Jas. 1:20. for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
Righteousness is a property of the soul that renders to each his due, and: "wrath destroys even the prudent" (Prov. 15:1). How then can it, darkening the mind in its passionate excess, constitute the virtue that judiciously renders to each his due? Note also that the apostle did not simply speak of one who "does not produce the righteousness of God," but of one who exerts himself in what is destructive to himself. That this is his thought is evident from the expression: "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly" (Ps. 1:1), for the addition of the definite article shows that the word "man" means one who has an inclination toward one thing or another, toward good or toward evil. One should also note that the apostle did not simply say "does," but with a prefix, in the sense of "accomplishes fully." This means that wrath is not entirely alien to righteousness, for in wrath one can discern some benefit, since in it, as in every movement of the soul, in the absence of what is praiseworthy, one can find not only what is bad but also something useful.
Jas. 1:21. Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
Having said "filthiness," the apostle adds: "overflow of wickedness," wishing to urge that even if anyone falls frequently into filthiness, he should quickly desist from it, lest by remaining in it he allow evil to intensify through habit, for what we do frequently and in abundance usually becomes, as it were, nature, acquiring the property of nature. "With meekness," the apostle said, having in mind the teaching "word," which is not received amid noise and agitation; and by "implanted" he means that word by which we came into the world as rational beings capable of distinguishing good from evil.
Jas. 1:22. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
"Deceiving yourselves" means deluding yourselves, counting your own salvation as nothing.
Jas. 1:23. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;
"The natural face" means the knowledge of oneself through the law. This is why to the word "face" the apostle added the word "natural," for through the law we learn what we were when we came into the world, and we understand into what state the spiritual law transforms us through the washing of regeneration. Then, not abiding in such contemplation through action, we forget the spiritual gift received, for whoever gives himself over to evil deeds does not remember how he has been blessed by God, for if he remembered that he was born from above, justified, and numbered among the sons of God, he would not give himself over to deeds that reject the grace bestowed. From an ordinary mirror the apostle transitions to a spiritual mirror, without drawing out the lesson from the briefly presented example. He ought to have said this: "Whoever hears the law and does not fulfill it is like a man looking at his face in a mirror. Just as this man looked at himself, went away, and immediately forgot what he looked like, so also the other, having discerned from the Mosaic law the purpose for which he was created — namely, for the glory of God and for a life in the image of the God who created him — fulfilled nothing of what he saw, but acted exactly like the one who looked in the mirror: he should have made use of what he saw, but like that man, he did not make use of it." And the apostle does not act without purpose in this (he leaves something unsaid): he focuses the listener and strains him to hear this not casually, for it is not such listeners who are blessed, but those who join action to hearing. The Pharisees too were hearers, but since they were not doers, they are not blessed.
Jas. 1:24. for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
To hearing the apostle added doing, because for the salvation of the soul the hearing of the law alone is not sufficient, but hearing must be confirmed by fulfillment.
Jas. 1:25. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
The apostle said "who looks into," and not "who enters into," for the spiritual law, possessing everywhere preeminence and grandeur, knows how to attract even with the briefest reading of it.
Jas. 1:25. To the words "the perfect law" he added "of liberty" to point out its distinguishing characteristic — freedom, for the law of Christ, having freed us from fleshly bondage, establishes the one who comes to Him in liberty, makes him more attentive through this freedom, and frees him from the forgetfulness that is harmful to everything good.
Jas. 1:26. If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless.
According to the understanding of the Jews, the religious person is one who shows faithfulness in deeds, because such a person seems not to belong to the crowd. The Jews, fulfilling the observances prescribed by the law, thought highly of themselves, concentrated all piety toward God in these observances, and occupying themselves only with this, dreamed of acquiring blessedness through it, while treating others with great condemnation, as is evident from the Gospel parable of the boastful Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:10–14).
Restraining them from such an opinion, the apostle gives the present instruction. Having mentioned the doer of the work and called him blessed, he immediately corrects the evil that arises in many during the doing. He speaks as if to say: "You who boast of fulfilling the law, do not think to obtain blessedness for the fulfillment alone!" — for this is not pleasing to God, but pleasing to Him is the one who fulfills and at the same time is far from self-conceit and does not regard non-doers with condemnation.
Jas. 1:26. "Deceives his own heart" — he stifles, as it were, and through self-conceit, as a keeper of the law, beguiles his own conscience, for "heart" here means the same as in the words: "a contrite and humble heart" (Ps. 51:19).
Jas. 1:27. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble,
Religion seems to imply something more than faith. The word promises knowledge of hidden things, firmness in what is contemplated by faith. For this reason the apostle used such a word in speaking of the religious person. He speaks as if to say: "You consider yourself a knower of the mysteries of the law and a precise keeper of it. How so? You think this, you who cannot bridle your tongue, who condemn your neighbor, who live arrogantly, and who show compassion to none of the poor! Meanwhile the law does not approve even of one who speaks evil, but commands that compassion be shown even to enemies. Therefore, if you wish to be religious, display your religion not in the reading of the law, but in the fulfilling of it, which consists especially in showing compassion to one's neighbor. For compassion toward one's neighbor is a kind of likening to God. 'Be merciful,' it is said, 'just as your Father also is merciful' (Luke 6:36). Only your mercy must be free from partiality, because God also bestows His benefits not upon certain persons exclusively, but: 'makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust'" (Matt. 5:45).
Jas. 1:27. and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
By "the world" here one should understand the common and base folk who corrupt themselves in their seductive desires.