Episode 25: Are You Deceiving Yourself Spiritually? James 1:19-27

As we walk through James together, we’re not just studying what the book says, we’re also learning how to actually read the Bible well and in context. In this episode, we dive into James 1:19–27 and talk about one of the most uncomfortable realities in Scripture: you can hear the Word of God constantly and still not be changed by it. We unpack what James means by self-deception, steadfastness, and what it looks like to truly receive the Word instead of just consuming it.

Transcript

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Welcome to Rooted with Emily Talento, where we explore who Jesus is through context, culture, and covenant. Happy Tuesday. We are in our second week of our study in James. Last episode, we talked about trials and how trials produce steadfastness, which is kind of cool. And when steadfastness comes to completion, we become complete, perfect, lacking in nothing. Amazing. Who doesn't want that? Today we're going to be looking at the second half of chapter one. And just a reminder, just so we have a clear roadmap of the episode, we're going to be studying the passage together. What does that mean? It means that we're going to be looking at the text as a whole, then we're going to be going back through with a fine-toothed comb, making observations, looking at some rooted moments, looking at what the passage says about God. And based on what it says about God, what is our responsibility? What is our takeaway? How should we respond? It's pretty cool how James sets it up. In the first half of chapter one, he's talking about the testing of our faith. We have this idea of steadfastness. And then in the second half, he talks about what that looks like in real life. So it's not just what the word says, but how do we respond to it? Okay, so before we go any further, we're going to read it in its entirety, not all of chapter one, but the passage for today, and then we'll break it down together. So James 1, verse 19, it says, Know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away, and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If any one thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. Okay, there's so much here. Like I said before, we're gonna be going through this passage by looking at observations and cultural moments. Okay, so number one, first thing, first observation. Verse 19. Know this, my beloved brothers. Let every person be quick to hear and slow to speak, slow to anger. Okay, first of all, this applies to everyone. This isn't just you or me or people with some issues or people over there. It's everyone. We all are to be quick to hear and slow to speak, slow to anger. The heart posture that's created through hearing first is a heart posture of receiving. It's interesting. Before he goes into anything else, he addresses our hearts, and we're gonna build on that in a second. Jumping to verse 20, it says, For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Now, God is trying to produce something in all of us. Spoiler alert, it's a life aligned with Him. And so when we're angry and we're defensive, that interferes with that process. Yes, Jesus was angry, but it was righteous anger. And I don't know about you, but most of the times I'm angry, I can't say that it's always righteous anger, you know? So we have to check ourselves in that. Why are we angry? Verse 21 brings back familiar language that we can see in other parts of the New Testament, specifically in the book of Colossians. So I'm gonna read it. Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save souls. Okay, so this is pretty cool. It's the same wording as Colossians 3, to put away our old selves, to put away, and it goes through a list of things, and here it's reaffirming that put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness. Why? Because it again interferes with what God is trying to do to make us more and more aligned with Him. These things we might think are benign, but they have a larger impact, things that block us receiving God's word, us receiving from him what he has for us. What's cool is it tells us how to receive. It says to put off these things, right? But then to receive it with, to receive with meekness the implanted word, which has the power to save our souls. Now, have grace with me, please. I have a background in Hebrew, not Greek, so I'm learning. So the Greek for meekness, this word here in verse 21 is prautes, and it means humility, non-resistance. So it's not weakness, but it's a posture that doesn't fight God. And I don't know about you, but I spend a lot of time for no reason fighting God because it just is part of our nature, and we have to kill that part of our nature. And so to receive what he has for us, and when I say that, I don't mean necessarily physical things, I mean receiving his word, I mean receiving him. And so to receive, we need to be able to put off the filthiness and rampant wickedness and put on the meekness. Priotase. Here's the scariest part of the whole thing. James was written to believers. And if you didn't catch what he just said, you could think you're receiving from the word, you could be in scripture, and yet your posture, your heart, is actually resisting it. Now we're gonna jump into our first rooted moment. If you don't know, a rooted moment is when we look at the original context and culture of scripture, the things that we likely are missing in our understanding in 2026. So we are still in verse 21. I'm gonna read it again in context. Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. So we're gonna be focusing on the phrase implanted word. Now in Greek, the word is um futos and phutos, and it means planted, rooted within, like a seed meant to grow over time. So it creates a different imagery than just external information. It's something that's meant to take root and produce a deeper change within us. And so the issue isn't whether we hear truth, because if we're Christians and we're living a Christian life, whether that's going to church, whether that's being in a Bible study, whether that's listening to podcasts like this or other content that's directing you back to the word. So the issue isn't whether we hear truth, the issue is whether it's actually growing us. Are we allowing it to? Are we receiving it in a way that's producing transformation? That question builds very nicely into our next observation, which is hearing without doing leads to self-deception. Crazy. Like when I was reading, and what is it, verse 22? That we are deceiving ourselves. Okay, sorry, let me read in context. Because context is king. Okay, uh, how far am I going? 22 to 24. Okay. But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving ourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away, and at once forgets what he was like. Okay, so we're gonna break this down because there's a lot here. Very most obvious understanding of this. We need to not just hear what the word of God is saying, we need to actually be living it out. Or we'll be, like I said, deceiving ourselves. So it's not about ignorance, it's a matter of false confidence. We could be engaging with the word through our own time, through content we're listening to, through church, through all of these means, right? We could agree with it, we can feel convicted by it and still not be changed by it. And that's the second part of this passage, verses 23 and 24. It's like seeing your face in a mirror and then walking away and immediately forgetting what you see. The word shows us what's true about the world, about ourselves. But just because we see it doesn't mean that we're responding to it. And that's that's really tough. So to go into our next rooted moment of the episode, now just time traveling back. Mirrors were not what they are now. Mirrors in the ancient world were polished metal rather than glass like we have today. So there was a reflection, but you would have to stare longer at it to be able to have it look clear, if that makes sense. So you had to intentionally focus and focus longer to be able to see yourself well. But the man in the passage, he actually looks into the mirror, he sees something real, but then he walks away. And he treats it like it it didn't matter. Because if it mattered, then he would have remembered. So the issue isn't he didn't see clearly because he he saw his face, he knows what he looks like. However, he didn't stay with what he saw long enough to respond to it. How often do we do with that with the word? We engage, we're convicted, we recognize things as truth, do we agree with it, but we walk away unchanged by it. We can be exposed to truth and still not be transformed by it. And I truly believe it is one of the most dangerous things that the church is experiencing. I mean, in any period of time, but especially as we're looking around the world today. Christian culture obviously isn't mainstream culture, but Christian culture is having a real moment. There is a segment of mainstream that is Christian. It's almost cool to be Christian, but or be being transformed by what we're engaging with in the word. That's the real question. Because at the end of the day, that's all that really matters. Becoming more like Christ. And that's what we talked about before the process he has us all in. He wants us to be aligned with him. So, okay, let's jump to our third rooted moment of the episode. It is connected to verse 25. It says, But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. Okay, so much here. So this phrase, law of liberty, is something that I believe the average Christian could just read past and miss the weighty significance of. Remember, this is a Jewish audience. This is written to Jews in the dispersion by James, Jesus' brother from Jerusalem. Okay. So law would be understood as Torah, God's instruction, covenant way of life. So it's not just rules, it was understood to be God's revealed way to live rightly. We have a different view when we hear law as Christians, but we're going to talk about that in a second, probably. If not, we'll definitely talk about it in another episode. So to the audience who were receiving this, it wouldn't have sounded purely restrictive. However, then James pairs that with the word liberty. So now we're creating a very interesting tension. From the very beginning, when God gave the Torah, it was never meant to enslave, or it was never meant to be something that, again, was for harm or restrictive. It was meant to order life. It was meant to align people with God. It was meant to lead to blessing. If you do things God's way, then you will be blessed. And so James builds on that idea saying the word of God frees you from disordered living. It allows you to have access to life with God, life aligned with Him. Tell me, this doesn't feel so like God. What feels like restriction is actually what aligns your life. It's like the upside-down kingdom, right? The first will be last, last will be first. And so that natural, like, ugh, like, God, I don't want to do it that way. It's actually the thing that real freedom comes from. Now, quick caveat. When Christians, when we as believers hear the word law, I think we oftentimes have like an icky feeling. Like, I'm not under that. And it's true, we're not under that. We are in an age of grace. Thank you, Jesus. The law was given to not only show how to live aligned with God, but also to show our need for a savior. And I would love to do an episode where you talk about this more in depth. Um, but that's not what we're gonna talk about today. Because there's so much in this passage that we still have to, well, not that much, that we have to unpack. So through this, we can see that bringing it back to our theme of steadfastness. Part of steadfastness is staying in the word long enough for it to actually shape how we live our lives. And again, not just looking at it long enough and then walking away and immediately forgetting what we had seen, but allowing it to reach every part of our being, every part of our life, every part of our world. So observation number three. Real faith becomes visible. And that's connected with verses 26 and 27. So I'll read that. And these are our last two verses. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God. The father is this to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. Okay, I love that last line. Verse 26. Again, we have this imagery of deceiving his heart, deceiving oneself, which, like in our human nature, you would think that we would have our best interests at heart. How could we deceive ourselves? But throughout the text, it makes it very clear. There's a repeated warning, there's a pattern. If we don't do what the word of God says, if we're not trans being transformed actively, then we are deceiving ourselves. It becomes this element of we're not living in the calling, we're not living in the way that God has called us to exist. We're not living in alignment with Him, which is deceiving ourselves. Crazy. We're gonna go way deeper into the tongue in chapter three, but James gives us a little sneak peek. So you have the phrase, does not bridle your tongue. Now, this language that James is using reveals this inner control that our words are an outpouring of what actually governs us. I mean, it talks about this throughout other places in the Bible too. Um, but James 3 is a big one, and I can't wait to unpack it fully. Our words are a thermometer of where we are functioning at. The language that James is using is so severe. He says, Your religion is worthless. Religion is another word that we as Christians have, like, ooh, like it's an icky word for us. He's saying religion in its purest sense, he's not saying it as if it's a criticism. However, here it is a criticism. Your religion is worthless. I wouldn't want to be told that. But he's essentially just saying, like, you're not living in accordance to God, and it's a disgrace. So there's strong language here, meaning it's empty and ineffective. It doesn't please God. You can look religious and yet be spiritually unchanged. Now, this is something we all have to check our hearts on. It reminds me of the passage in the Gospels where Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and he's calling them whitewashed tombs, where like they're beautiful on the outside, but they're dead on the inside. Yeah. And I think we all need to be very aware to not let a heart of honestly, essentially legalism, because that's what it is. We're doing the right things. However, it's not actually changing who we are. Scary stuff. However, in verse 27, he gives us an image of what pure undefiled religion looks like. What we're all, again, at the beginning, it reminds us, all are called to. You have two instances. Visit orphans and widows, and keep unstained from the world. So, what is that? So have compassion for others and live in a state of holiness. What does holiness mean? It means to live set apart, it means to be aware of what God has called you to and to live in accordance. And our last rooted moment for the day. This is specifically addressing the orphans and widows in verse 27. So in James's day, orphans and widows were the most vulnerable class. They had no protection, no provision, they had zero social power. It wasn't a random example that he decided to pull from because it shows where faith uh actually moves in real life. But what James is communicating in this is real faith is revealed by how you treat people who can't give you anything back. And so in verse 27, you have the compassion, you have the holiness. In these two verses, James covers speech, compassion, holiness. Now, what does this tell us? It tells us you don't define your faith, your life does. You can think you're doing well spiritually, and your life can say otherwise. And we've all been there, we've all had different seasons where that's been the case, but we also need to be on guard, aware that we are all very, very vulnerable for that to happen again if we're not careful. We've all been there. Maybe you're there right now, but I think it's important to note that we all are at risk of being there again if we're not careful. We all need to be constantly checking ourselves to make sure that we are not only in God's word, but receiving it and being transformed by it. Before we get too deep into application, let's talk about what. This passage teaches us about God, and then based on what it teaches us about God, we'll apply. So, big thing. God cares about transformation, not just exposure. Being in God's word is great. Being changed by God's word is even better. His word is meant to take root and grow. That's reference to verse 21. It's not meant to just be head knowledge, it's meant to transform every element of our lives. His ways lead to real freedom. That's in reference to verse 25. He values integrity and alignment. That's kind of the whole passage. That's not specifically geared towards one verse. He cares about the vulnerable, verse 27. We could see this in the widows and orphans. And he sees through empty religion, verse 26. God can't be fooled. We can fool everyone else. We can even fool ourselves, but God sees right through it. So based on that, based on what we learn about our God in this passage, how should we respond? So we could start by asking, am I actually receiving? Or am I actually resisting God's word? Sometimes that like takes some digging because we might not think we are resisting. But there might be some areas that we need to submit to God that we need to die to that maybe we don't necessarily realize. We need to stop confusing hearing with transformation. Proximity to God's word, being in church, being in Bible study, it's not the answer. It's good, but it's not enough. We need to stay with truth instead of moving on quickly. There's a reason. It talks about meditating on God's word, being in prayer, all of these things. It's not meant to be done. Oh, like let's move on, check it off our list. It's meant to be soaked into every aspect of who we are. We need to be honest as anything actually changing in my life. A lot of times, transformation doesn't happen overnight. So please have grace for yourself in that. However, if you've been saved for a minute and you're struggling with a lot of the same things, or after reflection, you can be like, I wait, I don't actually, I'm not all that different than I was. I'm still doing the same things I was doing. But pre-Jesus, maybe there's some changes that need to be made. We need to pay attention because our words reveal our heart. And it's not just our words, it's our tone, also. We can be saying the right things, but if we're saying it in a condescending way or we're speaking in a way that's not life-giving, then that also does tell us something. We need to move toward people who can't benefit us. That's real love. That's actually living like Jesus. And last but not least, we need to hold together holiness and compassion. So that was a lot. Transformation, we talked about this a few episodes ago, comes from the Holy Spirit, from Christ, thank God. However, are we making choices where transformation can take place? So the danger isn't that we don't hear God's word. It's that we hear it and we still walk away unchanged. So all of us, because again, James is writing to all of us, need to be checking ourselves, making sure that we're not just hearers of the word, but we are doers also. So I hope you enjoyed today's episode, today's study in the book of James. Next Tuesday, we're going to be picking up in James 2. If you liked it, if you could comment, subscribe, like, follow, whatever the things they have on the platform either listening or watching this on. You could also follow me on Instagram at Emily Talento and at rooted with Emily Talento. I would really appreciate it. And um, yeah, I think that's it. I will see you next time.