Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation and to keep one's self unspotted from this world.
θρησκεια καθαρα και αμιαντος παρα θεω και πατρι αυτη εστιν επισκεπτεσθαι ορφανους και χηρας εν τη θλιψει αυτων ασπιλον εαυτον τηρειν απο του κοσμου
12 Church Fathers comment on this verse
That is, we can become like God through mercy and compassion. If we do not have this, we are deprived of everything. He did not say, "If you fast, you become like your Father." There is nothing of this sort in God, and God does not do it. But what does He say? "Be merciful, as your Father," "who is in heaven," ό ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. If you do not have this, what do you have? "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice"; Mt 9:13.
Piety, θρησκεία, seems to imply something greater than faith. This word promises knowledge of the hidden things and firmness in what is contemplated by faith.
Therefore the Apostle also used such a word, θρησκός, in speaking of the pious man. He speaks as if saying: "You consider yourself a knower of the mysteries of the law and its exact keeper.
How can this be? You think so, yet you do not know how to bridle your tongue. You condemn your neighbor, live arrogantly, and show compassion to none of the poor.
Meanwhile the law does not approve even the one who speaks evil, but commands compassion even toward enemies.
Therefore, if you want to be pious, show piety not in reading, but in fulfilling the law. This consists especially in showing compassion to one's neighbor.
For compassion toward one's neighbor is a kind of likeness to God. It is said, "Be merciful, as your Father also is merciful" (Lk 6:36).
Only let your mercy be free from partiality. For God also bestows His benefits not upon particular persons only, but commands His sun to rise on the evil and on the good.
He sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous (Mt 5:45)."
"To keep oneself unstained from the world": by the world here one must understand the simple and common people, who corrupt themselves in their deceitful lusts.
In assigning such a meaning to the word θρησκεία, blessed Theophylact probably considered its root to be ἀθρέω, with the removal of ἀ, meaning "to look," "to examine," "to contemplate," and so forth.
Others, and very many of them, derive θρησκεία from the Thracians. Saint Gregory the Theologian says that service to the gods passed from them to the pagan Greeks, "as the very word θρησκεύειν can confirm."
He therefore calls Him Father, so that they would not think he spoke of a foreign god who was not the Father of creation. It is implied that many came because of benefactions and support for widows, not because of torments, as is said about them in the Gospel.
Someone may say: if James is a teacher of Christ's covenant, why does he not now abolish the law? On the contrary, he exalts it, for he praises those who keep it and does not reproach them. We will answer him in this way: in this discourse he is only preparing his hearers, and therefore he condescends to their weakness. Had he overthrown the law from the first words, he would have prompted them to withdraw from the newness of the teaching. Their heads would have spun, and they would have inclined toward disobedience.
He well added "before God and the Father," because there are some who seem pious to men, although God considers them impious.
Therefore Solomon also said, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end leads to death" (Prov 14:12; righteous, Vlg.).
"To visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from this age."
Since the Apostle had said earlier that the doer of the work will be blessed in his action, he now names which actions are most pleasing to God. They are mercy and purity.
Therefore, by the command to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, he shows that we must do everything out of mercy toward our neighbor.
How important this is will be revealed on the Day of Judgment, when the Judge says, "As long as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me" (Mt 25:40).
Next, by the command to keep ourselves unstained from this age, the Apostle shows that we should preserve ourselves pure in everything.
Among other things, this includes what he warned us about before: that we should be slow to speak and slow to anger.
“For pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction.”
Here the word religion, θρησκεία, appears to indicate something greater than the simple word faith, πίστις. According to Theophylact, its meaning is the hidden knowledge of certain things and certainty concerning them, as they are contemplated by faith.
For this reason blessed James placed this word here, and from it above he said “religious,” θρῆσκος (Jas 1:26).
It is as though he were saying to the one whom he called by this word: How do you think that you are a knower and exact keeper of the law?
How, when you do not know how to bridle your tongue, but speak evil of your brother? How, when you live proudly and arrogantly, and do not show mercy to orphans and the poor?
The law is not pleased with one who speaks evil: “The one who secretly slanders his neighbor, him I drove away” (Ps 100:5). And the law commands mercy even toward enemies.
If you wish to be religious, do not display your faith only by reading and hearing the law, but by doing the commandments of the law.
This doing consists in showing mercy and generosity to those in need. Mercy and generosity shown to one’s neighbor are likeness to God and the Father.
The Lord says, “Be merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Lk 6:36). Yet the mercy you wish to show to the poor must not be with partiality, that is, showing mercy to one and not another.
Show mercy to all, because God also does not give His benefactions and mercies only to some, but to all. “He makes His sun shine on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Mt 5:45).
The wise Nilus, citing this saying, also says: “Let us not despise true widows, because God cares for them all.
To a widow He sent the great Elijah. And the Master of all Himself wiped away the tear of the widow of Nain, saying to her, ‘Do not weep.’
And James commands us to visit orphans and widows ‘in their afflictions.’”
“And to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”
This religion, he says, brings one near to God: that you, O Christian, keep yourself pure from the pleasures and passions of the world.
Crude and indifferent people practice these things, corrupting themselves with the deceitful desires of the flesh, wealth, and vain glory.
Saint Mitrophan remarks excellently that the divine James here shows the two general and comprehensive marks of pure and sincere piety. These are the two first and great commandments, on which the Law and the Prophets hang.
He says that visiting widows and orphans, and giving alms to those who ask, shows love for one’s neighbor. From this love almsgiving to others in general also flows.
But when he says to keep oneself pure and undefiled from the evil flooding the world, he shows love for God.
It is impossible for someone to preserve himself wholly pure from worldly evils if he does not keep all God’s commandments.
The one who keeps them certainly loves God, as the Lord said: “He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me” (Jn 14:21).
Since all the particular commandments are contained in these commandments, the divine James here embraces all virtues in these two commandments.
We note here that the name θρησκεία, faith or religion, comes from the Thracians, who were especially devout in their superstitions toward demons and idols.
For this reason they gave occasion to the other ancient Greeks to call the worship of their idols by this word.
Gregory the Theologian bears witness to this in his homily on the Holy Lights of the Lord’s Theophany: “Here there are no orgies of the Thracians, from whom, they say, the word θρησκεύειν, that is, divine service, takes its beginning.”
And elsewhere: “I saw rites, θρησκεία, the worship of demons. But piety is the worship of the Trinity.”
There is a difference between the words “mercy” and “generosity,” according to Gregory the Theologian. Mercy is to suffer in the heart with the needy and poor, but not to benefit them.
The generous man is the one who benefits them: “Mercy is compassion in misfortune, while generosity does good to the sufferer.”
In Holy Scripture, however, the meanings of these words are often interchanged. David says, “The righteous man is generous and gives” (Ps 36:21).
Often “being generous” is said instead of “showing mercy,” though not instead of “benefiting.”
God had already commanded us in the Old Testament to help widows and orphans, saying: “When you have finished tithing all the tithe of the fruit of your land in the third year, give the second tithe to the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow.
They shall eat in your cities and be satisfied” (Deut 26:12).
"Faith pure and undefiled... to visit orphans and widows." Faith that is not manifested in works of mercy is not only fruitless and useless, but even impure and defiled before God. It is hypocrisy, egoism, and calculation. It is like the faith of the Pharisees, who considered themselves more correctly believing than others, while with their supposed piety they covered their defiled and impure deeds; Mt 23:14.
Some wish to interpret this passage in their own favor. They regard error concerning the truths of the faith as a matter of little importance. They consider only works of mercy and a blameless life to be important.
Therefore, they say, even if someone errs in doctrine, his faith is pure and undefiled, provided he does no evil.
But the Apostle James is not speaking here precisely about faith. In Russian the word is “piety”; in Greek, θρησκεία, meaning “service to God” or “religious devotion.” This service can indeed be pure and undefiled when it is expressed in works of mercy and in keeping oneself from the defilement of the world.
Faith and a pious life, or works, are closely connected, yet they are distinct realities. The worth of faith lies in truth, and the worth of life lies in holiness or purity.
One cannot be saved without good works, even with true faith, because the absence of works would show that faith is inactive, like something dead. Yet one cannot be saved without faith either, because faith shows us the way by which we come to God (Heb 11:6).
In contrast to this empty piety, pure and undefiled piety, or true and right divine worship, before God and the Father, that is, in God's eyes and before the judgment of God's righteousness (2 Pet 3:11), is this.
First, it is to visit widows and orphans in their afflictions. Undoubtedly this is one kind of true piety, given as an example.
The general thought in this example is charitable love toward all the needy and unfortunate. This constitutes the essence of pure Christian morality, for which Christ grants blessedness at His dread Judgment (Mt 25:36 and following).
This presentation of charitable love through the example of caring for poor orphans and defenseless widows is very common among the sacred writers.
This charitable love for the poor must have as its foundation faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Jas 2:1).
"Therefore, if you want to be pious, show piety not in reading, but in fulfilling the law, which consists especially in showing compassion to one's neighbor.
For compassion toward one's neighbor is a kind of likeness to God (Lk 6:36). Only let your mercy be free from partiality" (Theophylact).
The Apostle indicates the second mark of pure and undefiled piety in keeping oneself unstained from the world.
By the name of the world, in the sense of Christ's words (Jn 7:7 and parallels), is meant the whole totality of forces in the world hostile to God and to the good.
They stand under the authority of the prince of this world (Jn 12:31 and parallels), the devil.
Therefore the expression means: to keep oneself from every assault of worldly evil in general. This is plainly a very general mark, embracing many particular marks.
By virtue of their regeneration from God through the word of truth (Jas 1:18), Christians are taken out of the world, above the world (1 Jn 4:4-6), and are not members of the world.
Yet, on the other hand, by the power of sin, which remains even in them, and by the force of their outward connection with the world, they still remain in the world.
Therefore they must keep themselves from being defiled by it. This preservation is both God's work (Jn 17:15) and the work of the believers themselves (1 Tim 5:22).
They must care for this constantly and without slackening throughout their whole life.
As though defining what true, not imaginary, piety consists in, the Apostle first indicates certain works of piety, namely care for widows and orphans. Then, in general, he counsels withdrawal from the world that lies in evil; see 1 Jn 5:19. For here reign the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life; 1 Jn 2:16. This world is the pagan world, deprived of grace, corrupting itself in its deceitful desires.
"Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their afflictions, and to keep oneself unstained from the world" (Jas 1:27).
Many pleasant thoughts arise at the sight of this temple, now consecrated, and of this house, for which this temple serves as the crown of beauty. It is pleasant to see the building of this temple as a free work of piety.
It is pleasant to see the founding of this house as a generous work of love for mankind. It is pleasant to see here the union of piety and love for mankind in one work and for one goal.
Thus these virtues, united, support one another and exalt one another. It is pleasant to think that this work of piety and love for mankind is the fruit of good dispositions not of one person, nor of a few, but of an entire estate of citizens of a great city.
It is pleasant to recall what occasion set these good dispositions in motion and produced this beneficent work. The firstborn son of the king, the hope of Russia, reached maturity and solemnly entered into its rights.
His crowned parents rejoiced. Russia rejoiced with them. Moscow felt this joy as the heart of Russia should. All, under the guidance of the Church, lifted this joy to heaven and prayed for its strengthening.
All, each as he could, desired to mark it also in earthly life. Then this public voice arose: "The king cared for his firstborn. The king rejoices over his firstborn, not only by parental love for his son.
He rejoices also by royal love for the fatherland, through provident care for the future good of Russia. How, then, shall we mark that we feel this and desire to correspond to it, as far as we can?
There are children for whom no one cares, and over whom no one rejoices. Let our love for the king and his son be their mother. Let them be cared for, secured, and educated by it.
Let them be its living memorials, its heirs from us, and its preachers to posterity."
Therefore, founders, you supposed that to mark joy, one must perform a good work. To prove love for the king, one must perform a work of love for mankind. To do what is pleasing to the king, one must perform a work of beneficence.
This is beautiful, beloved. Such a way of thinking is worthy of sons of the faith. Such a thought concerning the king is worthy of true greatness. Such an undertaking is worthy of faithful subjects of a most pious king.
At the sight of such dispositions, one can only desire that they be preserved and not cease to bear fruit worthy of themselves. May the feelings that shone so brightly in moments of exaltation become a constant and all-embracing light of deeds and life in those animated by them.
"Who will give," let us say with the Lord's word, "who will give that such a heart would be in them always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever" (Deut 5:29)?
And who would give us this without Thee, "Father of lights," from whom "every good gift and every perfect gift descends from above" (Jas 1:17)?
Thou, "look upon Thy servants and upon Thy works, and guide their sons. Let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands" (Ps 89:16-17).
May Thy blessing go forth always from this temple upon this house, upon those who dwell in it, and upon the builders and guardians of both.
On our part, brethren and Christians, constant attention to our heart is required, so that pure streams of love for mankind may flow in it from the source of true faith.
This is the rule that must be foundational not only for those especially called to order dwellings of love for mankind, but also for all who desire to order the house of their soul well.
In his catholic epistle, that is, in teaching written for the guidance of all members of the Catholic or Universal Church, the holy Apostle James left us a wondrous saying about the union of faith with love for mankind.
"Religion," he says, "pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their afflictions, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."
This is almost the same as saying that pure faith is pure love for mankind and purity of life. If someone else had said this, he might perhaps have been reproached for confusing concepts.
But since the Apostle said this, and through the Apostle the Holy Spirit spoke, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, there is no doubt that Saint James's words contain pure truth, not confusion of concepts.
One may not correct or dispute him, but must understand him rightly. Immediately after the saying just cited, Saint James says, "My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons" (Jas 2:1).
Here it is clear that he teaches the essence of Christian faith. He does not think, as some do now, to disdain dogma in order to turn all attention to morality alone.
Therefore the preceding saying must not be understood as if all faith pleasing to God consisted in love for mankind. Rather, it means that pure faith is at the same time love for mankind.
Faith remains faith, and love for mankind remains love for mankind. Yet between them there is so close a relation and so inseparable a bond that where pure faith exists, pure love for mankind necessarily exists as its consequence.
Everyone who truly believes must be truly loving toward mankind.
To understand this apostolic teaching more fully and apply it more exactly to life, two questions may be proposed. Is it really impossible to have pure faith without love for mankind? Conversely, can there be pure love for mankind without pure faith?
The answer to the first of these questions is not difficult to draw from the Apostle's words we have cited. If pure faith is at the same time pure love for mankind, then love for mankind is the inseparable consequence of pure faith.
The absence of an inseparable consequence must necessarily be a sign of the absence of the active principle. Therefore, where there is no love for mankind, one cannot suppose pure faith. Whoever does not have love for mankind cannot securely assure himself that he has pure faith.
How can this be? someone may say. I believe in the consubstantial Trinity, in the Lord Jesus Christ the God-man, in His saving suffering, death on the cross, and resurrection.
I believe in His ascension into heaven and coming judgment, and in the gracious mysteries of the Holy Spirit. I reject every non-Orthodox opinion. Is this not pure faith in God, whatever my relations to people may be?
There is no dispute, my fellow believer, that this is the true apostolic faith in the essence of its dogmas. But there may be doubt whether you truly have it and how you have it.
Insofar as you have it in the word of God and in the Creed, it belongs to God, to His prophets, apostles, and Fathers of the Church, but not yet to you.
When you have it in your thoughts and memory, you begin to appropriate it to yourself. Yet I still fear for this possession, because your faith in thoughts may still be only a pledge.
By that pledge you must receive the treasure, that is, the living power of faith. And how is it received? By the heart, as the Apostle Paul says: "With the heart one believes unto righteousness" (Rom 10:10).
But if you have appropriated faith to yourself by the heart, that is, if in the depth of your soul you have felt its dignity, holiness, and power, loved it, and cleaved to it, then something must follow.
According to the apostolic word, Christ must "dwell in your heart through faith" (Eph 3:17). This means that He must bring into it His grace, light, power, and life, His mind, love, and virtue.
Then you will love all people with the love of Christ. It cannot be otherwise. Out of love and gratitude toward Him who suffered and died for you, you will be ready to suffer and die for those saved by His love and redeemed by His death.
In short, according to your perfection in faith, you will be perfect in love for mankind.
Thus one of two things is true. Either you have pure faith, and together with it love for mankind and Christian virtue and purity in general.
Or, if you do not have these, do not be bold, boasting in faith alone, whether merely verbal or mental. Rather, struggle to establish faith in your heart, so that you may believe unto righteousness.
Let your faith be living, not dead, active in love, not idle. Then you will be justified at the judgment of Christ, where recompense will be given according to works of love for mankind.
With the "righteous, who live by faith," you will live forever (Rom 1:17).
Examining the relation between faith and love for mankind as between a principle and its consequence will open the way for us to answer the other question. Can there be pure love for mankind without pure faith?
If one asks about a believing person, whence does pure love for mankind come in him? the answer according to apostolic teaching is simple: from pure faith.
"For pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their afflictions."
But if you suppose pure love for mankind in a person who does not have pure faith, then the question is: whence does it come? I do not know what satisfactory answer could be given.
Will you say, from nature? But human nature, damaged by sin, does not produce pure good by its own power without the special grace of God, which is received only by faith.
Will you say, from reason? But reason belongs to the same human nature damaged by sin, and therefore likewise does not promise purity without grace.
There is in human nature, damaged by sin, a disposition toward love for mankind. Ungraced reason also approves this disposition. Therefore both nature and reason will condemn the person who lacks love for mankind.
But will they raise love for mankind to the degree of purity? For example, would reason have invented the rule, "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink" (Rom 12:20)?
Would nature have rejoiced at it? I do not know. But I do know for certain that nature and reason, uncorrected by faith, drink the blood of enemies and devour their corpses.
A person not governed by faith may sometimes do good even to an enemy, out of pride, for the glory of magnanimity, for the pleasure of seeing the debtor's humiliation, or for a foreseen future advantage to himself.
Consequently, he may do it from impure motives. But only the Lord Jesus utters the pure law of love for enemies. Only faith receives it. Only grace makes it lovable and readily practicable.
Therefore, when the Lord utters this law, He sets Himself in contrast to other lawgivers and teachers: "But I say to you, love your enemies" (Mt 5:44).
Seeking immutable truth that endures every test, let us pay attention to special cases in which pure love for mankind seems to appear outside the bounds of pure faith.
Ruth the Moabite, and therefore a natural-born pagan, out of compassionate love for the childless and helpless Naomi, leaves both her kin and fatherland. She resolves to follow her into the land of Israel, without any hope for herself.
She does so only to comfort and care for her beloved mother-in-law. Is this not pure love for mankind outside the bounds of pure faith? No.
Love for the pious Naomi grafted Naomi's faith onto Ruth's soul, and faith made her capable of a love for mankind pure unto self-forgetfulness and self-sacrifice. "Your God is my God" (Ruth 1:16), Ruth said to Naomi, accomplishing a beautiful labor of love.
The angel said to Cornelius the centurion, also a natural-born pagan, "Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God" (Acts 10:4).
If Cornelius's alms ascended as a memorial before God, that is, were accepted into God's good pleasure, they must have been pure, because nothing impure can draw near to God.
Is this not pure love for mankind outside the bounds of pure faith? No. From the angel's words it is clear that Cornelius's prayers ascended to God before his alms. Prayers ascend to God only when led by faith.
An inclination to despise one's neighbors under the pretext of zeal for piety deprives piety of its worth. It testifies to the absence of love for one's neighbors and to a lack of self-knowledge.
"Pure and undefiled piety before God and the Father" must be joined to works of love for one's neighbors.
Without listing all kinds of love, the Apostle, for brevity, points only to care for orphans and widows.
God is the Father and defender of widows and orphans (Ps 145:9). To please the Lord by works of piety, one must imitate Him by works of mercy toward helpless beings, such as orphans and widows.
Love for one's neighbors must be joined to care for one's own moral purity. The conviction that one's conduct is beyond reproach comes from a lack of self-knowledge.
In the light of self-knowledge, even great righteous men recognize themselves as great sinners.
In urging Christians to keep moral purity, the Apostle warns them against temptations and scandals from the world.
The Christian must remember that he is not of this world, and that the world, so long as it is not enlightened by Christianity, is the realm of Satan.
Therefore, amid unavoidable worldly dealings with the world and with those who do not believe in Christ, the Christian needs great caution.
He must not be defiled by their moral uncleanness, nor infected by their impiety and corrupt customs.
By affirming that true piety consists in visiting widows and orphans and in struggles for moral purity, the Apostle did not mean that the essence of piety consists only in these alone.
He did not mean that there are no other works of piety. Rather, without these and without union with them, piety, as an act of divine worship, cannot be true.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 25 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS