In this verse, James says that the real outward manifestation of a genuine Christian lies not in the liturgical routine, but in the practical life. True religion or worship will best express itself by action.

Mere external ritualism: There is such a thing as dead orthodoxy. Some are just church members. Does our religion stay behind in the pew with the hymn book, or is Christ in us, a living force affecting every step of the way through our life? It is also possible for true Christians to become mechanical in listening or praying. The same can happen in the life of a preacher.

An even balance: The worship of Christians as a body is important. We need the gathering together of the saints; we need prayer meetings, Bible study, and teaching. Someone once said: "No need for me to attend services, as long as I live the Christian life." We need both public worship, and practical life. True worship gives power to live for Christ.

Doctrinal and practical: We also need an even balance between doctrine and practice. We need to be sound not only in doctrine, but also in ethics. It is easy to emphasize the one, neglecting the other. There are several great schools of thought to us. Sound doctrine is essential, and we should emphasize the fundamentals of God's Word, but it is equally essential to emphasize the practical fruit of faith. Almost always in the Scriptures we have the two together. James is very practical, but he also strongly emphasizes faith. Paul is strongly doctrinal, but he also emphasizes the practical, in all his epistles. We need to believe right in order to live right. We need to contend for the faith, but also, for the fruit of faith. James is especially concerned about the fruit of faith.

"Pure religion and undefiled ..." One of the principal proofs of the reality of Christianity is the purity of its adherents. When something is pure, it is unmixed with foreign substance. A pure Christian is one who is free from: pride, malice, hypocrisy, etc. "Pure" is the positive, while "undefiled" is the negative of Christianity. "Blessed are the pure in heart" (Matt. 5:8). "Blessed are the undefiled in the way" (Ps. 119:1). "To visit the fatherless and the widows" is the positive side, while "to keep himself unspotted from the world" is the negative side of Christianity.

"... before God and the Father ..." The expression "before God and the Father" would be better translated "before our God and Father." A man with a mere form of religion might appear good before the eyes of men, but James tells us what form of religion is pure and undefiled before the eyes of God. What we are in the sight of men does not matter too much. It is God's approval that we should seek. Let us never forget that we are constantly under His eyes. He wants to see more than just pious ceremony. He desires also to see charity and purity. Can He see something of His Son in us?

"... to visit ..." Visitation is a great work for the Lord which almost any Christian can do. Our verse especially emphasizes the fatherless and the widows, but the sick, the sorrowing, and those troubled in other ways also need visiting. Christians need to be strengthened and encouraged. Often, the best place to help the unsaved is in their homes. You can discover personal difficulties and cope with them there as one never could do from preaching a sermon. Those who have done a lot of preaching, as well as a lot of visitation; who have seen several reached with the Gospel, often say: “In proportion to time and energy spent, visitation is the most effective."

Examples of visitation: The story is told of doctors who could do no more for a sick woman in Ireland, so they sent her home to await death. A young Christian brother saw them wheel her into the house, and he wondered, “Is Kathy saved?” He felt unable to visit her alone, so he asked me to go with him. Before Kathy died, she was happily born again. Later, this same young Christian saw an old friend who had been terribly stricken with sleeping sickness. Again he wondered, “Is he saved?” The same kind of visitation followed, and soon, his friend was born again. After this, the young brother visited in many homes, converting many.

"... visit the fatherless and the widows ..." To visit the fatherless and the widows means more than just to stop in for a cheery visit. One translation puts it, "Pure religion and undefiled is to look after the orphans and the widows," and another "to give aid to orphans and widows." We should visit them, help them, and if necessary and possible, feed them, clothe them, and pay their rent. The Lord Jesus visited us, but it was much more than a social call. He was constantly ministering to the needs of all He met, and finally died on the cross to redeem His people from their sins. "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed his people" (Luke 1:68).

"... fatherless and the widows ..." The lot of the fatherless and the widows was often very bitter in Scriptural times. There were no orphanages, and no compensations for the widow. The impact of Christianity has brought them relief in a measure, although their lot is still very bad in many parts of the world. The Lord is especially solicitous toward them. "He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation" (Ps. 68:5; also Ps. 82:3, Is. 1:17). The fatherless and the widows may be regarded as symbolic of all that are in distress of any kind, and this certainly would include old preachers of the gospel who have served faithfully for a working lifetime without material gain. It is a shame that as of this writing, the Body of Christ on this earth has done nothing to care for such men of God and their wives.

Great blessing: Some always pray for a second blessing or a greater blessing. They may even shut themselves up for days praying and fasting for a greater feeling of some kind. The greater blessing lies in doing the will of God rather than in praying for it. A preacher of the Gospel once very quaintly said to his congregation: Who among you would like to be in heaven for a little time? Down the street is a poor widow who cannot pay her rent. They have put her out of her home, and her furniture is out on the street. Go to her, pay her rent, and help her back into her home. Not long after, one of the members of the congregation came to him and said, "I have been in heaven, I found that poor widow, and helped her back into her home." Our Lord Jesus said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

Ye have done it unto Me: That the Lord Jesus truly appreciates this helpful visitation is very evident from Matthew 25:34-46. He says in verse 36, "I was sick and ye visited me: I was in prison and ye came unto me." Then in verse 40 he explains, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." The principle holds, generally, that He considers what is done to His own as having been done to Himself.

Our compassionate Lord: Our Lord always sought out the poor and needy while on this earth. He was constantly doing good to the needy. Jesus healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, caused the lame to walk, fed the poor, and raised the dead. We have a great example of His compassion in connection with the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11-16). She had lost her only son, and the funeral procession was leaving the city when He met her. When He saw her, He had compassion on her saying, "Weep not." Then He said, "Young man, I say unto thee, Arise." Her mourning was changed into gladness. Our public worship is empty indeed if we make no hearts gladder; no homes happier. We do not have the power to do the miraculous things our Lord did while He was here, but we can do some little things to lighten the load. The only proof the world has that we are genuine Christians is when they see us trying hard to be like Christ.

Those helped will listen: Kindness is often the first step in reaching the lost. An old Irish preacher wrote the paragraph below:

I have more than once seen how a few kind deeds can open the ears of the unsaved to the Gospel. I once had some careless neighbors to whom I tried to preach Christ, but they would not listen. I treated them nicely just the same, giving them flowers and vegetables from my small garden, and occasionally we shared home baked goods with them. One summer our congregation held a Gospel meeting. During the first day, a terrible storm wrecked the small building. I had some notices of the Gospel meeting left, and my wife gave one to our neighbors. They responded, That's pretty good; give us a notice of your Gospel meeting after the church building has been damaged. My wife responded, Well, you probably would not care to come anyway, would you? He and his whole family came that night and spent hours throughout the week working with us, repairing the roof of the church building. During all that work, he was born again and as far as I know, lived faithful to our Lord up to his death.

A Christian worker who won: The story is told of a young Christian lady, who daily climbed three flights of stairs to a miserable attic to help a poor, sick, profligate woman. She did everything she could to nurse the woman back to health; fed her, bathed her, and cleaned the house. She also spoke of Christ to her, but there was no response. "You are doing this only because you expect to gain heaven by it," the sick woman said. The last day came. The sick woman was almost well. The Christian lady said, "May I kiss you good-by?" Then, those pure lips met a face defiled by sin, and a hard heart broke. Mid tears and sobs the woman was led to put her trust in the Lord Jesus and was born again. "Let us do good unto all men …" (Gal. 6:10).

"... to keep himself unspotted from the world." "To keep himself unspotted from the world" is an added mark of "pure religion." An unbridled tongue is a mark of a vain religion (verse 26), but a bridled tongue is not necessarily a mark of pure religion. Our verse says, "to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world," is such a mark. In other words, works of love and purity are marks of genuine Christianity. It will be noticed that true Christianity presents duties to others equally with duties towards self. It is first, visit the needy, then, keep yourself pure.

"... keep himself ..." Some may say, "God keeps me; if He did not, I would soon be lost." That is absolutely true as to our salvation. The Apostle Paul said, "He is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day" (2 Tim. 1:12). He also keeps us day by day. "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling" (Jude 24). And in Jude 1, we have, "preserved in Jesus Christ." We desperately need that keeping power, but nevertheless, there is a personal responsibility to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. Paul's advice to Timothy was, "Keep thyself pure" (1 Tim. 5:22). We are also told, "Keep yourselves in the love of God" (Jude 21). God has provided a clean footpath for us to walk on, but the muddy ditch of the world is not far removed, and we must do what we can to keep from falling into it. We are washed, but with His help, we must keep ourselves from fresh defilement.

The dirty world: When our verse speaks of "the world" it does not mean the earth. The word is kosmos or the "world system." Is this apt to spot us? It is, indeed. Corruption reigns on every hand. Dens of iniquity are on almost every other corner. Internet pornography, nightclubs, x- rated CDs, sinful movies and books abound. Vile language, cursing, lying, and cheating seem to be growing. Yes, the world seeks to drag us down. Paul calls it "this present evil world" (Gal. 1:4). We are not to be conformed to it (Rom. 12:2), nor to love it (1 John 2:15). We are not to be like the monks who shut themselves up from all contact with it, but we are to keep ourselves unspotted while walking through it. Our Lord: mingled with men, walked with them, talked to them, touched them and ate with them, but, through it all, He was absolutely unspotted. We need to keep ourselves clean while walking through a dirty world.

"... unspotted ..." We need to be constantly on our guard, or the contaminations of the world will engulf us. The worldly wise are constantly seeking to give us counsel. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly" (Ps. 1:1). They want us to follow their pursuits, their pleasures, their ambitions. Some worldly things may be innocent enough in themselves, but if a Christian is occupied with them too much, he will be stunted spiritually. The City Hall of a major city once mailed out a small booklet titled, “Traffic Safety Survey.” It was sent out in the hope of encouraging residents to talk it up, influencing neighbors and friends to vote for the survey so it might become law in the area. Some preachers in that city advertised that the next Sunday they would speak on that subject – promoting it. However, there are more important things to talk with our friends and neighbors about. Paul said to Timothy, 'Preach the word' (2 Tim. 4:2). Though it’s proper and good to practice traffic safety, still, there is nothing about it in the Word of God. The world's ambitions are like that, entirely earthly and temporal, so also, their pleasures and pursuits. Most times they are not only earthly, but also unclean.

Separation from sin and the world: One of the principal parts of the Christian life is to be free from the thralldom of sin. The Word does not say we will be sinless, but it does say that sin shall not have dominion over us (Rom. 6:14). In the very beginning "God divided the light from the darkness" (Gen. 1:4), and we have been called "out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Pet. 2:9). "Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light" (Eph. 5:8). "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them" (Eph. 5:11). "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing" (2 Cor. 6:17). This separation from sin and the world is a major teaching of God’s Word – the Bible.

Cleanliness and service: Filthy garments will unfit us for service. The Lord will not and cannot use an unclean vessel. Nor will the world listen to the testimony of one who is unclean. Even Christians will not listen to such a one. A non-believer was heard to say, “It is hard for me to listen to his sermons, knowing what I do about him.” “Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord” (Is. 52:11).

Two deadly enemies
Christianity has two deadly enemies: Modern theology – an attack against the faith (This we need to battle strenuously) and Modern immorality – an enemy that attacks the fruit of faith. It is good to contend for truth against error, but it is equally essential to battle the terrible enemy, sin. Obviously, immorality has gained a foothold, while most Christians have engaged and battled the other enemy. We apparently let our guard down and forgot the old saying: “While battling loose believing, let us beware lest loose living sweep over us.” Believers need to be shinning lights and return to the high standards of living found in the New Testament.

Teach morals: The world is bemoaning its own wickedness. Newspapers are full of the horrors of crime, drugs, and how to combat it. Judges are giving lectures on juvenile delinquency. Some are even thinking of passing laws to punish parents, who have law-breaking children. Yet, too often, the church fails to teach its own the right way to live. With some, it does not matter much what you do, just so you believe right.

Moral soundness: Once again, the moral is of more importance than the outward form of religion. A holy life is the most beautiful of the hymns. The world teaches that your religion is what you believe; James points out that it is how you behave. We do, indeed need sound doctrine, but we also need soundness in love, and life. In other words, it is good to be saved and know it; but it is better to be saved and show it.

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