<p>1:25 <i>But he that looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues, being not a hearer that forgets, but a doer that works, this man shall be blessed in what he does</i>- The very nature of life in this present world appears to make it impossible to permanently &quot;continue therein&quot; (&quot;continue&quot;= 'to stand beside'). Thus looking at the word and hearing the word are paralleled. The only access to the word by the average believers was probably by hearing it read publicly. The ability to read would not have been widespread, and copies of the scrolls not widely available (hence the ministry of the miraculous spirit gifts to provide the word of prophecy and its interpretation). Other passages refer to this hearing of the word through public reading of it in the ecclesia: Acts 13:27; 15:21 (cp. James 2:2 AVmg.); 2 Cor. 3:15; Col. 4:16; 1 Thess. 5:27; Rev. 1:3; 2:7,11. The believers should hear the word spoken or read and look into it continually- i.e. keep it in mind, meditate upon it. Thus 1:19 encourages them to be &quot;swift to hear&quot; the word of God- not to mentally doze through those all-important meetings of the ecclesia when the word was read. Thus James never intended these words to be read as meaning 'You must walk around with your head in a Bible all day'- he was too practical to advocate that. But he was offering an even greater challenge- to live each day continually looking into the things of the word in one's mind, with &quot;the eyes of your understanding being (open)&quot;, Eph. 1:18. We who can read and have convenient access to the written word have so much more opportunity- but we seem to lack the degree of mental spiritual alertness to the word that James is speaking of. Surely every Christian who can afford one should have a pocket Bible close at hand during the day and frequently refer to it- even for a few brief seconds in the hour. But above all, we must strive to achieve that continual mental looking into the things of the word. But he who continues looking into &quot;the perfect law&quot;, &quot;this man shall be blessed in his deed&quot;- and that in itself means that James is not setting an impossible standard. It is realistic for a man to achieve it. Note how the continual looking into and application of the word is &quot;his deed&quot;. We have earlier commented how 'deeds' and 'works' can refer to the mental effort made in daily life, rather than specific physical actions.<br />Notice the reference to &quot;the law of liberty&quot;- another gentle dig at his Jewish readers, reminding them of &quot;the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free...be not entangled again with the yoke of (Mosaic) bondage&quot; (Gal. 5:1). Other references to &quot;liberty&quot; are clearly in the context of liberty from the Mosaic Law, and they also have indirect hints at our liberty being because of a word (&quot;law&quot;) of liberty:</p><p>- &quot;We are not children of the bondwoman (the Law) but of the free&quot; (Gal. 4:31). We are children by being born of the word of God (James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23). Thus &quot;the free&quot; is the free word of the liberty of the Spirit.<br />- &quot;You have been called unto liberty... (to) walk in the spirit&quot; (Gal. 5:13,16)- i.e. in a way of life guided by the Spirit (Jn. 6:63 etc.)<br />- &quot;As free... (doing) the will of God&quot; (1 Pet. 2:16,15)- which is in the word (James 1:18; Jn. 1:13)<br />- &quot;Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty&quot; (2 Cor. 3:17)- the Lord's Spirit is in the hearts of His people who are influenced by the word of the gospel.<br />- &quot;The truth (the word- Jn.17:17) shall make you free... the servant abides not in the house for ever (alluding to Hagar being cast out, representing the casting out of the law, Gal. 4:30). If the Son therefore (i.e. because the law was being cast out) shall make you free, you shall be free indeed&quot; (Jn.8:32,35,36). That freedom comes from the Truth (Jn.8:32), which is the Spirit.</p><p>Now it may be argued that if &quot;the law of liberty&quot; is the words of Jesus and the New Testament, then that part of Scripture is far more spiritually powerful than the Old Testament, particularly the Law. Why not just concentrate our Bible reading on the New Testament? Two comments present themselves:</p><p>- &quot;The spirit of Christ was in (the prophets)&quot; (1 Pet. 1:11). The Spirit of Christ was in them, but it was only there for our benefit who came after Christ (1 Pet. 1:12). Thus the prophets &quot;searched diligently&quot; for the meaning of their prophecies (1 Pet. 1:10)- the implication being that they were unsuccessful because the purpose of the prophecies was for our benefit not for theirs- &quot;not unto themselves... they did minister the things, which are <i>now</i> reported (explained) unto <i>you</i>&quot; (1 Pet. 1:12). We have shown that the Spirit-word is the law of liberty, which is contrasted to the Mosaic law or word of bondage. The contrast is not specifically made between the word and the Mosaic law, but between the Spirit word and the Mosaic Law. Thus it may be that the Spirit in the sense of a power of righteousness that can change a man's mind was only released fully from the Old Testament word when it was read by believers after Christ. Notice how the parallel with us looking into the law of liberty in 1 Peter is in 1:12 concerning the Angels desiring to look into the word. This is a parallel with 1:10, describing how the prophets desired to look into the word. Thus seeing that prophets and Angels have unsuccessfully tried to look into the word, we should grasp the opportunity we have. This parallel show that the &quot;law of liberty&quot; was also the prophetic word of the Old Testament which the prophets tried to &quot;look into&quot;.</p><p>- There is considerable evidence that the power of the Old Testament word was opened by the death and resurrection of Christ, when He became &quot;the Lord the Spirit&quot; (2 Cor. 3:17,18 RV), thus enabling us to be changed from the Mosaic glory to the Christian glory- &quot;From glory to glory... by the Spirit of the (risen) Lord&quot; (cp. Jn. 1:16,17). In passing, it is worth considering whether Paul's other reference to contrasting types of glory also has reference to the Mosaic/ Christian system comparison- &quot;the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another... so also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption&quot; (1 Cor. 15:40,42). Thus Paul would be likening the present mortal state of our bodies to the earthy (terrestrial) Jewish system, compared to the glory of the spiritual heavenlies in Christ.</p><p>The man who keeps mental hold of the Spirit of the word in his daily life &quot;Shall be blessed in his deed&quot;. This must be alluding to Lk. 11:28 &quot;Blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it&quot;. Again, the hearing of the word was a literal hearing, as Jesus had been speaking orally to the people. Thus James' interpretation of keeping the word was to continually look into it in one's mind and let it have the effect of self-examination upon us. The preceding verse records the comment &quot;Blessed is the womb that bare you, and the breasts which you&nbsp; sucked&quot; (Lk. 11:27). Jesus is saying that the more important spiritual equivalent of this is to &quot;hear the word of God&quot;. Thus being breast fed is likened by Jesus to hearing and keeping the word. In Peter's language: &quot;As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word&quot; (1 Pet. 2:2). It is only the spiritually young who should feed on the milk of the word (1 Cor.3:2; Heb. 5:12,13). Those to whom Jesus spoke about the sucking of breasts being like hearing and keeping the word were also spiritually young, having only just heard the word. James 1:24,25 is saying that the man who continually looks at his natural face in the mirror of hearing and keeping the word will be blessed for his effort. Lk. 11:27,28 is saying that the spiritually young who as newborn babes keep hearing and keeping the word will be blessed. Remember that it was suggested that the &quot;natural&quot; (Genesis-ed) face of the man could refer to his recently spiritually born self. This would fit the connections with Lk. 11:27 nicely. Thus James implies that there is an especial temptation for those newly converted or spiritually conceived by the word to soon give up their zeal for the word and to stop carefully examining their own position in the light of the word. The parable of the sower puts this in black and white.</p><p>&quot;If (we) know these things, happy (blessed) are (we) if (we) do them&quot; (Jn. 13:17). Also worth mentioning is Lk. 8:21: &quot;My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God and do it&quot;. By being born again of the Spirit by hearing, doing, keeping and continually looking at the word, we take on the family likeness- Jesus can feel to us as to a mother or brother. These things help us appreciate the real spirit of the frequent commands to &quot;Keep my commandments, and do them&quot; (Lev. 22:31). This implies that keeping and doing the word are different. God is not so much looking for individual cases of us 'doing' the word in the sense of occasionally obeying a highly specific command- but for us to &quot;keep&quot; the word in the sense of continually keeping it in mind in our lives, so that as a consequence we 'do' the specific commands when necessary. The copious parallels between James 1 and 1 Peter 1 further illuminate the looking into the word of this v.25; the parallel is Peter's description of the Cherubim Angels earnestly looking down into the mercy seat in 1 Pet. 1:12, as if paralleling that supreme place of God manifestation with the Word.</p>