The truth about James 1:22- "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."

Believers, consider James 1: 21 "Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."

In many places of worship, verse 22 above - "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" - is being interpreted as "Keep the Ten Commandments and do works of the Law in order to be godly and maintain your salvation." This false doctrine leads to death. Galatians 5:4 says to Christians:

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace."

Paul wrote the above verse to Christians in Galatia who were deceived into believing that their perfection before God was hinged on their ability to keep the Law of Moses after they were saved. He called them "foolish" and "bewitched" for following this false doctrine.

So what is the "word" that believers are to be doers of? The key to understanding is in verse 21: 

"...the implanted word is able to save your souls." 

Doing the Law of Moses (including the Ten Commandments) in order to get into God's good books is not able to save any soul. It is death and it cuts one off from Christ. Performance of the Law cannot save the soul of anybody. The Law kills: see 2 Corinthians 3:6-

"who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

See the NIRV: "He has given us the power to serve under a new covenant. The covenant is not based on the written Law of Moses. It comes from the Holy Spirit. The written Law kills, but the Spirit gives life."

Believer, try to keep the Law and sin will increase. This is why the Law was given according to Romans 5:20 - "The law was given so that sin would increase. But where sin increased, God’s grace increased even more."

Satan knows this and his ministers behind many pulpits are interpreting "Be doers of the word..." as "keep the law to maintain your salvation"; such ministers are doing their best to keep churchgoers busy performing works of the Law in order to be godly or to enjoy God's freely given blessings. Believer, all efforts at keeping the Law in order to be righteous amount to "a menstrual rag" in His sight: see Isaiah 64:6-

"We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in Your sight."

Back to James 1:21 "Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."

Believer, the word that we are to be doers of is not the Ten Commandments that kills but the "...the implanted word, which is able to save your souls."  But what is this implanted word that brings salvation for our souls? The Bible always interprets the Bible. By Grace, don't let anybody use "common sense" or "human logic" to sway you. 1 Corinthians 1:18 says:

"For the message of the cross is foolishness [absurd and illogical] to those who are perishing and spiritually dead [because they reject it], but to us who are being saved [by God’s grace] it is [the manifestation of] the power of God."

This verse alone tells us that the implanted word that brings salvation is God's grace- the message of the cross. It is not the Law of Moses. But let's dig deeper. Paul wrote of the word that brings salvation in Romans 1:

16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”"

See the New Living Translation: 16 "For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. 17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in His sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

The word that we are to be doers of that saves everyone who believes is the Good News (Gospel) about Christ. The word "gospel" comes from the Old English "god" (meaning "good") and "spel" (meaning "news, a story.) 

The word that we are to be doers of that saves everyone who believes (the gospel of Christ) tells us how God makes us right in His sight. We see a detailed account of how God makes us right in His sight in Romans 3:

"26...for He himself is fair and just, and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus. 27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law."

The Law is not of fait The Law of Moses is NOT the word that believers are to be doers of that James wrote about. Believer, this is the implanted word that we are to be doers of- the word of God's Grace: believing that in Christ, we are righteous and remain righteous by faith in Christ and not by human effort at keeping the law. This is the crux of the message of Christ: 

Righteousness by faith in Christ. 

Romans 5:9 tells of How God sees all who are doers of the word of Christ:

"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

James 1 again: 21 "Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does."

The "law of liberty" above is not the Law of Moses. Galatians 5:1 describes keeping the Law of Moses in order to be right with God as being tied up in slavery. The KJV describes it as being "entangled again with the yoke of bondage":

"So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law."

See the King James Version: "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."

Those who are mere hearers of the word and not doers are those who forget how God sees them through the mirror of His word- Righteous by the blood of Jesus. After hearing the word, such do not obey the Word of Truth that they heard. Instead of believing that they are righteous by faith, they go back to entangling themselves again with the yoke of bondage (law-keeping;) measuring their righteousness through the mirror of the Law that condemns and kills the best of all who try to keep it; they go back to trying to obey the Ten Commandments and doing all sorts of “good works" in order to get right with God, maintain their salvation, obtain His favour and escape His wrath, all of this after Christ shed His blood for us for this same purpose. Romans 10:3 says of such:

"For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with Himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. 4 For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in Him are made right with God."

Remember James 1: 21 "Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."

How is it that those who interpret this verse as obeying the Law of Moses in order to maintain their salvation are "deceiving" themselves? We see this in what God's word says of man in Romans 7:18-

"For I know that nothing good lives within the flesh of my fallen humanity. The longings to do what is right are within me, but will-power is not enough to accomplish it."

Of ourselves, there is no good in anybody. The arm of flesh will fail. But there is something about the arm of flesh (dependence on human effort at obedience) that wants to be relevant in the story of our salvation. That something is Pride. God's word says human effort (the arm of flesh) will fail. But Pride in the arm of flesh (human effort) that will fail says: 

"No, I can. God must be wrong. I still have some good in me. I can keep the law and live a sinless human effort by sheer determination and will-power."

The earlier a believer understands that of ourselves, there is no good in anybody much less the ability to keep the law, the better. Like Peter who boasted in his own strength to not bear false witness about Christ but ended up breaking the Law, many wrongly believe that they have the will-power to do what is right and keep the law. Such are unaware that reason why we are not committing particular sins is because God did not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear. This is the only reason why you and I are not wallowing in heinous sins: 1 Corinthians 10:12-13-

12 "So beware if you think it could never happen to you, lest your pride becomes your downfall. 13 We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust Him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously."

If God was not filtering and screening, we'd all be wallowing in heinous sins. But we often think we did good all by ourselves. Peter's example shows us that good intentions will get one nowhere when one is tempted beyond what he can bear. He denied Christ thrice after boasting in himself and knowing 100% that he wouldn't.  The potential to commit heinous crimes is in everybody. God sees this potential and how favourable circumstances can make some people think that some sins are beneath them or that they can obey the Law and overcome sin by their will-power. But no one can stand in their own will-power when Satan comes to sift like wheat. Believer, let's not be found here - depending on our own will-power to attain righteousness. The arm of flesh (dependence on human effort for whatever) will fail. 

Does this mean that we can just go and be wallowing in sins as we like? "Shall we continue in sin that Grace may abound?" Paul asked this rhetorical question in Romans 6:1 To this question, we give the same answer that Paul did in the very next verse:

"Certainly not! How can we who are dead to sin live any longer in it?" (Romans 6:2)

How are we who are in Christ dead to sin? 1 Peter 2:24 says of Him:

"and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed."

Many read this and think that this "live to righteousness" is living right by human effort. Not so. It has got nothing to do with what we do by human effort aka the arm of flesh that will fail. According to the verse above, we who believe in Jesus "live to righteousness" the same way we died to sin: 

"Christ Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross."

In Christ, we died to sin by FAITH, not by performance of the law or by dying the death that the law demanded for our sins. Likewise, we live to righteousness by FAITH, not by performance of works of the law. Romans 5:9 tells us how our heavenly Father in Christ sees we who believe in Jesus Christ:

"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

Being a doer of the word is seeing ourselves as God sees us in Christ- Righteous through the blood of Jesus and apart from works. This isn't something that we do just for the sake of it. By seeing ourselves as He sees us, we are being transformed. As we continue to be doers of the word aka seeing ourselves as God sees us through the mirror of His Word (Christ Himself: Grace-personified) and not through the Law (which Romans 3:20 says was given to show us how sinful we are and will point out every fault of which we have many,) we are being transformed by His Spirit: 2 Corinthians 3:18-

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."

Only imperfect people need transformation. The one who can transform himself to "be like God" by will-power and human striving (arm of flesh) at obeying the Law does not need the Spirit of the Lord to transform him. With Christ as our righteousness, we are 100% righteous in God's sight. We have God's super-abounding Grace and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ that causes us to live in triumph over sin and death: Romans 5:16-17:

16 “And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ.”

The spirit of the antichrist is not anti-God. It knows that when you forsake your own righteousnesses from keeping the Law and depend wholly on God's abundance of Grace and His gift of everlasting righteousness to us in Christ, you will Live in triumph over sin and death through Jesus Christ who is Grace-Personified. So it tries to keep churchgoers noses buried in searching out their imperfections in the mirror of the Law and trying to right these imperfections in God's sight by doing more. But Romans 3:20 says:

"For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the Law commands. The Law simply shows us how sinful we are."

The spirit of the antichrist is not anti-God. It preaches VERY STRONGLY about attaining righteousness/godliness by keeping the Law of Moses using the arm of flesh (human effort) that will fail and tries to blind the sheep to God's saving Grace - Jesus Christ Himself - by whose blood we are made righteous in the sight of God (Romans 5:9.) The spirit of the antichrist is all for law-keeping aka human effort at attaining righteousness. It knows that this is how to keep churchgoers under sin's dominion:

"For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under Grace." Romans 6:14. Many in the church have this verse backwards even to the extent of preaching that God's saving grace - Jesus Christ Himself- gives license to sin! 

Paul wrote in Philippians 3:9- "and become one with Him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with Himself depends on faith."

But the antichrist spirit preaches the opposite, seeking to remove the finished work of Christ in making the sinner who believes righteous in God's sight and preaching dependence on human effort at keeping the Law as the means of attaining rights-standing with God.

The Law condemns the best of us but Grace, He saves the worst of us, even salvation from every kind of sin:

"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds." Titus 2:14.

This is Grace- undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour. Believing Jesus Christ and the word of His Grace is what it means to be a doer of the word.

Right believing always produces right living.