SOAP 19/21 - Be Doers of the Word (Jas 1.22-25)

 

SOAP 19/21

Be Doers of the Word

James 1.22-25

by R.E. Slater & ChatGPT 5

For the next 21 days, let's commit to feeding yourself spiritually by reading and reflecting on a passage of Scripture each day using the S.O.A.P. method (Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer). Keep a brief daily note of what you learn and how you might apply it, and at the end of the 21 days, share your biggest takeaway with someone else. 

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Be Doers of the Word

James 1.22-25

Mirror of Faith

James exhorts believers not to deceive themselves by merely listening to God’s word. The true disciple is one who embodies the word in action, like someone who looks into a mirror and remembers their reflection. Obedience is not passive assent but active participation, bringing blessing through lived faith.

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James 1.22-25 (ESV)

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror

24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

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Greek Word Study

• ποιηταί (poiētai) – “doers” (v. 22). Makers, performers, creators; emphasizes active engagement.

• ἀκροαταί (akroatai) – “hearers” (v. 22). Mere listeners; passive reception without transformation.

• κατοπτρίζεται (katoptrizetai) – “looks in a mirror” (v. 23). Reflection; often linked with identity and remembrance.

• νόμον τέλειον τὸν τῆς ἐλευθερίας (nomon teleion ton tēs eleutherias) – “the perfect law of liberty” (v. 25). Torah fulfilled in Christ; a law that frees rather than enslaves.

• "Torah = Law" in Paul but in Process theology, similar to Jewish Theology, if Torah is understood and lived aright, it is both wisdom, freedom, and loving. In Jesus' day the Pharisees were misteaching and misapplying Torah, making God's Love restrictive, unkind, unequal, unjust, and in short, unloving. Jesus exemplified true covenant life unlike Pharisaical legalism which did not.

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Historical Situation

James addresses early Jewish Christians scattered in the diaspora. With tensions between faith in Christ and loyalty to Jewish Torah, James insists that authentic faith is practical: care for the poor, taming the tongue, resisting favoritism. In a Greco-Roman world where philosophical schools prized eloquence but often neglected practice, James insists the Christian way is defined by embodied faith.

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Observation through Three Lenses

1. Traditional (Catholic / Orthodox / Protestant Mainstream)

Tradition reads this text as a call to embodied orthopraxy: faith is lived through sacraments, charity, and moral obedience. The “law of liberty” is fulfilled in the Church’s teaching, where liturgy and discipline shape the faithful into doers, not just hearers. Monastic traditions particularly emphasize this integration of word and deed. Yet Traditionalism can risk equating “doing” with rule-following and external ritual, narrowing liberty into obligation.

2. Evangelical (Conservative Protestant)

Evangelicals stress that true faith must be evidenced by action. To be a hearer only is to be deceived, showing that faith is dead (cf. James 2:17). Doing is framed as obedience to Scripture, evangelism, service, and moral purity. The “law of liberty” is interpreted as freedom from sin through Christ, resulting in works as proof of salvation. The danger, however, is a slide into performance-driven faith - discipleship reduced to constant tests of authenticity.

3. Process Theological (Relational, Whiteheadian)

Process theology reframes “doing the word” as co-creative participation with God’s lure toward love and justice. The word is not a static command but a living invitation to embody relational harmony. The mirror image is not self-deception but one's identity forgotten when disconnected from God’s relational call. The “law of liberty” is liberation from fear and coercion, not endless obligation - a way of becoming fully human in partnership with God. Where Tradition risks ritualism and Evangelicalism risks self-proof, Process emphasizes that to do the word is to embody love in action, releasing creative transformation in community.

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Application through Three Lenses

1. Traditional

Do I embody the word through sacrament, charity, and virtue, ensuring that faith is not just confessed but practiced?

2. Evangelical

Do my actions demonstrate the authenticity of my faith? Am I obedient in word, service, and witness as proof of Christ’s saving work in me?

3. Process Theological

Do I join God’s ongoing work of love, justice, and healing through my choices? This passage heals by showing that “doing” is not coercive duty but co-creative participation - living into the law of liberty, where love becomes embodied as blessing.

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Prayer

God of living word,

Guard us from self-deception. Teach us not only to hear but to embody Your word in action. Free us from ritualism, from fear-based striving, and from forgetting who we are in You. Make us doers of love, justice, and compassion, that Your law of liberty may be lived out in joy.

Amen

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