I pulled some longtail search queries from Google, and one result was, “What is true religion?”
When I read the question, “What is true religion,” I immediately think of James 1:26-27:
Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
We often assert that Christianity isn’t a religion.
James would disagree.
He would probably also agree.
Notice that he doesn’t say, “Those who consider themselves religious should stop doing so.” Instead, he speaks of a worthless religion and an acceptable religion. The former seems to consist of religious words address to the divine that don’t affect our treatment of others. The latter consists solely of our interactions with other people. Words optional.
Even true words can be deceitful. When we hear and speak lofty revelations from God, we can become convinced that we are righteous people. The words travel into our ears and out through our mouths but they don’t find a place in our hearts and lives. Yes, the gospel is the power of God to save but that power is organic. It is a seed that must take root to have its mighty effect. This is why James has told his readers:
Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
James 1:21 NIVThe word of the gospel can (has power to) save you, but it must be accepted into the soil of our lives if it’s going to do so. James seems to assume that his readers had heard and believed the message and that they had faith in Christ. And yet, he speaks of their salvation as potential. The seed had been sown into their minds and they had received it, but it didn’t seem to be bearing much (or any) fruit. Instead, they seem to have become advocates for other people to act justly. The gospel had made them religious reformers, but not disciples of Christ.
This self-deceit had left their salvation hanging in the balance. Keep in mind that salvation is a way of life. If we live by faith we live saved. If we claim to believe but live by sight, we remain subject to the corruption resident in this present evil ages. There can be no two ways about it. We’ll see how this works in a minute.
James has answered the question, “What is true religion?” but if we’re going to accept that answer, we should probably consider what makes these things true religion. Let’s break James’ answer into two parts and consider each in turn.
True religion is to look after orphans and widows in their distress
We call churches, synagogues, and mosques “houses of worship.” We do this because we think God lives in sacred spaces. He might visit our homes but he doesn’t live there. And that’s how we want it. The human heart wants a god that is holy enough to stay out of our daily lives.
But a holy God can’t truly receive our offerings. Under the Levitical system given through Moses, people went to a house of worship to offer sacrifices. Unfortunately, this approach to God caused a problem and contained a deficiency. Worshipers under this sacrificial system tended to think their offerings appeased God leaving them room to mistreat others. They ignore someone in need or even exploit someone because they had already given at the office.
But they hadn’t really done anything for God in their worship, and that was the deficiency.
“Listen, my people, and I will speak; I will testify against you, Israel: I am God, your God. I bring no charges against you concerning your sacrifices or concerning your burnt offerings, which are ever before me. I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?
Psalm 50:7-13 NIVThe sacrificial system wasn’t about compensating God for the infractions committed against him. It wasn’t possible to compensate him through the death of these animals since he couldn’t benefit from the offering. Sacrificial offerings were supposed to express and inflame a love for God. And real love for God will always be expressed in righteous treatment of his image bearers – other people.
Notice that sacrifice as appeasements alleviates the worshiper from works of justice while sacrifice as adoration inspires those same works. And yet, there was still a disconnect under that system. Love for God could only be expressed in symbol or by proxy. That religion at its best was correct, but not true.
When the Levitical Jew answered the question, “What is true religion,” they were really explaining correct religion – as in the religion that was prescribed by God. When Christ came he encountered a Samaritan woman. She asked essentially asked him, “What is the correct religion,” but he answered, “What is true religion.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
John 4:19-23 NIVWhen compared with Samaritan worship, the Jewish temple cult was correct. And yet, a time was coming for worship in truth. This would be in the Spirit. What could this mean? How could the religion that God prescribed not be in truth? It comes down to the meanign of the word, “truth.”
In Greek it was a negative word meaning unveiled. It was based on the idea that reality exists behind a veil of symbols which make up the world we live in. So, that which is “true” is the real while everything else is a similitude or expression of the real. The correct Jewish worship had been in symbol and by proxy. But now with the coming of God incarnate, people could love him in reality. Jesus had already invited this immoral woman to become one of his true worshipers when he asked her for a drink in vs. 7. What an honor!
Today, Christ indwells his people through his own Holy Spirit. And so, he continues to receive every kindness offered to them in his name. As Matthew recorded:
And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”
Matthew 10:42 NIVThat which is given to a believer in Christ is received by God himself and God himself will repay that kindness. This is true religion.
True religion is to keep oneself unspotted from the world
In our moralistic society, we tend to read this phrase as a prohibition against sexual sins. That doesn’t seem to be James’ primary intent.
Consider the very next passage:
My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
James 2:1-4 NIV
James seems to have been less concerned about moral corruption than about political corruption. In answer to the question, “What is true religion,” James would have said, to treat everyone as an equal without allowing the pollution of social standing to enter in.