Craig Thomas

What mental picture comes to mind when you think of someone who's religious?  A Catholic may picture someone devoted to praying the rosary several times a day.  Perhaps to you it's a person who always seems to be in a state of deep meditation. But, how does scripture define someone who is "religious"?

1) Scriptural Definition.  Scripture defines "religious" as:  "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." (Jas. 1:27)  Bible spirituality centers on acts of kindness, charity and benevolence toward our fellow man and an obedient walk with God that places our life's emphasis on the eternal, not the temporal (Col. 3:1ff; Phil. 3:20).

2) Two Greatest Commandments.  The definition of "pure and undefiled religion" in James 1:27 is really no different than the two great commandments described by Jesus, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Matt. 22:37-39)  You see "religion" is shown, not by great acts of devotion to a religious or doctrinal "system," but by our obedience to God and through our deeds toward our fellow man.  First, our closeness to God is not measured, for example, by our "faith" to see the virgin Mary in a salt stain on a highway overpass.  But, "Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments." (1 Jn. 2:3)  Since God only reveals His will in His word, only those obeying His word can truly lay claim to loving and knowing Him (cf. 1 Jn. 2:4-5; 5:3-4; 1 Cor. 2:4-13). Second, in regards to our neighbor, recall that James said, "faith without works is dead" (Jas. 2:26) and he offered the following to illustrate:  "If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,' but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?" (Jas. 2:15-16)  Thus, to engage in true religion, a "religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless" (NIV), we must take the Bible principles of love and compassion and put them into action in regards to our fellow man.  Otherwise our claims to "religiousness" are empty and vain and we have a "dead" faith.

3) Basis of Judgment.  Our judgment will be upon this same basis:  whether we've kept God's commandments and whether we've shown love and compassion to our fellow man by our deeds (cf. Rom. 2:5-10).  For example, Jesus described "religious" people who were lost, not necessarily because they didn't do good deeds, but because they practiced "lawlessness" (Matt. 7:21-23).  They were disobedient to the Father's "will."  Also, in the great judgment scene of Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus emphasizes the importance of good deeds towards our fellows.  Those who "inherit the kingdom" perform good deeds towards others so regularly that it becomes their "second nature" (vss. 34-40).  Jesus also lays out the other side of the coin by describing those who did not do things like "visit the orphans and widows in their trouble."  He does not say why they failed in this regard.  They may have simply been callous or they may have had the best of intentions, but nonetheless they never carried through and as a result they heard these terrible words, "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt. 25:41).

What about you dear friend?  Do you practice "pure and undefiled religion"?  If you answered "yes," are you obedient to God's word?  Do you "keep His commandments"?  And, what are you doing to relieve the needs of your fellow man?