The one fact James emphasizes about "hearers only" is that hearing the word without doing the word is an act of self-deception. The nature of the self-deception has received different interpretations that will make a large difference in personal or homiletical application about salvation. Martin's view illustrates one tradition, which says James is defining "the nature of true piety" (1988:49). Davids represents the other major tradition, which says the term means here "to deceive oneself as to one's salvation" (1982:97). In the former alternative, the passage is applicable as a warning to genuine Christians who are nevertheless not putting Scripture into practice seriously enough. The latter alternative makes this passage a warning against a false presumption of salvation in the first place.

The actual term for "deceive," paralogizomai, does not offer much help in this debate, as it is used only one other time in the New Testament (by Paul writing later in Col 2:4). However, James's own choice of analogy in 1:23-24 does provide material by which to interpret his intention. Here the text supports Davids's view that the passage is a warning against a false presumption of salvation.

1. What is the pattern of the deception? The hearer of the word is self-deceiving, like a person who looks in a mirror and then goes away without thinking further about his or her appearance. At this point the NIV's rendering is misleading by connecting 1:23 to 1:24 as a continuing clause with a compound predicate: "a man who looks . . . and . . . goes away," leaving the impression that the man's error is in going away while neglecting to change something that he ought to have changed about his appearance. If this were the case, then the analogy would be saying that the primary function of Scripture is to expose our faults and to tell us, "Do this; change that." While the word of God certainly does expose our sins so that we may repent, this is not the whole picture of Scripture's function.

The NASB more accurately captures James's grammatical stop at the end of 1:23 with a semicolon. This conveys that the analogy is complete at the end of 1:23. What James explains in 1:24 is additional, but not essential, information. The point is that the man does not need to keep thinking about his appearance; he can forget his appearance, because it is useless to him once he has finished looking. James's phrase prosopon tes geneseos ("natural face" or "face he was born with") does not imply that the man is seeing something in his appearance that he ought to change. It speaks of the ordinariness of what the man is seeing; he doesn't need to think further about his appearance. His reflection in the mirror is useless for him in going about his daily business of life. This makes the application clear. If I hear the word of God but do not do what it says, I am treating the word as if it were useless. I am deceiving myself about the very nature and purpose of the word of God.

James's thought in the analogy is for the purpose of the word. If he has just stated a purpose of the word, that would most naturally be the purpose he has in mind now. When we look back at the text for such a statement of purpose, it is immediately before us at the end of 1:21: the word can save you.

The urgency of his message must be faced. He is warning us not to be self-deceived about our very salvation. James has emphasized that sin leads to death (1:15). We cannot claim a salvation from death while we carelessly persist in sin which kills. If sin is seen as our choice to run our own lives instead of submitting to God's rule, we cannot ask Christ to save us from sin and then go right on running our own lives; it is self-contradictory. To think we can so live is to practice self-deception. The core of accepting salvation is accepting Christ as Savior and Lord. If I am saved, I will give myself to the doing of my Lord's word. It is not that I will attempt to save myself by obeying commands; rather, because I am saved, I will set my heart on doing the will of God who is my Savior.

This is consistent with the teachings that James had learned from Jesus and that are expressed later by Paul just as clearly, that the follower of Christ will die to self-will and live unto the Lord's will. James is earnest about specific moral issues in this letter because he is earnest about the lordship of Christ.

2. What then is the nature of the word? James's analogy places emphasis on the usefulness of God's word for our salvation in daily living. Unlike our useless reflection in a mirror, the word of God is to be taken into our daily decisions and actions. For the analogy of the mirror to be appropriate, James must have believed in both the perspicuity and the applicability of Scripture. He believed the word of God to be clear and understandable, comparable to a mirror that gives an accurate reflection rather than one so clouded or distorted that the viewer would gain no real understanding from looking at it. James believed also that the word of God reveals matters upon which the readers should take some appropriate action; the word is relevant in application to our lives. People who are hearers only are deceiving themselves because they ignore these two features of the word of God. They treat the word as if it were useless because of being either unclear or irrelevant.

3. How would one be only a hearer of the word today? By the description James has given of God's word, at least four approaches to Scripture that are common today should be repudiated as examples of merely listening without doing and so deceiving oneself.

Relativistic. The scholarly study of linguistics and literary criticism during the past few decades has been characterized by an increasing skepticism regarding the possibility of absolute truth. Formalism, structuralism, phenomenology and deconstruction have some diversity of forms, but they have led to some common philosophical assumptions, including the impossibility of objectivity, the relativity of truth, the subjectivity of meaning and the resulting primacy of experience (since ultimate meanings are regarded as indeterminate).

Relativism as a worldview now pervades contemporary thought and even pressures many Christians. A common assumption today is that Christianity is an alternative that has already had its day. This is so persuasive precisely because modern culture has adopted the notion that everything changes and anything becomes passe, whether fashions or automobiles or religion or, ultimately, truth itself. One perceptive businessman in the church I pastor commented to me, "I find the persuasiveness [of this view] very sophisticated and tugging at my elbows every day! And I consider my faith reasonably strong."

The impact of relativism is to undermine exactly what James prescribes for our study of Scripture. We say the Bible is the word of God; then we contradict that belief by conceding a cultural relativity to points of doctrine that are presented in Scripture as transcending culture. We say we believe in the authority of Scripture; but we have so often been told "It may be right for you, but not for me" that we begin to believe this relativism in our own hearts. Then, when we read the word of God, it falls on ears that hear but do not respond with action.

Superstitious. In 1 Samuel it is recorded that the Israelites were defeated by the Philistines. The elders of Israel conferred and decided to bring the ark of the Lord's covenant from Shiloh "so that it may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies" (1 Sam 4:3). When they next went into battle, this time with the ark of the Lord present, Israel was again defeated, and the ark was captured.

What went wrong with their plan? They treated the ark of the covenant as if it were magical, as if it could save them. Instead, they should have sought the Lord. Doing so, they would have realized that they could not expect salvation from a holy God while persisting in wickedness. They would have to do what James says to do: act on God's word.

This is not far off from the way some people treat Scripture still. The Bible is revered as an object, as if it would bring blessing on one's life. The Bible may be read often; prayers may be said frequently; church services may be attended; yet there may still be a self-satisfied overlooking of gossip or lies or irresponsibility or emotional abuse of one's spouse. This amounts to a superstitious use of Scripture.

James is insisting that the words of Scripture are of no value unless put into practice. If you study the word of God and begin to see a picture of true justice or genuine love or real holiness, then start practicing what you are discovering. This is the passion on James's heart.

Emotional. The word of God is certainly intended to affect our emotions. Jesus himself told his disciples that he spoke his words to them so that they might not fear but instead have joy (Jn 14:1-2; 15:11). The misuse of this is the employment of the word of God only for emotional comfort while avoiding obedience. By James's instruction, one should not be satisfied with a superficial devotional reading merely for emotional satisfaction. He demands a reading of the word with the goal of doing the will of God found there.

Theoretical. James's instruction also repudiates the merely theoretical use of the word of God, in which a person may study the word in exhaustive detail but then use the word only as material for philosophical or theological debate. The result is an abundance of doctrinal correctness but a scarcity of biblical godliness. The ones who are "hearers only" after this pattern tend to build a reputation for holding proper theology while leaving behind a trail of divisiveness and damaged relationships.