Articles
Pure Religion
The book of James emphasizes action. While faith is vital to pleasing God, our religion must never consist merely of believing some historical facts or adhering to some system of theology or belonging to some church or participating in some formal acts of worship; there must always be a personal, practical, daily application of Biblical truth.
James bluntly says that a religion that does not govern everyday conduct is worthless (1:26). In contrast, “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” (1:27). Thus, the application is both inward and outward, positive and negative.
Satan is the god of this world in a very real sense (2 Corinthians 4:4). Its values are often in opposition to God’s. The Christian’s constant challenge is to live in an ungodly world but not let it “rub off” on him. “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2). Jesus prayed for His disciples, “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15).
Pure religion is more that just abstaining from wrong, however; it also requires positively doing right, and that includes helping others. Throughout the Old Testament, providing for orphans and widows epitomizes the love and concern God expects His people to have, helping the helpless. That makes us like God, who is “a father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows” (Psalm 68:5). “But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:17). “. . . The one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20).
