What About The Rest Of The Verse?
Have you ever heard someone quote James 1:27? It says, "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction." Did you know this is not the entire verse? Most of us are probably shaking our heads up and down in approval when someone quotes the verse this way, however it is an incomplete quote. So what about the rest of the verse? The full text says, "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."
I can understand if in preaching or teaching or even sharing with a fellow believer in fellowship if we want to focus on a certain part of scripture and call it verse such and such Part A or Part B, however their are certain verses that when quoted incompletely leave a wrong theology in our minds. For example Proverbs 29:18 is typically quoted as, "Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint." Most of us have heard many a pastor quote this verse in this way at the beginning of a new building project or ministry program that the church is trying to promote. What they are saying in many cases is, "The Bible says that if we don't have a vision (specifically a new vision, a more relevant vision typically marked by a well thought out vision statement) in our church then we will not succeed as a church.
So what about the rest of the verse? Proverbs 29:18 in full says, "Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law." So why is the rest of the verse so important? Because in context, the prophetic vision the people of God are to have is God's original vision that we would keep His commands. It is through our lack of restraint in keeping His laws and commands that His people fail. So instead of using a partial verse to promote our new agenda in the church or even if you happen to be charismatic and have used this verse to promote the need for "prophetic visions" we instead get an entirely different meaning and focus simply by reading and quoting the verse in its entirety.
If we return to James 1:27 with this mindset we must realize that when we leave, "and to keep oneself unstained from the world" out of James' definition of pure and undefiled religion we actually dumb down scripture and create an unfinished theology within the passage.
The results of this particular incomplete theology are far reaching. When Christians are taught only the first part of James 1:27 we see the results in the growing popularity of the Social Gospel. So instead of preaching health and wealth like the Prosperity Gospel preachers do, certain churches will preach a "we must go help people with their problems" Social Gospel. While I would never argue against helping someone in need, when a Christian begins to define the Gospel as merely providing physical need they have missed the mark of the Biblical Gospel. The Great Commission calls us to make disciples "everywhere" by teaching men "everything" that Jesus commanded us. If building a house or digging a well or feeding the hungry helps us toward this goal then by all means build, dig and feed. However don't forget the goal is to build the kingdom, to dig into the hearts of men and feed with spiritual food from the Word of God.
On the flip side of the results of ignoring the rest of James 1:27 we see churches who invest thousands and thousands of dollars on mission trips and hundreds of hours of time promoting mercy ministry programs while all the while never preaching on or even mentioning the fact that James calls us to also "keep ourselves unstained from the world." Inevitably we end up with church members engaged in service projects for the sake of the Gospel who don't know the Gospel and who don't live lives representative of the Gospel change. We watch things we shouldn't watch, read things we shouldn't read, listen to things we shouldn't listen to, over-consume the world and under-consume the eternal and our justification for it is "Well....James says pure religion is to visit orphans and widows in their affliction (and brag about it on Social Media)." Do you see the irony? Do you see how a lack of context creates a change in theology and in some cases can promote an incomplete Gospel or incorrect Gospel? This creates a serious case for a right context.
Context is incredibly important when we read from, teach from or preach from God's Word. A right context is what changes our thinking from, "what does this verse mean TO ME" to "what does this verse mean PERIOD." A right context literally changes our understanding of scripture from "what does God's Word do FOR me" to "what does God want His Word to do TO me and IN me and THROUGH me."
So....what about the rest of the verse?
Until the next dip in the well.....
I can understand if in preaching or teaching or even sharing with a fellow believer in fellowship if we want to focus on a certain part of scripture and call it verse such and such Part A or Part B, however their are certain verses that when quoted incompletely leave a wrong theology in our minds. For example Proverbs 29:18 is typically quoted as, "Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint." Most of us have heard many a pastor quote this verse in this way at the beginning of a new building project or ministry program that the church is trying to promote. What they are saying in many cases is, "The Bible says that if we don't have a vision (specifically a new vision, a more relevant vision typically marked by a well thought out vision statement) in our church then we will not succeed as a church.
So what about the rest of the verse? Proverbs 29:18 in full says, "Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law." So why is the rest of the verse so important? Because in context, the prophetic vision the people of God are to have is God's original vision that we would keep His commands. It is through our lack of restraint in keeping His laws and commands that His people fail. So instead of using a partial verse to promote our new agenda in the church or even if you happen to be charismatic and have used this verse to promote the need for "prophetic visions" we instead get an entirely different meaning and focus simply by reading and quoting the verse in its entirety.
If we return to James 1:27 with this mindset we must realize that when we leave, "and to keep oneself unstained from the world" out of James' definition of pure and undefiled religion we actually dumb down scripture and create an unfinished theology within the passage.
The results of this particular incomplete theology are far reaching. When Christians are taught only the first part of James 1:27 we see the results in the growing popularity of the Social Gospel. So instead of preaching health and wealth like the Prosperity Gospel preachers do, certain churches will preach a "we must go help people with their problems" Social Gospel. While I would never argue against helping someone in need, when a Christian begins to define the Gospel as merely providing physical need they have missed the mark of the Biblical Gospel. The Great Commission calls us to make disciples "everywhere" by teaching men "everything" that Jesus commanded us. If building a house or digging a well or feeding the hungry helps us toward this goal then by all means build, dig and feed. However don't forget the goal is to build the kingdom, to dig into the hearts of men and feed with spiritual food from the Word of God.
On the flip side of the results of ignoring the rest of James 1:27 we see churches who invest thousands and thousands of dollars on mission trips and hundreds of hours of time promoting mercy ministry programs while all the while never preaching on or even mentioning the fact that James calls us to also "keep ourselves unstained from the world." Inevitably we end up with church members engaged in service projects for the sake of the Gospel who don't know the Gospel and who don't live lives representative of the Gospel change. We watch things we shouldn't watch, read things we shouldn't read, listen to things we shouldn't listen to, over-consume the world and under-consume the eternal and our justification for it is "Well....James says pure religion is to visit orphans and widows in their affliction (and brag about it on Social Media)." Do you see the irony? Do you see how a lack of context creates a change in theology and in some cases can promote an incomplete Gospel or incorrect Gospel? This creates a serious case for a right context.
Context is incredibly important when we read from, teach from or preach from God's Word. A right context is what changes our thinking from, "what does this verse mean TO ME" to "what does this verse mean PERIOD." A right context literally changes our understanding of scripture from "what does God's Word do FOR me" to "what does God want His Word to do TO me and IN me and THROUGH me."
So....what about the rest of the verse?
Until the next dip in the well.....
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