James 1:18-21

[Hidden In Him]

Cultivating The Word, Which Has The Power To Save The Soul



In a previous passage, James compared the growth of the word within us to Christ Himself being inseminated within us, and how eventually it results in Him being "birthed" out from us, much like Paul was referring to when he told the Galatians, "I travail in labor again, until Christ be formed within you." But James would now switch to using an agricultural analogy, and yet still be teaching the same principle. We must allow the "seed" of the word of God to be implanted within us before it can grow, and as he will also suggest, this is what ultimately "saves our soul" in the truest sense of the word:

Having wished, He brought us forth through the word of truth for us to be a kind of first fruits of His creations. Therefore, my dear brothers, let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath, for the wrath of man does not cultivate the righteousness of God. Wherefore, having set aside all [spiritual] filthiness, and the excrement of evil, receive with meekness the implanted word, which has the power to save your souls. (James 1:18-21)

Most English translations seem to miss this, but James was here using the metaphor of cultivation. The Greek word which appears in this text κατεργάζομαι was used regularly of "cultivation," and defined as such. It was also used in the Greek Old Testament to define Hebrew words which meant the exact same thing. Moreover, James also appears to have made reference to fertilizer as well, for he mentions the "filthiness, and the excrement of evil." The word περισσεία was likely a euphemism for manure, given that a sister noun meant literally "excrement" in Classical Greek (see alternate rendering of περίσσωμα for περίσσευμα in Liddell-Scott, P. 1387). Meanwhile, the other word ῥυπαρία literally meant "filth," and was also used to describe moral filth and spiritual uncleanness (see Revelation 22:11, Zechariah 3:3-4). Hence, James appears to have been referencing unclean spirits again who would incite us to anger and strife, and thereby stand in the way of receiving the word, like manure blocking the seed from being implanted within us.

Is there support for the notion that God would describe the influence of unclean spirits in such terms? Modern accounts of demons testify to the fact that they are indeed filthy, and can even smell like dung and rotting flesh. In some accounts they are literally covered with it, such as the following, which is taken from Bill Wiese's testimony of being taken to Hell in spirit and dropped into a cell inhabited by two incredibly evil spirits:

The creatures weren't animals, but they weren't human either. Each beast resembled a reptile in appearance, but took on human form. Their arms and legs were unequal in length, out of proportion - without symmetry. The first one had bumps and scales all over its grotesque body. It had a huge, protruding jaw, gigantic teeth, and large sunken-in eyes. This creature was stout and powerful, with thick legs and abnormally large feet. It was pacing violently around the cell like a caged bull, and its demeanor was extremely ferocious. The second beast was taller and thinner, with very long arms and razor sharp fins that covered its body. Protruding from its hands were claws that were nearly a foot long... I was extremely nauseous from the terrible, foul stench coming from these creatures. It was absolutely disgusting, foul, and rotten. It was, by far, the most putrid smell I have ever encountered. If you could take every rotten thing you can imagine, such as an open sewer, rotten meat, spoiled eggs, sour milk, dead rotting animal flesh, and sulphur, and magnify it a thousand times, you might come close. This is not an exaggeration. The odor was actually extremely toxic, and that alone should have killed me. (Wiese, 23 Minutes In Hell, P.3-4, 7)

This is actually not a new revelation but something the church has understood for centuries. Writing back in the 1600s, writers spoke of Hell in similiar terms:

The prophecy of Isaias will thus be fulfilled: "Instead of a sweet smell there shall be a stench" (Is. iii. 24). Decaying animal matter emits so horrible an odor that no one likes to go near it. But if we imagine not one tainted carcass but hundreds of thousands heaped together, the air for miles around would be so infected that it would cause the death of all in the vicinity... How much worse will it be in Hell, where the bodies will lie close to one another, without any hope of being separated. And as bad as this stench is, it is greatly increased by the presence of the devils, who naturally are far more offensive to the nostrils than the bodies of the lost. We read in the life of St. Martin that an evil spirit appeared to him on one occasion, and the stench that filled the room was so overwhelming that the Saint said to himself: "If one single devil has so disgusting an odor, what can the stench be in Hell, where there are thousands of devils all together?" (The Four Last Things, On the vile odors of Hell, Martin Von Cochem)

Demons being covered in the stench of excrement and decay appears to be why James compared demonically-incited anger to the "filth and excrement of evil." Strife-filled argumentation blocks the word of God from being implanted in our hearts and minds, just like dung can block literal seed from being implanted in the ground. Manure was spread directly on the fields during ancient times beginning in Egypt, but for seed to be deposited it would have to be moved aside. So, too, would "the wrath of man" have to be set aside to make room for the word to be received. If believers were too busy lashing out at one another, it would be impossible to receive the word from one another, and as we shall see, James' teaching was that it was the word itself which had the power to save the human soul.


Understanding True Salvation Of The Soul

There are some who teach the Parable of the Sower is about receiving 30, 60 and 100 times the financial return on one's giving, but this a false and misleading interpretation. What the Parable actually teaches is that believers need to continue cultivating the word of God within them until it multiples itself 30, 60 or 100 times over. The Lord Jesus Christ used the farming analogy numerous times, and in some parables the wheat represented believers themselves. This was the case in the Parable of the Wheat and Tares, where the tares represented those who called themselves Christians but were in reality serving the enemy, and would thus eventually be cast into "a furnace of fire," i.e. into the Lake of Fire. The wheat, however, represented the true believers, who at the time of the harvest would be gathered into God's "barns," i.e. taken into Heaven. But this was not the case in Mark 4. The focus there was on the growth of the word itself within believers, with the implication being that true salvation occurred when the word grew to its fullest extent within them, something that was entirely their responsibility to make happen. Jesus would also teach that the full cultivation of the word was in fact the responsibility of the entire church, and that the end-time harvest would not take place until it did.

Beginning with the Parable of the Sower:

And He said to them, "Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to them that are without, all these things are done in parables... The sower sows the word. And these are the seeds where the word is being sown by the pathway, and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word having been sown into them. And these are in like manner the seeds being sown upon the rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy, yet have no root in themselves but are temporary. Then, with affliction and persecution having arisen because of the word, immediately they are scandalized. And these are the seeds being sown among the thorns. These are the ones hearing the word, yet the anxieties of this age, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in, choke out the word, and it becomes unfruitful. And these are the seeds having been sown upon the good ground, such as hear the word and receive it, and bring forth thirty, sixty, and one hundredfold fold." (Mark 4:14-20)

As Jesus Himself stated, the "seed" here was the word of God, and revelation concerning the mysteries of the kingdom. Thus, a 30, 60, or 100 fold increase in the "seed" represented a 30, 60 or 100 fold increase in the word growing within the believer. But the word could die away before it produced, which meant believers had to keep the word growing within them in order to be saved when all was said and done. The birds (i.e. demons, since the specific qualifier "birds of Heaven" is not present in the better texts here) came and snatched up the seed before it even had a chance to grow within those along the path, but the word was growing within the second and third groups, and significantly so. Only it grew within the first group only until persecution came, and in the latter only until thorns rose up and choked it. These believers gladly received the word within themselves and it was growing, yet because they didn't make sure that it continued to grow, it ended up dying away. This is why true Biblical salvation is not merely a one time decision but a life that must be lived out, which is why Paul said we must continue to "work out our salvation with trembling and fear."

Continued next post...

 

[Hidden In Him]

The need to grow into the fullness of God's word was also stressed in His next analogy, where Jesus told the disciples that the Light of the world had now come, and He had no intentions of being hidden from anyone. He would also send the Holy Spirit to lead them into all truth, so what they needed to do now was apply themselves to receiving as much Light as possible:

And He was saying unto them, "Is a lamp brought that it may be put under bushel basket, or under a bed, and not that it may be placed on a lamp stand? For nothing is hidden which shall not be made manifest, nor is anything kept secret but that it should come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. (Mark 4:21-23)

Because true Light had now entered the world, mysteries of the kingdom which had formerly been kept secret from mankind would now be revealed (1 Corinthians 4:1, 1 Corinthians 13:2, Colossians 1:26, 2 Thessalonians 2:7, Revelation 17:7). So Christ's message here to the disciples was that He wanted them seeking God for revelation concerning all things, and the mysteries of the kingdom, for He no longer wished for them to stay hidden. The only limits now on how much they could receive would be the ones they placed upon themselves, and this therefore became the point in his next statements:

And He was saying unto them, "Give attentiveness to what you hear. With whatever measure you use it shall be measured to you, and unto you that hear shall more be given. For whoever may have, to him shall be given. But whoever does not have, from him shall be taken away even what he has." (Mark 4:24-25)

Every time this last expression appears in scripture, it was always in the context of teaching the need to keep increasing in one's knowledge of the word of God, including in Matthew 13:12, where Jesus was again specifically teaching the difference between those growing in it and those who were not:

And having come, His disciples said unto Him, "Why do You speak unto them in parables?" And having answered, He said, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whosoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have an abundance. But whosoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken from him. (Matthew 13:10-12)

The context again was the Parable of the Sower, where He taught that if they allowed persecution or worldly concerns to choke it out, the word would die out within them. So they needed to understand that how much it grew depended entirely on them. If they set the measure high and kept seeking Him for more, they would receive an abundance of understanding and knowledge. But if through faithlessness or laziness they set the measure low and didn't ask for much, they would receive only what they asked for, and it would be no one's fault but their own. They would have themselves to blame for not seeking God for more.

This then illustrates how fully cultivating the word of God would lead to true "salvation" of the soul. All men can receive forgiveness for their sins and enter into a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in an instant, but to attain to what James was referring to when he said the word had the power to save their souls, it ultimately involved fully "renewing the mind" like Paul said, and continuing to seek God for greater revelation until the word finally grew to the place where it yielded a 30, 60, or 100 fold return within them.


The Growth Of His Kingdom Until Harvest

In the final two parables, Jesus taught the same principle, only now He switched to teaching on His expectations regarding the entire church. Many suppose He is talking here about the number of souls who would get saved, but the focus was still on the growth of the word of God itself, and when it finally reached the level He thought the church was fully capable of, then the end-time harvest would finally come:

And He was saying, "Thus is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed upon the earth, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and arise in length, how he does not know. For the earth brings forth fruit of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full wheat seed within the head of grain. And when the fruit delivers itself up, immediately he sends in the sickle, for the harvest has come." (Mark 4:26-29)

His statement that "the earth brings forth fruit of itself" was again suggesting that the responsibility for growing in the word rested entirely with the church. Jesus was the Lord of the harvest, and was planting seed in the earth, after which He would "sleep" day and night, waiting for the earth itself to bring forth "the full seed within the head of grain." This was again a reference to 30, 60 and 100 fold return in a head of grain, and to the fact that collectively we are "the earth" or "soil" within which the word grows. Once the time finally came where the word had grown to its fullest extent, He would send in the sickle and reap what He had originally sown, now having reached its full potential in the earth.

The last parable taught essentially the same thing. The Word was planted "in the earth" yet by the time it was done growing, it would arise to such an extent that even "the birds of Heaven" would come and lodge underneath its branches:

And He was saying, "To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we compare it? It is as a grain of mustard seed, which, when it has been sown on the earth is less than all the seeds on the earth. Yet when it has been sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all the herbs, and produces great branches, such that the birds of Heaven are able to lodge beneath its shade." (Mark 4:30-32)

The "grain of mustard seed" here represented Christ, the Word Himself, with the tree that grew from it being the church, His spiritual body in the earth. Yet some teach here that the "birds" who will lodge in its branches must refer to the fallen angels, who will pervert the church's teachings in the end-times. But this interpretation is entirely inconsistent with what appears to be the intent of the parable. He was teaching on the extent to which the word would grow, and the more natural reading therefore is that even "the birds of Heaven," i.e. the angels of God would eventually benefit from it. This sounds like a strange proposition to some, but it is actually what was taking place during New Testament times. The church was receiving all sorts of revelations from God - revelations concerning the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, revelations concerning Christ's teachings, revelations concerning how He was the long-awaited Messiah, and that the gospel would be preached to the Gentiles, and a whole host of other things - and even the angels of God were now receiving teachings on these things through the church, apparently while in attendance protecting them during services.

This is what the apostle Paul meant in Ephesians when he said:

To me was given this grace, to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles, the incomprehensible riches of Christ, and to bring to light what the administration of this mystery is which has been hidden in God from [previous] ages... so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known even unto princes and authorities in the heavenlies through the church, in accordance with the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ephesians 3:8-11)

The word "princes" here was used elsewhere of angels (see Romans 8:38), only here the context appears to have been positive, since the thrust of the passage was that all things should now be revealed in Christ. Thus, in the Parable of the Mustard Seed, the church would continue to increase in revelation until the end of the age, when "the tree" (i.e. the church, His body in the earth) would finally reach its greatest height, and the angels of God would again even be receiving instruction by lodging in her branches.

The apostle Peter referenced how there were things the angels longed to look into which were now being revealed through the church (1 Peter 1:12), though I will save discussing that for another study.


Questions And Applications

1. How much would you say church at large is cultivating the seed, and growing in the word of God today? How much are they receiving genuine revelation, verses simply teaching things that don't have much spiritual life in them?

2. How many individual Christians would you say are growing in the word nowadays? Do you think it is a large or a small percentage, and if so, why?

3. The practice during New Testament times was that when a church came together, scripture says they each had "a psalm, a teaching, a tongue, a revelation, an interpretation" (1 Corinthians 14:26). In other words, everyone was bringing something to the service which they had been receiving from God. Do you think it is important for church members to participate in the growth of the word during services, or do you think the one-person monologue is still better? Or maybe do you think both should be practiced? What are some potential problems with each?