SUMMARY
True “religion” is this: to care for orphans and widows and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
ANALYSIS
This familiar verse is not such a bad way to summarize the practical implications of the theology and exhortation that characterize the book of James. WisdomWisdom encompasses the qualities of experience, knowledge, and good judgment. The Old Testament book of Proverbs, which sometimes invokes a Woman as the personification of Wisdom, is a collection of aphorisms and moral teachings. Along with other biblical passages, it teaches, "The fear of the... More as the gift of God and as the primary benefit of the believing community is intensely practical. If the “implanted word” of God is able to save souls, then that salvationSalvation can mean saved from something (deliverance) or for something (redemption). Paul preached that salvation comes through the death of Christ on the cross which redeemed sinners from death and for a grace-filled life. More is evidenced in action that is exercised responsibly in the world. Such action has a double focus. First, it involves avoidance of all that characterizes earthly “wisdom”: partiality, conflict, desire, arrogance, and the like. Also, it fulfills the perfect law of liberty exercised in the care of the needy and oppressed, symbolized in the specific reference to the orphan and the widowA widow is a woman whose spouse has died, often plunging her into poverty and putting her in a vulnerable position in society. Jesus, in his concern for the poor, regards widows with compassion and concern. More, the supreme examples of at-risk persons in the first-century world. “Religion” here thus has a very “this-worldly” ring to it. The exercise of godly wisdom on behalf of the poor and needy, to carry out the call to love of neighbor, is the supreme spiritual activity (see James 3:17-18).
