Filth and Truth: How Grace and Works Combine

"Therefore, ridding yourselves of all moral filth and evil, humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save you." -James 1:21, HCSB

This passage is in my all-time favorite book, James. James is a short, six-chapter book toward the end of the New Testament. It was written by Jesus' brother, which is pretty cool. What makes James my favorite book, however, has nothing to do with its size or author; I love how "real" James keeps it. James encourages us to take our theology and put it to work. Jesus knowledge is fantastic; necessary, even. Yet, if you do nothing with it, you're just a filing cabinet. I'd much rather use my info to do God's work than be a spiritual file folder (even though that's not always what I do!).

This verse is classic James: a mixture of deep truth and a practical, "Just Do It" attitude. It starts off by saying that we should "[rid] ourselves of all moral filth and evil." I'll get right on that!

See, James doesn't pull punches. If I had written this, I'd have probably said "try to push all sin out of your life, continuing to get better at it as you grow." James just tells us to do it. And honestly, we cannot. There is no possible way to perfectly follow this, or even follow it at all on our own. Check out the second half of this verse:

"...humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save you." This half is the key to the first half; the truth of God's Word, His gospel, is the only thing that can save us from our sin, ridding us of all moral filth and evil. The only way that we can escape the clutches of sin is to humbly receive God's gift of grace and accept this glorious Word.

Without God's Word, we remain trapped, trying as hard as we can to fulfill the first half of the verse. But that is the beauty of this passage, and of the entire book of James: we cannot work righteously without God's working through and in us, and we cannot live out God's truth without working in response to this truth, walking in a righteous manner and following God.

This, my friends, is the gospel! A saving grace and truth, a miracle, and a changed heart that works as a result of that, running away from sin and toward holiness and righteousness. Christian, rejoice in this! It's amazing!