on saying,

"16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers." (James 1:16)

[These beloved brothers are Christians and we know this because of what James says next,]

"17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. 18 Of His own will He birthed us ..." (James 1:17-18)

["Birthed us," here is the same Greek word used a few sentences ago to indicate that lust births sin. When James says that God "birthed us," James is talking about the new birth of salvation. James says how this birth happened;]

"... by the word of truth," (James 1:18)

[That is how God birthed us who are saved; and here is why;]

"... so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures." (James 1:18)

This whole last sentence is an amazing proclamation of God's sovereignty in salvation. Of His own choice and determination, God birthed us whom He has elected to eternal spiritual salvation. He did it by the word of truth, and He did it so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures. This is everyone who has received Christ. Anyone who has received Christ has done so solely by God's sovereign grace. James goes on,

JAMES 1:19-21

"19 This you know, my beloved brothers. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the implanted word, which is able to save [sozo in the Gk.] your souls." (James 1:19-21)

SOME KEYS

James just said that the saved Israelites have already been birthed by the word. So, what does he mean here when he says to them, to humbly receive the implanted word which is able to save your souls? James is referring to the same point he just made concerning lust, then lust to sin, and then sin to death, in his previous metaphor. We will examine this key further, but at this time, to thoroughly understand this passage, we must first of all understand what James means by the term, "souls." These Christian souls here are able to be "saved" by receiving the word of truth that has already been implanted in their spiritually saved selves of verse 18. This sounds strange to English speaking Christians who have been influenced to think, anachronistically, that every single time "save" is used in the New Covenant writings, it must always be associated with getting saved in spiritual salvation. But this is simply not true. For example, in Hebrews, we read, that Jesus,

"In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save [sozo in the Gk.] Him from death," Hebrews 5:7

Jesus did not need to be spiritually saved. Saving Jesus from physical death, is what the Father was able to save Him from. The same Greek word, sozo, for save, is used of being cured from sickness in Mark 6:56. It is used in the same way in Matthew 9:21, Mark 5:23, and 5:28 of being cured from a disease. Sozo is translated as "made well" in 11 other verses of the NASB. It is translated as Lazarus recovering in John 11:12. It is used in Matthew 27, Mark 15, and Luke 23 where people were wondering if Jesus would be saved from the cross. Sozo is used of saving a life as opposed to killing one on the sabbath day in Mark 3:4, and Luke 6:9. It is used of saving the life of a slave in Luke 7:3. Paul used the Greek word sozo to speak of being saved from the ocean storm in Acts 27:20; 31. Sozo is used of God saving people out of Egypt and destroying others in Jude 1:5. Jesus asks God to save (sozo) Him from his hour of intense physical anguish and mental anxiety in the point of death experience in the garden, John 12:27, which is the same reference as Hebrews 5:7. Sozo is used of women being saved through the bearing of children in 1 Timothy 2:15. And finally, when we look at how James uses this word just a couple of verses before he uses it here in 5:19, we see what James means in his own letter;

"... the prayer offered in faith will restore [sozo, ie. save] the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up,." James 5:15

So, as we move along in this, we recognize that all throughout the Bible, sozo-save is not a word that always has to do with spiritual salvation.

Additionally, the word "soul" just complicates this wrong interpretive tendency that many have, in that many English speaking Christians typically think of the soul as always being something like our spirit being part of us, or, at least, something mystically similar. A definition, in one dictionary of theological words, reflects this trend;

"Soul: the immaterial part of a person, especially the emotional center, the 'heart.' Sometimes the term is used synonymously with spirit." (Zondervan Dictionary of Bible and Theological Words)

That is the only definition the book gives for soul, which may be a good definition in a few respects, but such a simplistic and narrowed definition leads to a big problem, because there is really much more to it than that. To get what James means, we must look at the much more. We must look at how soul, (which is Psuche in the Greek) is often used in the fullness of scripture as that which represents the whole being that is alive, and not just one isolated aspect of our being. This is so important because if you try to go through the New Testament and extract one sentence that uses psuche-soul, and you attempt to define soul's meaning based on that one sentence alone, then you are going to run into a huge semantics nightmare.

When most of us think about our life, we think about our one self. We do not typically dissect our being into different categories. But, when we look at the Bible, we sometimes see that we are described as having a type of composite nature to our existence. For example, we see that Paul describes our lives as having three parts in one self. In 1 Thessalonians he says,

"... may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless ..." (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

Apparently, this seems to be the description of a nice neat package of one's whole spirit, soul, and body as one single life, which is the person. It seems somewhat simple and almost easy to understand. On the other hand, there are other considerations that make it not so easy to understand. Let us look at the same type of thing in Hebrews;

"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)

Taken literally, it appears as if there are four or maybe even five distinct aspects to the one person, which actually is not so simple to understand. Certainly, though, there is one thing that is easy to understand, and that is that when we consider these kinds of Bible passages, we see that it can be hard to distinguish and define the terminology. Most theologians will describe the spirit (pnumea in the Greek) as that aspect of us that is miraculously regenerated in salvation. It is sometimes referred to as the inner man. The soul (psuche) is often described as the mind and emotions, and this is also often called the inner man. Sometimes people will refer to the soul as the seat of the personality. The body (sarx in the Greek) is the flesh. The heart part is not so easy to put in a category. The heart can be a part of the body, like the muscle organ that pumps blood, or the bowels. It can be interpreted to be the spirit, or it can be interpreted to be the soul depending on who is talking, and what point they are trying to make. It is a good, and safe practice to refer to the "spirit," certain usages of the word "soul," and certain usages of the word, "heart," as being the "inner man," (cf. Romans 7:22, 2 Corinthians 4:16, Ephesians 3:16).

In seeking to determine what James means by "souls" in his context, we must be careful with preconceived notions as to what a soul actually is, or if the soul is always as limited to one single definition as is often suggested. When we look at Jesus' words in Matthew 10:28, for example, we see what may be the same type of distinction as what we have looked at so far. Jesus says,

"Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matthew 10:28)

We look at passages like this and we may be tempted to think we have it all figured out. The only problem is that the spirit is not mentioned in Jesus' statement, so we have a hard time determining just what Jesus means by using the word, "soul" in his teaching. Is Jesus talking about the mind and emotions? Is Jesus talking about "the seat of the personality?" Is Jesus meaning that the soul is really the spirit? Or, is Jesus simply referring to that aspect of one's whole being that remains alive after the body expires?--like for example, the "inner man."

Let us take what Jesus says in Matthew 10:28 about the soul, and view it through the lens of what James says in his epistle concerning something called the "spirit." James says,

"the body without the spirit is dead," (James 2:26)

Notice that James does not mention a soul here, yet Jesus does mention the soul in his teaching in Matthew 10:28. Alternately, James mentions "the spirit," which Jesus does not mention. Further, we must recognize that James says that when your body does not have the spirit, then your body is dead. There is more to this point. When Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath, we read,

"4 And He said to them, 'Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a soul or to kill?' But they kept silent." (Mark 3:4 emph. mine)

Here, Jesus is saying that a soul can actually be killed. Luke records the same event but uses the word "destroy" instead of "kill." Luke says,

"9 And Jesus said to them, 'I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a soul or to destroy it?'" (Luke 6:9 emph. mine)

The passages we have looked at so far, clearly demonstrate to us that we must be careful when interpreting what James means by "souls." Nevertheless, it is actually easy to determine exactly what James means. Earlier it was mentioned that the soul-psuche is often used in Scripture to refer to the life of the entire being. This particular recognition is of vital importance (see footnote 2 below). To recognize it, we need to go to God's word to see the life of the whole being type reference. For example, Paul says in Romans 13:1, that

"1 Every person ["person" here is soul-psuche] is to be in subjection to the governing authorities ..." (Romans 13:1 emph. mine)

Recognizing that "person" here is clearly translated from the Greek word psuche, it is important to understand that Paul is talking about the whole entire being--the person. He is not merely talking about one distinct part of two, three or four other parts. He calls the whole person the soul. Paul also does this in 1 Corinthians, where he says,

"So also it is written, 'The first man, Adam, became a living being' ["being" here is soul-psuche] The last Adam [Christ] became a life-giving spirit" (1 Corinthians 15:45 emph. mine)

Paul is expressing the fact that Adam, as a man, is a whole living being. Paul is not saying that only one aspect of Adam was alive, which is something called a "soul." Paul says that the first man, Adam, became a living soul in entirety. We see the same thing in Acts 3, where Peter preached saying,

"And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people." (Acts 3:23 emph. mine)

Peter is talking about every man (as John Wycliffe translated it 700 years earlier). Every man shall be destroyed from the people. It is a "who" yet it is the word soul. The same thing is found in 1 Peter, describing the people on Noah's ark,

"... God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, [psuche-souls] were brought safely through the water." (1 Peter 3:20 emph. mine)

The eight persons are eight souls in the respect that they are eight whole and entire living beings. Jesus uses the word in an even more amazing way while suffering anguish in the garden of Gethsemane. He said to His disciples,

"My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death;" (Matthew 26:38 Mark 14:34)

Jesus was not saying that His soul was deeply grieved to the point of spiritual death. He was talking about his whole human biological life being deeply grieved to the point of death. The physical symptoms of this were that He sweat blood, and needed to be strengthened, (cf. Luke 22:42-44). The remedy was that an angel came down and strengthened Him. We read of the same type of language being used in Revelation,

"The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man; and every living soul [psuche] in the sea died" (Revelation 16:3 emph. mine)

Every living soul in the sea is every whole being in its entirety that previously lived in the sea. The word, [psuche-souls] is used in Revelation 18:13 to refer to,

"... human lives." (Revelation 18:13 emph. mine)

What we are finding demonstrated from scripture, is that "souls" is a word used for lives in respect to the whole person.

Further, we need to recognize that James says "the word" is already implanted there in these saved people. "Implanted" is in the past tense. In other words, the word is already planted there, so it is not something to be received from the outside and planted again. Additionally, "receive" here is the Greek word decasthe. It also means, "to grasp," "to take in hand," or to "take up." It is used in Luke 16:6-7, to describe debtors taking their bills that they already possess, in hand. It is used in Ephesians 6:17 to describe saved people being urged to take up the Helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. So, when we consider this, we recognize that the word is already, right now, implanted. The implanted word is how the saved Israelites had been birthed already in verse 18. So, the word is there. They have heard it, or read it, or both. It just needs to be received, welcomed, grasped, taken up, and utilized. The saved Israelites now need to lay aside wickedness to take up the word in humility.

Another consideration is that the contextual flow is showing that what James is talking about is that the Israelite Christians need to be doers of the comprehensive word that is already implanted, and not merely hearers alone. This is great preaching in the form of a classic apostolic urging. It is like saying,

"Look brothers and sisters, the word of truth is planted in you, (James 1:18), so you need to receive--you need to take up what is already planted in you as your ongoing task for producing fruits. Be quick to listen, but slow to talk, and slow to get angry, (James 1:19). The anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God, (James 1:20). You need to lay aside all filthiness and any remnant that remains of wickedness, (James 1:21), because after all, you are saved. You need to do the word that is planted in you, (James 1:21)."

With all of these considerations in mind, we understand that when James identifies the word that is able to save your souls, he is not meaning that the saved Jews have lost souls, or lost spirits, or that their souls are only able to be saved, but are not really saved. Like we have seen, the word is implanted, (James 1:21); the beloved brothers are birthed by God by that same word, (James 1:18). This is their salvation.

To get more insight on this, from the context itself, we see that James is talking about a progression again. It is the poetic way that James preaches. James has gone on to preaching that we are to work throughout our saved lives by the same word implanted to avoid that other progression he just warned about of lust, to sin, and finally to death, of James 1:14-15. Contextually, James goes on, and the soul here represents the life that is saved from the metaphoric death of verse 15 when one humbly receives the pre-planted word after throwing aside all that lingers of filthiness and wickedness--casting it off like dirty clothes. The important fact of the matter is that people do not really die each time they sin. The fact that Christians are alive proves that statement in a tangible way. James is reflecting Old Testament language again--language that the Israelites will readily understand--language as is found in Proverbs 19:16, and 28:18;

"He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul, but he who is careless of conduct will die." (Proverbs 19:16)

"18 Whoever walks blamelessly will be saved, but he who is perverse in his ways will suddenly fall." (NKJV Proverbs 28:18)

So, the filthiness and wickedness here in James epistle in verse 21 is the lust and sin of James 1:14-15 that results in proverbial death that the 12 tribes will readily understand. So far, James has been making the same point, but in different ways. James even uses the same expression in 5:19-20 where he speaks of a Christian sinner as a brother, saying,

"19 My brothers, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner [one who is sinning] from the error of his way will save his soul [psuche] from death and will cover a multitude of sins." (James 5:19-20)

Back here in 1:21, James then presents the opposite analogy to the prior one he used in 1:15. It is the antidote analogy to the first one. Whenever a Christian throws off lust, sin, filthiness and wickedness, instead of experiencing death, the Christian experiences the present tense blessing. In the saved condition, the whole self gets saved from the corruption of sin, while at the same time, the saved person abides in their position in Christ as an eternally-spiritually saved person.

Something that is not seen by reading the English here, is that in the Greek the two verbs "putting aside," and "receive" are related to one another in what is called the aorist tense. What this means is that the first verb of "putting aside" is a precondition of the second verb, "receive." In other words, James is saying in Greek that in order to receive (to grasp) the already implanted precepts and decrees of God, you must lay aside the sinful things in your life; meaning it is repentance to the truth that you already know. Looking back, we see that in James' prior metaphor,

"lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death." (James 1:15)

Now, in this one, we read,

"the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Therefore, ..." (James 1:20)

[Therefore is our word that means James is summing up what he just said, and clarifying more. So James says, the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Therefore]

"... putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, ..." (James 1:21)

[Filthiness and all that remains of wickedness is the sin birthed of lust conceived, spoken of earlier. All that sin is to be put aside. The conception and birth of filthiness and wickedness is nullified. But, there is more to do because it is the continuous Christian walk, so James says]

"... in humility receive the [already] implanted word, ..." (James 1:21)

[The implanted word, is the word of truth that God has already birthed all Christians with, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures, (cf. James 1:18). Continuing,]

"... which is able to save your souls." (James 1:21)

This means that instead of sin birthed and death accomplished for you, there is the antithesis of putting aside all filthiness and wickedness, and humbly taking up the already implanted word that is able to save your lives (souls) in that you will actually manifest godliness as one who is a first fruit among God's creatures. So we see that James articulately wrote interconnected points. Receiving the word that is implanted in you, saves your life from a degraded Christian lifestyle of lust conceived, sin birthed, and death. This is how the implant produces a fruitful harvest in any Christian.

This passage is an urging to wisdom, and holiness in one's Christian walk, but it is not a passage that remotely teaches that one can lose one's spiritual salvation, gain spiritual salvation by meritorious effort, or maintaining keeping spiritual salvation secure by meritorious effort.

JAMES 1:22-25

James, makes his meaning of his prior points of exhortation, in the first part of chapter one (covered above), even more evident in what he says next, which is another section used by the NEST. James says;

"22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does." (James 1:22-25)

This is a fine preaching proposition that continues James' points. It is not a lose one's salvation passage. When you take up, and do, the word implanted, rather than just being a mere hearer of the word, you are not deluding yourself, and you are blessed in what you do. You are doing the word implanted that is able to nullify lust conceived, the birth of sin, and the dead end of death; therefor you save your soul (life). Again, it is effectual blessed fruit of the abundant Christian life of obedience. It is not a passage that remotely teaches that one can lose one's spiritual salvation, gain spiritual salvation by meritorious effort, or maintaining keeping spiritual salvation secure by meritorious effort.

This leads us now to the next group of sentences in the contextual flow, that are wrongly used by those who believe in the NEST.

JAMES 1:26-27

"26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." (James 1:26-27)

There are some people who believe in the NEST who use this passage to assert that saved people can think they are religious, but they actually do not control their tongues but deceive their hearts, and so their religion, which is said to be salvation, is worthless.

The NEST is wrong.

It is easy to understand this by simply recognizing that religion and salvation are not necessarily synonymous. In fact, James defines true religion right in the same context, and the definition is not of salvation itself, but rather activity that emits from the saved person. Again, James says,

"Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." (James 1:27)

Keeping oneself unstained by the world is the present tense sanctification and repentance that only saved people do in their daily walk by living by the word. It is the principle of religion where one is saved to do good works, rather than the false religion of doing good works to be saved.

Therefor, we recognize that this is not a passage that remotely suggests that one can lose spiritual salvation, gaing spiritual salvation by meritorious effort, or maintain keeping it secure by meritorious effort.

Footnotes:
(1) Some commentators have suggested that 5:1-6 is descriptive of unsaved Hebrews of wealth.

(2) People of the reformed tradition can get bogged down in this area because they generally argue that everyone is a dichotomy. In other words, they think that we are made up of soul and body, and so they may think that psuche-soul must always be the one of two. Other Christians see humans in the scriptures as being defined as a trichotomy--body, soul, and spirit. So, they can get stuck in thinking that the psuche-soul must always be a reference to that third part of the whole.