James, chapter 1, v. 26.
“Bridleth not his tongue” — see 3:2-12. He does not implement the truth in his daily contacts with others.
“Deceiveth his own heart” — he is not deceiving God, only himself.
“This man’s religion is vain” — no matter how impressed the person is with himself and no matter how highly he he is esteemed by his fellows, his worship is useless as far as any eternal benefit is concerned.
V. 27 “Pure religion and undefiled” — see the note on V. 21. This is a beautiful thrust by James against those who were self-satisfied in a ritual purity. Their lives were not really pure and undefiled before God so long as they ignored what follows.
“Before God” — the works that follow may not impress man very much; in fact others may not even know about them; but they are done before God and it is to Him alone that we must answer, cf. Rom. 14:4.
“Orphans and widows” (RSV) — throughout the Old Testament the widows and orphans are referred to as foremost examples of those in need, Ex. 22:22; Deut. 10:18; Isa. 1:17 etc.
“To visit” — an exposition of this point is well worded by Bro. Smart on page 70 of his book. We quote his paragraph in full:
“When James speaks of “visiting” the needy he uses the word employed by Luke (1:68, 78; 7:16) in referring to the birth and ministry of Jesus: God had “visited his people” in sending His only-begotten Son to redeem them from their sin-stricken condition. This “visiting” was a testimony to the interest, the sympathy, the love of God in regard to men; so when Jesus exhorts his readers to “visit” the fatherless and the widows he is suggesting something much more than a mere visit in our modern sense of the term: true worship of God, he implies, must manifest itself through a lively interest in the needs of others and an earnest and warm-hearted solicitude for their well-being; only by such an attitude do we show ourselves to be the children indeed of the Father who “visited” us in our own need.”
“Unspotted” — James continues to use language normally associated with ceremonial defilement.
“From the world” — how could James imply that some were spotted by the world? They despised the pagan orgies, they remained aloof from harlots and sinners and had nothing to do with the licentious theater. But there is more in the world that defiles than just these things: there is malice (3:9) and carnal anger (1:19) and bitter envy (3:14) and selfish indifference (2:15, 16) and haughty self exaltation (3:1). There is also covetousness, that grasping spirit which stretches out for the fruits of temporal affluence (4:13). All of these evils are part of the world and some of James’ readers were guilty of such attitudes. Insofar as this was true, they were defiled by a spirit of worldliness.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One