283 THE IMPLICATIONS GRACE THE ETHICS JAMES OF FOR OF gion is worthless”. Again we see a warning of self-deception, this time in relation to failure to control one’s speech. This self-deception is deadly because their careless speech makes their worship “worthless”. In chapter 3 we are told that, in relation to speech, “all of us make many mistakes” and to avoid such mistakes would qualify a person as “perfect”. All the same, James spurs his audience towards honest speech that is pure, is single-minded, and does not insult another or blaspheme God. He shows himself bewildered by people who can bless God and curse others, a shameful duplicity of speech that stands in direct contradiction to God’s simplicity of character. Speech of this nature reveals a person’s failure to be transformed by a godly single-mindedness. Ultimately, a careless tongue is said to be “set on fire by gehenna” and leads to the whole course of a person’s life being lit on fire (3,6), echoing the language of the uncontrollable desires of chapter 1 that lead to one’s physical and spir- itual death 32. To leave one’s speech unchecked leads to self-deception and destruction. Ultimately, an uncontrolled tongue cannot coexist in the divine covenant because it so utterly opposes the ways of God. In terms of social ethics, immediately after describing the failed worship of those who also fail to control their speech, James gives a two- pronged definition of pure worship that begins: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress” (1,27a). The one who visits the distressed, helping them in their difficulty, whether by bringing food or by working to change the larger social structures that leave them “in distress” 33, gives worship that pleases God 34. This is the active mercy that mirrors God’s heart. James 2,14-26, the famous “faith and works” passage, functions to explain fur- See R. BAUCKHAM, The Fate of the Dead. Studies on the Jewish and 32 Christian Apocalypses (Leiden 1998) 119-131 , who argues in his essay on Jas 3,6 that “[the tongue] is itself set on fire by hell” refers not to the inspiration of this evil speech but the final punishment for it, making the parallel to 1,13-15 even stronger. WALL, Community of the Wise, 101, warns that “even conventional 33 social wisdom instructs that a group is as viable as its weakest member (cf. Matt. 18:6-14; Acts 6:1-10). For this reason, the biblical Torah is especially concerned that the least and last members of the community are not abused but cared for (Exod. 22:22; Deut. 24:17-21; cf. Ps. 146:9; Isa. 1:17; et al.)”. By acting thus, one “anticipates the inevitable reversal”. See S.J. FRIESEN, “Injustice or God’s Will: Explanations of Poverty in 34 Proto-Christian Communities”, A People’s History of Christianity. Christian Origins (ed. R.A. HORSELY) (Minneapolis, MN 2005) 244, who sees James as presenting “a relatively simple explanation for economic inequality. Jacob [sic] blamed the local elites for economic injustice but also criticizes the general population for complicity” in a system driven by wealth alone.