Speaking (James 1:26-27)

²⁶ Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. ²⁷ Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Earlier, James had told Christians that they should be quick to listen and here he extends this, telling them they should be slow to speak, which is the theme of these final verses of chapter one. He advises restraint in what we say because all too often there is a contradiction between what we say and what we claim to believe. This continues the idea, first mentioned in verse six, of the double-minded person, and there is no doubt that we all have hypocritical tendencies. A true Christian puts into action what they believe. Basically, James is saying here that someone who says they are devout but doesn’t control their speech (losing patience, criticizing others constantly, mocking others, etc.) is deceiving themselves. They are not truly Christian and their religion is worth nothing.

James argues that people who deceive themselves (or others) and speak cruel things may say they are religious and give public support to religion but they are not truly religious. Like the prophets, James sees moral behavior and love for others as what God really wants and doesn’t think he cares about ritual observance. A community’s relationship with God is not demonstrated by their respect for ceremonies but by how they treat their least powerful members. In the last verse here, he singles out those he deems the weakest: widows and orphans. According to James, a society that does not care for them, whatever it may assert, is not Christian.

In the final words here, James insists that, along with concern for the poor and weak, Christians must keep themselves “from being polluted” by the world. He sees the world’s values as wrongheaded and corrupting, and they certainly do not reflect those of God. James does not mean here that we should all become hermits – far from it. We are, of course, part of this world and must live in it in a constructive way. He wants us to live our faith and make the world a better place. This chapter announces the main theme of the letter which is that our lives must conform to the faith we profess or we are not really believers