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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - James 1:25 - 1:25
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
He that looketh into (ho parakupsas). First aorist active articular participle of parakuptō, old verb, to stoop and look into (Joh 20:5, Joh 20:11), to gaze carefully by the side of, to peer into or to peep into (1Pe 1:12). Here the notion of beside (para) or of stooping (kuptō) is not strong. Sometimes, as Hort shows, the word means only a cursory glance, but the contrast with Jam 1:24 seems to preclude that here.
The perfect law (nomon teleion). For teleion see Jam 1:17. See Rom 7:12 for Paul’s idea of the law of God. James here refers to the word of truth (Jam 1:18), the gospel of grace (Gal 6:2; Rom 12:2).
The law of liberty (ton tēs eleutherias). “That of liberty,” explaining why it is “perfect” (Jam 2:12 also), rests on the work of Christ, whose truth sets us free (Joh 8:32; 2Co 3:16; Rom 8:2).
And so continueth (kai parameinas). First aorist active articular participle again of paramenō, parallel with parakupsas. Paramenō is to stay beside, and see Phi 1:25 for contrast with the simplex menō.
Being (genomenos). Rather, “having become” (second aorist middle participle of ginomai to become).
Not a hearer that forgetteth (ouk akroatēs epilēsmonēs). “Not a hearer of forgetfulness” (descriptive genitive, marked by forgetfulness). Epilēsmonē is a late and rare word (from epilēsmōn, forgetful, from epilanthomai, to forget, as in Jam 1:24), here only in N.T.
But a doer that worketh (alla poiētēs ergou). “But a doer of work,” a doer marked by work (descriptive genitive ergou), not by mere listening or mere talk.
In his doing (en tēi poiēsei autou). Another beatitude with makarios as in Jam 1:12, like the Beatitudes in Mat 5:3-12. Poiēsis is an old word (from poieō for the act of doing), only here in N.T.