Ministry of Grace Church

Therefore having laid aside all filthiness and abundance of wickedness, receive in meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

Truth to Learn

We need to rid ourselves of our sinful thoughts and actions and let the Word of God grow in our hearts.

Behind the Words

The word translated “having laid aside” is a form of apotithēmi, a compound word made up of apo, meaning “from” or “away from” and tithēmi, meaning “to set in place” or “to lay down.” Hence, this word means “to set aside, away from oneself.” This particular verb is in the middle voice which in Greek means that the subject is acting upon itself. James is telling us is that we are to take action on ourselves by putting away all that is filthiness. It is expressed here as an aorist participle indicating something that was done previous to the main verb (receive).

“Filthiness” is translated from hruparia, which means “dirtiness” or “filthiness,” as it is translated here. In a moral sense it refers to those thoughts and actions of ours which are not clean or morally right. The picture James is portraying here is one of taking off a soiled garment and laying it aside.

The word translated “wickedness” is the Greek word kakia, which refers to “that which is intrinsically bad or worthless.”

The word translated “implanted” is emphutos, which is made up of en, meaning “in” and a form of phuō, meaning “to germinate” or “to spring up from a seed.” It refers to something that is implanted by an external force and springs up as an act of growth. This word is sometimes mistranslated as “in grafted” which is an entirely different word, egkentridzō, meaning “to cut in” or “to graft in.”

Meaning Explained

Remember that whenever you see a “therefore” or a “wherefore” you need to find out what it is there for. James already told us that God is the source of all good giving and completely good gifts. He also said that our own lustful sin nature is the source of our selfish sinfulness. Therefore, because of these facts, we need to get rid of all of our dirtiness and abundance of badness. This includes all of our evil thoughts and all self-serving actions. Remove these things from yourself, lay them aside, and don’t pick them up again.

Once we have laid these things aside, we are told to receive with humility the mighty Word of God which the Holy Spirit has implanted in our hearts. It has such power that it can even lead to the salvation of souls. When we have sin prevailing in our lives, we cannot receive the word of truth. When we lay aside our sinful thoughts and actions, we then allow the Word of God to grow and mature within us, making us more like Jesus Christ.

Albert Barnes in his Notes on the New Testament interprets the verse in this way:

In view of the fact that God has begotten us for his own service; in view of the fact that excited feeling tends only to wrong, let us lay aside all that is evil, and submit ourselves wholly to the influence of truth.

Application

Let us confess and forsake our sins, discarding all filth, and let us receive His truth, allowing it to grow in our hearts. All this, for His praise and glory! Can you do this?