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Jam_1:22. The exhortations given in Jam_1:19 form the starting-point for what follows. The next section, to the end of chap. 2, is attached to the thought ταχὺς εἰς τὸ ἀκοῦσαι , which is continued in δέξασθε τὸν ἔμφυτον λόγον . The word must be so heard and received that it produces a corresponding activity. James first expresses this thought briefly and definitely: “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” The verb γίνεσθε is neither intended to express the successionem perpetuam horum exercitiorum (Semler), nor to indicate that hitherto the readers had not been ποιηταὶ λόγου ; this indication is contained in the whole exhortation, but not in the verb, which is to be translated not by become, but by be; comp. chap. Jam_3:1; Mat_6:16; Mat_10:16; Mat_24:44; Joh_20:27; Rom_12:16.[98] The particle δέ unites this verse with the preceding as its completion. The readers ought to be ποιηταὶ λόγου , namely, of the λόγος ἔμφυτος (Jam_1:21), or of the λόγος ἀληθείας (Jam_1:18), the gospel, inasmuch as it requires a definite Christian conduct, and on this account in Jam_1:25 is expressly called a νόμος . On ποιηταί , comp. Jam_4:11; 1Ma_2:67; Rom_2:13 (Joh_7:19 : ποιεῖν τὸν νόμον ); in the classical language, ὁ ποιητὴς νόμου is the lawgiver. Theile correctly observes: substantiva plus sonant quam participia; the substantive expresses the enduring relation.
In the reading μὴ ἀκροαταὶ μόνον , μόνον is closely united with ἀκροαταὶ : not such who are only hearers. The word ἀκροατής , in classical Greek “an attentive hearer,” occurs in the N. T. only here and in Rom_2:13, but both times without that additional meaning. On the thought, comp. besides Rom_2:13 (where the same contrast is expressed), Mat_7:21 ff.; Luk_11:28; Joh_13:17.
παραλογιζόμενοι ] belongs to the subject contained in γίνεσθε (de Wette, Wiesinger), deceiving your own selves, and not as a more exact definition of ἀκροαταί , “hearers who deceive themselves” (Stolz, Gebser, Schneckenburger, Lange). The import of the word (besides here in the N. T. only in Col_2:4, in the O. T. Gen_29:25, LXX.; synonymous expressions are found in Jam_1:26; Gal_6:3; 1Jn_1:8) is to draw false inferences, to deceive by sophistical reasoning. The warning is directed against such who deceive themselves by sophisms on the utility of mere hearing.
[98] Meyer certainly explains the imperative γίνου , γίνεσθε , uniformly by “become thou,” “become ye;” but this meaning is frequently retained in a manner more or less forced; comp. especially Joh_20:27. The N. T. usage, to consider γίνου as equivalent to ἴσθι , is explained from the fact that the Christian must yet ever more become that which he as a Christian is.