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James 1:26
26 If any man [ei tis] among [en] you [humin] seem [dokeo] to be [einai] religious [threskos], and bridleth [chalinagogeo] not [me] his [autos] tongue [glossa], but [alla] deceiveth [apatao] his own [autos] heart [kardia], this man's [toutou] religion [threskeia] is vain [mataios]. KJV-Interlinear
26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. NASB
The religion here, that James is speaking of, is in reference to Christianity. However, he is also describing the falsities of Christian behavior and attitude, which can be grouped with all other religions of the world as to their lack of efficacious (efficient or successful) results in ones spiritual life.
Now we have always stated that Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship with God, through Christ, and that religion (in general), is nothing more than mans efforts to achieve the approbation of God, by means of mans own efforts. This definition still stands, of course.
However, James is speaking of the attitude of the individual based on their lack of attention to their spiritual studies. That is, the hearer verses the doer.
The first word used for religion, ' threskos,' refers to the activities or ceremonies of ones worship. The second word, 'threskeia,' refers to the traditions, or habit, or principles of ones worship beliefs.
So, if your worship activities are false, then your worship traditions are false. And likewise, if your worship traditions or principles are false, then your worship activities are false. And if your theological approach to God is false, then you have nothing, but a huge waste of time in pursuing nothing, because of your arrogant attitude.
So, you have only yourself to blame for your failure. And, you are the fool for doing what you are doing.
You have no one else to blame, and no one else to complain to when you discover your error. If indeed, you do discover your error during this life.
In short, there are a lot of false religious types out there in the world. In Christianity, they can say all the right things, and put on a performance for others to see. They will even impress others by their performance in either deed or in word, but they are only fooling themselves.
The false believer, or rather the believer who pursues false principles, spends most of their time trying to convince others in order to gain the approval of others, or to impress them.
The false believer will spend much of his time, trying to censure, criticize, scorn, judge, or correct others.
The false believer pursues a course of self-approval or self-justification.
Whether ones religion is Islam or Buddhism, or simply a Christian who has been misguided in his faith due to his own failure in Bible study, ones behavior in the carnal side of a false faith is the same. False is false is false. And, false equates to nothing, as far as advancing in ones spiritual life.
Unbelievers cannot advance because they have no spiritual side in which to advance. And believers who are more or less off track, just derail themselves.
The tongue is something that should be driven by the heart. The heart represents the soul of the individual. The person should think before speaking. However, when a person speaks before thinking, then they demonstrate a lack of inner control, and a lack of wisdom in their life.
And this is James' whole point. Words that are driven by emotion are not wisdom. Wisdom is driven by thought, but then thought comes only from a daily study.
And the hearer, in this case, is someone who dos not pursue his study, and therefore lacks the resources for thought, therefore lacks the resources to produce reasonable comments. His speaking is nothing more than the knee-jerk reaction of an empty soul.
It is far better to impress God (who is able to bless) by means of learning doctrine and growing up in ones spiritual life, thus obeying His will, than to attempt to impress people (who cannot bless) and submitting to the peer pressures of society.
