James 1:19, 26-27 (ESV)

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;

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.

What does it mean to be holy? We tend to define holiness by the things we do not do. We don’t cheat. We don’t steal. We don’t lie. We don’t stay home on Sunday morning. We don’t hang out in bars. But God defines holiness in two ways in this paragraph in James 1. We bridle our tongues and we minister to those less fortunate. Here’s the problem. As believers, we typically don’t do either of those very well. We are quick to speak, and slow to listen. We let our anger spill over into hurtful speech. We throw a few dollars to the Salvation Army at Christmas, and feel we’ve done our duty.

Jesus said that the Law can be summed up with these two phrases: Love God; Love your neighbor. Let’s be honest, the way we define holiness has very little to do with either loving God or loving our neighbor. It is interesting that the two verses quoted above about our speech serve as bookends around James 1:21-22

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.

What does it mean to put away all filthiness, and be doers of the word? In this passage it primarily means to listen well, control your speech, don’t let your anger take over, and minister to those less fortunate than you. How do we do that? “Receive with meekness the implanted word” (James 1:21). “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” (James 1:25). Holiness has to do with that which God has already done in our hearts.

What is the law of liberty, and what does it mean to persevere in it? Notice three things. First, it is a law of liberty. Not a law in the sense of something we must obey, but a law in the sense of natural laws, or scientific laws. In other words, it is a law in the sense that it defines how things work. The law of liberty is a spiritual law that says we are free in Christ. We have been accepted, embraced, indwelt, and empowered through Christ. It is what Paul is talking about when he says in Galatians 2:20,

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

It is what Jeremiah prophecies when he writes,

Jeremiah 31:33 (ESV)

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Notice the similarity between God writing his law on our hearts (Jeremiah) and the implanted word (James). The Law of Liberty is a spiritual law that defines who we are in Christ. We are new creations with the implanted Word in our hearts, a heart that is inclined toward God. It defines us as accepted, embraced, indwelt, and empowered believers.

Second, our part is to look intently at this Law of Liberty. The word translated “looks into” means to stoop down and look closely. This is not a law to obey. This is a law to contemplate. This is a law to look into carefully. This is a law that we should allow to fill our vision. It tells us who we really are in Christ. It defines us. Our passions don’t define us, God’s Law of Liberty does. God’s part was to change our hearts. Our part is to let that change be our focus.

Third, the text says that when we look at this Law of Liberty, we are to persevere. When we read the words law and persevere our natural tendency is to understand them to mean that we should remain steadfast in obeying, but that is hardly the point James is making. We noted above that this is not a law to obey, but a law that defines who we are in Christ. The word translated “persevere” means to remain closely associated with something. In this case then, we are not only to look intently at this Law of Liberty, but we are to remain there, constantly keeping the Law of Liberty in our focus. We are not to move away from it. We are to allow the truth of who we are in Christ to be in the center of our vision continually.

What does it mean to be holy? According to James, it means to listen well, control your speech, don’t let your anger take over, and minister to those less fortunate than you. How do we do that? By looking intently into the Law of Liberty, seeing clearly who we are in Christ, and not shifting our vision away. Being a Christian is first about who we are in Christ. What we do flows out of that. This is what Paul continually preaches, and what James is clearly saying. So, who are you in Christ? Who you are in Christ looks a lot like Jesus. Don’t let your passions define you. As Hebrews says, we are to be “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” (Heb 12:2 NIV).