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22 ·Do what God’s teaching says; when you only listen and do nothing, you are fooling yourselves [L Be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deceiving yourselves; Luke 11:28; Rom. 2:13]. 23 Those who hear God’s ·teaching [word] and do nothing are like people who look at ·themselves [their natural face; L the face of their birth] in a mirror. 24 [L For] They ·see their faces [gaze at themselves] and then go away and quickly forget what they looked like. 25 But ·the truly happy people are [L blessed are] those who ·carefully study [look intently into; L stoop down to look at] God’s perfect law that makes people free [C probably refers to the law of Moses as it is fulfilled in Christ; 2:8, 12], and they ·continue to study it [persevere in it]. ·They do not forget what they heard, but they obey what God’s teaching says [L not being a forgetful hearer but an active doer]. Those who do this will be ·made happy [blessed].

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22 But prove yourselves doers of the word [actively and continually obeying God’s precepts], and not merely listeners [who hear the word but fail to internalize its meaning], deluding yourselves [by unsound reasoning contrary to the truth]. 23 For if anyone only listens to the word [a]without obeying it, he is like a man who looks very carefully at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he immediately forgets [b]what he looked like. 25 But he who looks carefully into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and faithfully abides by it, not having become a [careless] listener who forgets but [c]an active doer [who obeys], he will be blessed and favored by God in what he does [in his life of obedience].

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Footnotes

  1. James 1:23 Lit and is not a doer.
  2. James 1:24 Lit what sort he was.
  3. James 1:25 Lit a doer of work.